Maine Women Writers Collection

We had the opportunity this semester to visit the Maine Women Writers Collection at the University of New England, in Portland. To start off with our class visit there, we watched a short introduction video to the collection, its history and importance.

The collection was originally founded in 1959 by Dorothy Healy and Grace Dow, as a way to preserve and honor the contributions from many women writers from Maine. Much of the collection are works from the 19th and 20th centuries, and books aren't the only resources in the collection. The collection also holds numerous unpublished artifacts, such as letters, photographs, and journals. It's tough to come by a collection of this scope and magnitude, and it's weird to think I didn't even realize we had something like this close by.

From novels to non-fiction accounts and cookbooks, the collection seemed to have a little bit of everything. I was impressed by its size and the amount of material it contained in such limited space. I also had no idea about the amount of history Maine has in women writers and literature. It really is kind of a hidden treasure, and I was surprised to learn that beyond Sarah Orne Jewett and Harriet Beecher Stowe, there is much more to learn about the literary history for Maine women. The experience as a whole was incredibly eye opening. 

The Maine Women Writers Collection is definitely a place that would be worth visiting again to learn about the history of women's literature in Maine, but also to actually experience and read some of the work. I imagine, like Jewett's work, it all would give us a very unqiue perspective on the different times and history of Maine, as well as what it was like to be living in Maine as a women. The works kept at the collection span through much of Maine's history, so it would be an incredible tool in getting an accurate picture as to what it was like living in Maine during these times, and the culture experienced. 

"Paths of Learning Panel"

On November 30th I had the opportunity to attend a panel called, "Paths of Learning" about a project done with high school and middle school students at King Middle School and Portland High School. The project was led by three individuals, all of Native American descent.

The first was Geogre Longfish, an older man who is a member of the Seneca Indian Tribe. He attained his Master of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago, and is a renown abstract artist and former lecturer at UCal-Davis.

Next was Mihku Paul, who has her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

Finally, Christina Williams, a USM graduate and ballet dancer in The Nutcracker play. She was a fine arts and education major at the University of Southern Maine.

The three people involved in this project stated that it was their goal to teach students about contemporary Native American art and culture. To do this the three had the children create their own art using traditional Natvie American methods and materials, which placed a strong emphasis on using natural resources as the material in the art.

The end result was a large, mural like piece that was shown in the student center at the Portland USM campus. The style of the piece, in the sense of it's size, may have been inspired by George Longfish's art, much of which have been larger, mural paintings.

Talking about the experience with the children, the speakers remarked how tension and anxiety filled the air with the students, due to the new methods of learning and teaching they were being exposed to. Instead of having a set class plan and standard teachings for the students, the students were largely responsible for pinpointing what they wanted to learn about on their own, and how they wanted to learn about it. This sort of academic freedom had never been experienced by these students, and despite the troubles at first, the speakers said they believed the product of the experience was much better because of it.

The speakers talked about how the process being created by many hands led to a more organic final project and lesson plan, making it difficult to recreate in the future. That's how it is supposed to be though, each project and lesson being unique to the students being taught.

Each speaker talked about how this project influenced them and their thoughts about their own heritage. Christina Williams spoke about how she had never actually considered herself a real Native American. She knew she had the blood in her, but not what it meant to actually be a Native American, or what other people considered her to be, a Native American artist. Williams said she was two generations separated from the reservation, implying she felt a disconnect between where she was and her heritage. This caused her to be uncomfortable with identifying herself as a Native American. She said though, that while she still has trouble classifying her own identity, the project had helped her in many ways, and she has come to realize that she is indeed, a true Native American.

Mihku Paul talked about her childhood education, and how she felt a disconnect with a western style of education. She described it as being, "shut up in a room with four walls," and told us about how her mother would pull her out of class so she could go with her grandfather to the woods, where she would learn about natural features of the landscape and the environment, something she felt much more comfortable doing. She says that she favors an education style that gets students to directly experience the lessons being taught, and how that is largely a Native American concept.

George Longfish was the oldest speaker, and my favorite. He had a reserved, dry humor, that had been described as "Indian humor" throughout the presentation. He is famous for being an abstract artist, with work focusing on issues in Native American culture and society.

As a child, Longfish was placed in a boarding school for Indian children near Buffalo, New York, where he says he lost his native language and much of his sense of his native culture. He said it took him a long time to rediscover himself after those experiences. He talked about his experiences after that as well in the educational system, like his experience in Chicago, where he, "partied hard" his first year in school.

