a lesson

Published
February 7, 2019

Richard Thomas, Waterville: Saving the planet to save the family

Twenty-two years ago I took a course on climate science and I really started to worry. I was thinking maybe our climate would change enough someday that this could mess up food production and wreck our economy. Now, our sons were small at the time, and you know how young parents are, always worrying about […]
Published
February 7, 2019

Jody Rich, Waterville: When your blood starts to simmer

One coffee hour after church in 1980-something, I was talking to my friend Nan about a man we’d heard argue against welcoming the LGBT community into our congregation. Just recalling the event, I could feel my blood racing. I took a breath, sipped my coffee and looked back at Nan’s kind smile. “Nan, how do […]
Published
February 7, 2019

Mary Capobianco, Scarborough: Community provides warmth in the cold

For lifelong New Yorkers, moving to Maine was not as easy for my husband and me as we had expected. The cold weather and icy roads were a bit challenging, and the fact that stores shut their doors by 9 o’clock made evening shopping impossible. I could only imagine that anywhere farther north than Portland […]
Published
February 7, 2019

Kathleen Sullivan, Freeport: Getting old is nothing to fear

Old ladies scare me. Powdery souls, half material body, half ghost. Faded, wrinkled, shrunken like old bedsheets. Invisible lives lived in half-step measure, shuffled into insignificance by the cool hand of time. Blood-red lipstick smeared beyond lip lines. Lopsided eye linings. Rouged cheeks bleeding streaks of strawberry pink. Long before I became one myself, ageism […]
Published
February 3, 2019

Anne Schink, South Portland: When you mess up, ‘fess up

‘Oh, come on,” she said. “You know how to drive. You just don’t have your license yet.” I wasn’t particularly anxious to get my license, but I had my permit. One day after school Debbie had her mother’s car, which was a brand-new dark-green Cadillac, the envy of all our friends. We were “riding around […]
Published
February 3, 2019

Valerie L. Egar, Cornish: Discovering center

When I turned 30, I suddenly longed to learn ballet. Though I could hardly walk down a flight of stairs without stumbling, I imagined leaping like a gazelle. I usually avoided exercise, but now the idea of stretching until I ached appealed. I tried to ignore the urge, but my desire persisted, acute as my […]
Published
February 3, 2019

Christine Hull, Springvale: Wrong place at just the right time

I’m never the person who is in the right place at the right time. However, on a cold New Hampshire afternoon in 2007 I found myself front and center on a rope line. This coveted position would not only guarantee me a place in a photo in tomorrow’s newspaper but maybe even a kiss on […]
Published
February 3, 2019

Sandy Jubinsky, Lyman: Learning the limit

I have a temper. I was born with it, like my blue eyes and the little space between my teeth. When I’m angry, I talk very fast and loud. So loud. My husband once remarked that arguing with me was like arguing with a buzz saw. But I have boundaries, long-standing and unbreakable. They were […]

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