March 8, 2008 ~~~ Bangor
Poet Martin Steingesser has reworked the diary and letters of Etty Hillesum, a Jewish woman from Amsterdam who was killed at Auschwitz, into a poetic performance for two voices and cello. On March 8 at 2 p.m., Steingesser will join Judy Tierney and cellist Robin Jellis to present this work, entitled The Thinking Heart, at the Bangor Public Library. A Maine historian will lead a discussion following the performance. In addition, a chapbook of Steingesser’s poems, with background about their source and inspiration, will be available to those who attend. For more information, call the library at (207) 947-8336.
Back to the TopMarch 9 & 23, April 6 & 20, May 4 & 18, 2008 ~~~ Winter Harbor
Following its successful 2007 Downeast Maine Historic Film series, Schoodic Arts for All plans once again to join forces with Northeast Historic Film for a film series. Eight screenings, each followed by panel discussions, will celebrate the history of lobstering and the fishing industry in this region. Films will be shown bi-weekly, from March 9 to May 22, at Hammond Hall in Winter Harbor. They include “Fishing for the Future,” “The Ballad of the Purple Clam,” and “Closing the Circle: The Alewife Run in Damariscotta Mills, Maine.” For more details, call (207) 963-2569 or visit www.schoodicarts.org.
Back to the TopMarch 29, 2008 ~~~ Portland
Spirits Alive is dedicated to the preservation and beautification of one of Maine’s oldest public burial grounds, the Eastern Cemetery in Portland. To help raise public awareness of the significance of the Cemetery as a historic site, Spirits Alive will host an early spring lecture series focused on the place of cemeteries in our collective past. Lectures are scheduled for January 26, February 23, and March 29. Speakers Earle Shettleworth, Jr., David Waters, and Joy Giguere will cover topics ranging from the general (gravestone carving in New England) to the specific (the role of the Eastern and Western Cemeteries in Portland). For event details, visit www.spiritsalive.org.
Back to the TopMarch 29 - April 6, 2008 ~~~ Greater Portland
The theme for the 2008 Maine Jewish Film Festival, Labor, encompasses concentration camps, organized labor, and blacklisting. The nine theme-based films highlight the often-unheralded role of Jews within the enduring contest for universal equality and self-determination. Films will include “Clara Lemlich: A Strike Worker’s Diary,” the story of Clara Lemlich, who endured arrests and beatings as a result of her efforts to organize garment workers in Manhattan’s Lower East Side; and “Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg,” which profiles Gertrude Berg, star and producer of the 1950s sitcom “The Goldbergs,” who took a stand against McCarthyism. Film directors, producers, union organizers, Holocaust survivors, and scholars will participate in a series of forums and lectures throughout the nine days of the festival. In addition to the traditional venues, films will be screened in the Teamsters Local 340 union hall in South Portland and the North Dam Mill in Biddeford. This year’s festival opens on March 29 and runs through April 6; for a schedule of events, please visit www.mjff.org.
Back to the TopApril 6, 2008 ~~~ Waterville
In 2006, the nonprofit Hardy Girls Healthy Women initiated a poetry-writing project for seventh and eighth grade girls at Winslow Junior High School. Poetry workshops facilitated by Colby College creative writing faculty and students explored the power of writing in the lives of girls who struggle in school, both academically and socially. By validating the girls' poetic voices, the workshops built on the success of the girls' coalition groups run by Hardy Girls Healthy Women as part of From Adversaries to Allies: A Curriculum for Change. This pilot project ran during the fall semester of 2007, leading to a “Poetry Mash-Up” with spoken word performances by girls from Winslow Junior High and women from Colby College's "Poets Rest at Dawn" who will tell us what's on their minds through spoken word. The event begins at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 6, at Soup to Nuts in downtown Waterville. To learn more, please contact Megan Williams, Executive Director of Hardy Girls Healthy Women, at (207) 861-8131.
Back to the TopApril 6, 2008 ~~~ Farmington
Composer Nancy Gunn has set four poems by Wesley McNair about driving in rural Maine to music. The poems mention specific towns—Rumford, Thomaston, Mercer, and Presque Isle—and the music, for soprano and orchestra, attempts to evoke these places through sound images and musical moods. Gunn and McNair will appear at a pre-concert discussion before the premiere of the musical piece on April 6, 2008, at the Nordica Auditorium in Farmington.