His art work dealing with Native American issues, deals with not only the discrimination and acts perpetrated against his society, but issues within his own society as well. He talked about how much of his art is influenced by how society as a whole doesn't wish to discuss what happened to the Native Americans, and what we did to the Native Americans.

Being able to learn about the way in which the lessons they presented to the children at King Middle School and Portland High School connected with me. In my own experience, I had always learned better with hands on methods and experiencing things myself. Since college, I have taught myself to learn in more traditional methods as well, but still learn just as well through alternative experiences.

It was also amazing to hear about the experiences the speakers have had in rediscovering themselves over the years, and how this project pushed them further along in this. Listening to George Longfish talking about losing his own sense of culture, and then finding his way back to it, is largely what inspired me to focus on Franco-American history for my final project.

Once again I don't know why it won't rotate. Sorry. From top to bottom at the blue table it goes, George Longfish, Mihku Paul, and Christina Williams.

"An Aging State: Demographic Change and the Implications for Maine's Economy"

On November 30th at the Muskie School in Portland, Maine state economist and Muskie School graduate, Amanda Rector gave a short, but direct and informative presentation on Maine's population, how it's aging, and the implications of having a lot of old people in Maine.

Rector opened up her lecture by giving a few key stats to understanding what Maine is currently going through. According to Rector, Maine's population as of the last census, was a whopping 1,328,361 people, good enough to be the 41st largest states in the entire United States. The population grew 4.2% between the 200 census and the 2010 census. 94.4 percent of the population was white/non-hispanic says Rector. Maine is very pale these days.

Rector actually gave a good history lesson as part of her lecture, looking at some of the population spikes and changes throughout the years. She said the population spiked once in the 1970s, due to the "back to the land movement," which brought in many people from away. Since then though, the baby boomers have stopped having children, and the birth rate in Maine has sharply declined, with higher increases in death rate as the population continues to age more and more.

Rector said in her presentation that Maine was aging much more quickly than the United States as a whole, and that by 2030 the average age in Maine would be a whole 8 years older than the average age of the rest of the United States. Another frightening statistic she gave us, was that by 2030, it's a very real possibility that Maine will be home to more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 25. She says this is a major issue for the state, because there would be fewer students in Maine, and in return fewer workers as well.

On the bright side, the health services industry in Maine is thriving. Thanks old people.

The population is waning so much, that our current population of youth in Maine is about the same it was in the year 1950. Yet another indicator that more and more young people are leaving the state in search of greener pastures.

Rector did provide some solutions shes been working on with our dear leader, Gov. Paul LePage though. She says that one step Maine could take would be to attract more young, unskilled workers to the state. She didn't provide an exact way of doing this, but I imagine it would be by "opening Maine for business" and bringing back an industrial and manufacturing base to Maine's economy.

Rector did bring up the opportunity of alternative energy in Maine though, and the role it could play in our economy very soon. She says that people with education in experience in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) will have a very solid economic opportunity in the coming years.

Getting more people to actually get there education in these fields is extremely important though, as Maine currently has a low proportion of people with bachelor's degrees, which correlates to Maine's low median wages. Expanding upon education in these areas will be crucial for Maine's economy, and education should not be limited to the college level alone. Rector talked about the importance of industrial and technical educational programs at all levels, including high school.

For the most part Rector gave a great summary of what Maine's economy is doing right now, why it's doing it, and how to make it stop doing it, so it actually gets better. Rector seems to be more in tune with my ideas, rather than the ideas of Paulie up in the Blaine House, which is a plus for her, because I'm pretty sure I could do a better job as governor, and I don't even have the experience of owning a crappy retail chain.*

*I actually love Marderns.

I don't know why I can't rotate the picture. Sorry.

Sen. George Mitchell

Former Senate Majority Leader, George Mitchell recently spoke at the University of Southern Maine. Mitchell has a storied career, and is maybe one of Maine's best known political figures throughout the years. The democrat served from 1980 to 1994. Mitchell was also the first Arab-American Senate Majority Leader.

Sen. Mitchell spoke about the Arab Spring in the Hannaford Lecture hall at USM, and was joined on the stage by University of Southern Maine president, Selma Botman, who is a scholar in middle eastern studies. Before Mitchell got into the heart of the situation currently happening around the world in countries like Israel,  Egypt, and Libya though, he talked a bit about his upbringing in the state of Maine.

