Talk of the Towns | WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Producer/Host: Ron Beard -How do land trusts, including Blue Hill Heritage Trust, carry out the work of private land protection in Maine? -In addition to protecting land by owning it or by permanently restricting some forms of development, how else do your organizations work with landowners and other partners to promote conservation values through public access and use, as in the case of trails, w...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard How did you come to contemplate retirement for yourself… what were the clues that you might be ready to consider retiring (tipping points)? What questions did it raise for you? What did you learn about yourself in this time of contemplating retirement? What is some of the new research into older people and creativity? How did that factor into your own views about what reti...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard What is the brief history of your organization’s work on affordable workforce housing in your community? What led to its creation? How did you decide to frame the issue for your situation? Where did you find inspiration, including other community examples (Martha’s Vineyard, elsewhere?) What approaches have most resonated with people in your community? What strategies have...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Pine Tree Power—the rationale for a consumer-owned electric utility for Maine ] -What led to consideration of a consumer- owned non-profit electric utility for the State of Maine? What is the history of this approach? -What are the main advantages to this approach? -What would have to change to make a consumer-owned electric utility possible? -How is electricity generated...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Landscape of Change (a collaboration between MDI Historical Society, Schoodic Institute, Acadia National Park, MDI Biological Laboratory, College of the Atlantic and A Climate to Thrive) -What are we up against in terms of climate change? What are impacts we are already seeing here in Maine? What are the long-term trends? -What is the story of The Champlain Society (Harvar...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations through the lens of The Gatherings, published by University of Toronto Press in 2021 What were the intentions for The Gatherings…what difference has participation in The Gatherings made in your life? What did you learn about how to develop honest, respectful relationships among Natives and Non-Natives who were part of the Gatherings...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard In the face of a changing climate, Maine communities are working to help families, businesses and local governments take steps, both to reduce green-house gasses and to adapt to the consequences. Citizens are listening to one another, devising plans and enacting policies that are grounded locally, but connected across the state. Guests Tony Ferrara, of Climate Action Net o...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Who was Ruth Moore? -Upbringing and family life on Gotts Island -Her work, including with Reader’s Digest -Her novels -Later life in Bass Harbor -What contributions did Ruth Moore make to American literature… why does her writing resonate? Attending to Ruth Moore’s legacy and body of work -Gary Lawless on his role at Blackberry Books, noting Sandy Phippen’s role as editor...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard What were the origins of Maine Community Foundation, its mission and areas of focus What led to creation of County Funds as a strategy to engage local people both as donors and, with county fund support, as community builders. How does the county committee concept work in your case… your role with encouraging donors and with identifying non-profit organizations whose work...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard What is the history of midwifery? What is the current status of midwifery in Maine? What are the challenges to access to care, especially to women in rural areas… how does midwifery play a role in this? How does someone become a midwife? ( education and levels of practice) What are the advantages and challenges of starting an independent private practice. How are midwives/...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard What makes the geology of present-day Maine especially compelling to you? What is a Geopark and how would it work? What have you been working on in the past year as you have drafted a vision for a Maine Geopark? Within a geopark, there are geosites (sites of geological importance– provide examples from Damariscotta, Fort Knox and Lubec. How would creation of a Geopar...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard What were the origins of The History Trust… given that there are many local organizations who preserve historical records and objects, why was it important to create a new organization? What about Mount Desert Island and the surrounding communities gave rise to The History Trust? What inspiration does the rich tradition of local land trust hold for local history? Who are t...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard The Exiles: A Conversation with Christina Baker Kline about her novel, published in by William Morrow, August, 2020 -Who are the major characters in The Exiles, and how do their lives intertwine? -What in your own background or previous writing/research intrigued you about aboriginal peoples and the notion that they have often been made exiles of their own land, displaced?...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument: Celebrating the first four years •What led to the creation of the monument? What were some of the highs and lows in that journey? •What would a visitor find in a visit today, four years after the monument opened? How would they get there? Where might they stay? What would they experience? •How does the history and culture of Nat...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Project Launch and Deer Isle-Stonington High School—supporting high school graduates and their families with the transition to post-secondary education and the world of work What led to the creation of Project Launch in 2012? The transition from high school to post-secondary education can be challenging… what were you observing about the differences and similarities of tho...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Program Topic: Conservation of the Narraguagus River watershed and improving passage for salmon and other fish Background on the river and the watershed… what is significant, including salmon habitat and human uses of the river (economic and recreational) and its related resources Jacob describes how MCHT’s Whole Place initiative relates Background on Cherryfield (a bit of...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Interview with Leonie Charlton, author of Marram, published by Sandstone Press, 2020 about her trip with horses through the Hebrides What led Leonie Charlton to take this trip? What did she encounter in the way of flora, fauna and geology unique to the Hebrides? What did she learn about the people, culture and history of the Hebrides? What did Leonie learn about your relat...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Studio Engineer: Amy Browne What is the status of Eastern Brook Trout in North America and in Maine Population, habitat, ecology, role in sport fishery What is the life cycle of the brook trout? Why is Maine so important to the status of brook trout? What are the best strategies to protect and enhance brook trout populations? What is the mission of Trout Unlimited and how...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Studio Engineer: Amy Browne Background on Ellsworth and its regional economy– historic and present day Ellsworth’s overall economic development strategy What led to the Union River Center for Innovation as part of that strategy? How does the Center approach its work? The several companies who are based at the Center seem to stem from innovation based in scientific re...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Studio Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: What led each guest to knitting and how does it factor into their lives now? As members of a weekly knitting group at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, what are the benefits you and other members see. What community projects have been successful? What do we know about the history of knitting, both for functional cl...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Studio Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: What motivated folks to create Peninsula Free Health Clinic in 2013? What services do you provide and who provides them? Where are you located? Describe array of patients (geography, socio-economic background, health status) What might a typical day at the clinic look like? If the clinic is filling gaps in the present heal...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Studio Engineer: Amy Browne Key Discussion Points: What were some of the larger conversations in the world of art and craft that gave rise to Haystack? Art vs. Craft, Cranbrook, the Bauhas, Black Mountain, other antecedents? What was the enduring philosophy that undergirds Haystack from creation to present? Who were the principle “forces” of what became Haystack (Francis a...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Studio Engineer: Amy Browne What is the long-observed inherent tension in the park service mission and how does that play out in Acadia? What is this summer’s experience? What is the role of interpretation for the park service and how does that take form in Acadia? What are Acadia’s best loved traditional interpretive programs and what would a visitor from earlier times be...

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Studio Engineer: Amy Browne Guests: Tom Groening, Editor, Working Waterfront News Liz Graves, Editor, Mount Desert Islander Becky Pritchard, Reporter, Mount Desert Islander The post Talk of the Towns 8/9/19: Exploring the Roles of Small Town Newspapers first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives .

Producer/Host: Ron Beard Studio Engineer: Amy Browne The backdrop for the action of the novel is the period in Charleston, following defeat of the Confederate army by the Union. Referred to as “redemption” by the those who supported “the Lost Cause”, you write of this time as a reassertion of the violence that kept slavery in place. What are the key elements of that period? You write that the viol...