Back to the TopApril 9, 2008 ~~~ Portland
The new edition of a 19th century Penobscot book, Joseph Nicolar’s The Life and Traditions of the Red Man (Duke University Press, 2007), sheds light on Eastern Algonquian history and culture. On April 9, 2008, Nicolar's grandson, Charles Shay, will join the editor of the new edition, Annette Kolodny, for a presentation at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. The free event starts at 7 p.m. For more information, please call Professor Lorrayne Carroll at (207) 780-4324. Back to the Top
April 16, 2008 ~~~ Farmington
The Wilton Free Public Library’s Hands On PAH! initiative is intended to make the library more accessible to the local and larger deaf community through collection development, technical services, and programming. In April 2008, nationally renowned deaf storyteller Peter Cook will visit Maine with his interpreter, Keith Wann. Cook will give a workshop on ASL storytelling and visual communication in the Nordica Auditorium at the University of Maine in Farmington from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 16. At 7:30 p.m., in the same location, he will give a storytelling performance. For further details, call the library at (207) 645-4831. Back to the Top
April (dates TBA) ~~~ Kennebunk and Hinckley
Many of Maine’s small museums and historical societies are staffed by volunteers who are enthusiastic about the work, but cannot attend professional development workshops aimed at the paid employees of larger institutions. In April, some of these volunteers will receive basic training in museum operation and governance during two-day workshops coordinated by the New England Museum Association (NEMA), in partnership with Maine Archives & Museums. The workshops will take place in Hinckley and Kennebunk. To learn more or to register, please call NEMA at (781) 641-0013. Back to the Top
March & April ~~~ Berwick
For the past 15 years, Claudia Updike has brought over 100 Maine children’s book writers and illustrators to York County schools. As director of the K-6 library program in SAD #60, Updike recognizes the inspirational impact that meeting a working author or illustrator can have on young writers and artists in elementary schools. She started the Maine Authors in Our Schools program in 1993, and has kept the program running in spite of limited school budgets and rising author fees. This spring, Updike plans to bring Sarah L. Thomson and Cathryn Falwell to the Vivian E. Hussey Primary School in Berwick. Sarah is a prolific writer of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction; she will talk to 3rd and 4th graders about information books (nonfiction). Cathryn is an author/illustrator who lives in Gorham; she will visit the 2nd graders. Back to the Top
May 18, 2008 ~~~ New Gloucester
The Merriconeag Waldorf School will host the culminating event in a poetry competition for public and private high school students in Cumberland, Androscoggin, and Sagadahoc counties at its new campus in New Gloucester. On May 18, twenty students whose original poems are recognized by poet and teacher Annie Finch will read their work and participate in a seminar on poetry as a tool for social change. For details, please contact David Sloan at (207) 688-8989 or dmsloan@gwi.net. Back to the Top
May - October, 2008 ~~~ Hinckley
“Some Homes,” a new exhibit at the L.C. Bates Museum in Hinckley, Maine, will stimulate thinking about the meaning of Home through contemporary art and historical context. The project goal is to promote discussion, knowledge, and interpretation that focuses on the experience of Home, specifically Maine homes and the related philosophy of home at Good Will-Hinckley. The exhibit runs from May through October. Accompanying events include a lecture by Earle Shettleworth on domestic architecture in Maine, a panel with artists and representatives from Waterville Main Street and the Margaret Chase Smith Library, and a film screening at Railroad Square Cinema. For details on these events, please call the museum at (207) 238-4250. Back to the Top
June - October, 2008 ~~~ Vinalhaven
The Bodwell Granite Company Store operated on the island of Vinalhaven from 1858 until 1919. The Vinalhaven Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of receipts, correspondence, payroll tickets, and other documents from the store, as well as glass plate negatives of images of quarry operations, workers, and managers. Based on census, payroll, and union records, the historical society has built a database of quarry workers employed by Bodwell. Public access to this database will soon be available at www.vhhis.org. In addition, the historical society is planning an exhibit that examines the influence of the Bodwell Granite Company and their company store on the history and economy of Vinalhaven through the lives of ten representative workers. The exhibit will be on view during the museum's 2008 summer season, from June through October. A public lecture will also take place during the summer at the Smith-Hokanson Memorial Hall. For more information, please call (207) 863-4410 or visit the aforementioned website. Back to the Top
November 13, 2008 - January 11, 2009 ~~~ Portland
In conjunction with the exhibition “Textiles/Translations,” featuring the work of Alice Spencer, the University of New England's Gallery of Art will hold a series of five educational programs. Each program will approach textiles from a different perspective: their cultures of origin, their common themes and symbols, the role of women in their creation, and their ability to inspire artists like Spencer. In addition to the general public, students from the Maine College of Art and local high schools will be encouraged to attend the exhibition and related programming. For more information, please call (207) 221-4499 or visit www.une.edu/artgallery. Back to the Top
Notes from an Open Book welcomes feedback from its readers. Please contact Diane Magras by email at diane@mainehumanities.org or by phone at (207)773-5051 ext. 208 (toll-free 1-866-637-3233, ext. 208) to respond.