Mitchell was originally from Waterville, Maine, where he was raised in a family with four other siblings by his father, a janitor at Colby College, and his mother. His family was extremely poor, and Mitchell told us about how going to college never even entered his mind as he was attending high school. Mitchell told us that he expected to graduate and find a job in one of the local paper mills to support his family.

Luckily though, things soon changed for Mitchell. One of his father's supervisors at Colby College recognized Mitchell's brightness and intellect, and asked Mitchell to travel to Bowdoin College to meet with admissions. While Mitchell was at first hesitant, he made the trip to Brunswick. Mitchell's family was so poor at the time, he was forced to hitch hike all the way from Waterville to Brunswick, but the trip was well worth it.

Mitchell came out of the meeting being accepted by Bowdoin College and placed in several local jobs to help fund the education he didn't believe he'd be able to pay for. The new opportunity afforded to him would not be wasted. Mitchell graduated from Bowdoin College in 1954, then joined the armed forces, serving from 1954-1956. By 1961 Mitchell had received his law degree from the prestigious Georgetown University.

From there Mitchell practiced law both in Washington D.C and Portland, Maine until about 1977, but in 1974 he had gotten his start in politics. He beat out future Maine governor Joesph Brennan for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, but lost in a close election to independent candidate James Longley. This election got his name out into the public though, and when Edmund Muskie resigned from the U.S Senate in 1980, George Mitchell was appointed by Brennan, who was now serving as Maine's governor.

Mitchell had a lucrative career in the US Senate, quickly running to the top ranks in the capital, with accomplishments such as continuing and strengthening Sen. Edmund Muskie's Clean Air Act, but by 1994 Mitchell decided it was time to get out of electoral politics. He has still been seen in American public political life though, conducting investigations for the government (think baseball), leading peace talks in Ireland, and most recently being a special envoy to the Middle East, the topic of the night at USM.

Mitchell gave an impressive lecture that night, and seemed to provide the audience with a wealth of information. Despite not finding success as a special envoy to the Middle East, he didn't seem to have missed a beat, and was definitely an expert on relations between Israelis and Palestinians. He brought a realist attitude to the situation, saying that peace wasn't near, nor was a two state solution, but agreed that a two state solution was the best option for the situation. He gave us valuable insight into what it's like to bargain with the two sides, and said that peace would only be made if "both sides thought they had the best deal."

Ticket Confirmation. Proof I was there.

Mitchell still maintained an incredible presence when speaking and displayed passion for the topic he was speaking about. The story he led into the lecture with, of his upbringing in Maine, was just as interesting as the main topic itself, and painted a vivid picture of what it was like growing up in a poor family, in rural Maine. His story exhibited the toughness and perseverance that has often been attributed to Mainers throughout history.

Portland Museum of Art Exhibit

Viewed on 9/8/2011

Today we went to the Portland Museum of Art to view an exhibit that featured many prominent artists who came to Maine to depict its tranquil yet rugged shore. The museum was bustling for a mid-week afternoon, and this particular exhibit seemed to attract quite a few visitors.

The exhibit, titled Maine Moderns: Art in Seguinland, 1900-1940 was a quite wonderful exhibit put on by my absolute favorite history professor. It features art by a number of artists from the early to mid-20th century, many of whom were not natives to the state, and were instead, "from away." I feel like this has a strong connection to what Colin Woodard wrote about in The Lobster Coast. These artists came from all over to paint and depict Maine's natural landscape. The artists saw Maine has a last rural area, a place they could be without having real worries in the hustle bustle nature of a city that had been overgrown by industry and was in the process of being polluted. These are people that had come to Maine, to get away.

Clambake by Marguerite Zorach from 1945.

Of course they weren't the only people in Maine. Many of Maine's residents weren't artists, and didn't come to Maine to get away. They were here because they were born here, and Maine was home. They needed jobs and the opportunity to support and sustain themselves and their family. If they were to survive, industry needed to be allowed to enter the area.

This often put natives at odd with the new comers. Both parties were in Maine, but for very different reasons. One to live, the other to make a living. When it came time for industry to grow or move in, economic growth for many, the "rusticators" overwhelmingly opposed it. They argued that Maine's natural resources and landscape needed be left alone, unharmed, and that development wasn't a good thing. They argued this even when it meant harm to those who lived there.

This exhibit gives us an opportunity to see Maine the way these people "from away" saw it. The natural resources, the natural beauty. They painted the landscape of Maine, separating it from the culture and the people often times, giving it a life of it's own. I think being able to look at all this art in this fashion helps us reveal a lot about the way the artists viewed Maine. I believe they saw it as a beautiful chunk of land, which it is, that they could run away to and live the way their ancestors had lived before them, forgetting that people had already been living there for hundreds of years.

A piece painted by William Zorach in 1940 entitled Five Islands Ice Cream Parlor. 

The people who had already been calling the Maine shore home, could attest very well to the fact that living there was no game. It often times took a special breed to live and work there, if you could even find the work. People needed to brave weather conditions and vital supplies weren't always there when you needed them, depending on where you were. Not everybody who came to Maine stayed.

None the less, these artists gave us great work to look at, to see how they viewed Maine, what Maine was 70 to 110 years ago, and what we can't always see today going to the same locations. The exhibit tells us a lot about the state and the type of people it took to live there.

My favorite, Surf on Reef, by Marsden Hartley. 

Portland Observatory

Viewed on 9/8/2011.

It was a beautiful day for the Portland Observatory today. We were taken there to explore the tower itself and experience the breath taking view out towards the Atlantic and into the modern city of Portland as well. The tower was originally used to send signals to ships at sea, as well as to those who might be working the docks or other business in the community. Those who operated the tower sent out various signals to alert everyone as to who was coming into the port and who was leaving the port.

Views from above, at the top of the Portland Observatory.

Throughout the years since the tower was ordered to be built, in 1807, it has seen much action. In the days before radios could be used to communicate, the tower was essential in keeping order and an open line of communication in the port city along the sea shore. Since then the tower on Munjoy Hill in Portland, has been renovated twice, once in 1923 as a way to employ workers who couldn't find employment during the Great Depression and once to rid the building of failing support due to termites and other bugs.

The building is now in wonderful condition, with many or the original pieces still holding it up. It is maintained by Greater Portland Landmarks, with guides who give tours in the building seasonally. Each floor has a different exhibit showing one of the many historical or engineering components of the building.

Some of the engineering components were just as interesting to me as the historical. The ways in which the building was built were pretty remarkable. It was a time before machines and cranes could do all the work and heavy lifting, instead it was left up to men to handle all the manual labor. To build a structure of this size required the brute strength of many men.

After it was built, the building was put to quick use by former sea captain, Lemuel Moody. Capt. Moody retired to shore life, and decided building the observatory would be a good business to get into. For a fee, ship captains could subscribe to Moody's service, which including raising ship flags to raise awareness the ship was coming into port.

That wasn't Moody's only duty he gave himself though. He also began studying the weather and watching clouds. He recorded the weather for local newspapers and publications, as well as for sailors who might want to try and predict what exactly they would be facing when they went back out to sea.

It's a long ways down.

The tower went out of operation around the year 1923, as radios and other means of communication had developed. Since then it has been the home to a bowling alley, and dance and event halls. The building has seen and withstood many changes, since it was the lonely structure amongst farms and fields in Portland, to the bustling little eastern seaboard city it is today.

Maine Historical Society Visit

Samuel Johnson, a Civil War veteran, Pastor, and Temperance Movement Activist.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit and tour the Maine Historical Society on Congress Street in Portland. The current exhibit is called Dressing Up, Standing Out, Fitting In: Adornment and Identity in Maine 1750-1950. The exhibit explores a variety of fashion trends from over the time period listed, from formal wear for ceremonies and weddings to simple items like hair clips and buttons. Each item was significant in some way or another to the owner, and played a role in who they were and the time they lived in.

The museum itself was dark with little lighting for the most part. It seemed to be a very slow day for the Maine Historical Society as only one person was manning the desk in the gift shop at the entrance, and the majority of the few people to come through seemed to be other employees and researchers for the society,

The exhibit wasn't huge by any means, but did a nice job of covering the vast 200 year era it had targeted. Almost all of the clothing was formal wear, that you would see at some sort of event or function in Portland. It was hard not to picture people in the old Abyssinian Hall preaching against slavery in these outfits, or woman of the temperance movement in the gowns and dresses presented at the museum. Beside many of the clothing was a picture or portrait of the owner of the outfit.

One of the pieces in the museum that caught my eye was clothing that belonged to Samuel Pearson. Pearson was a native to Massachusetts, but moved to and settled down in Portland later in life. Pearson seemed to live a pretty historical life. Not only did he fight for the Union during the Civil War, but he was also a pastor when he came to Portland and an activist in the Temperance Movement.

Dressed with a collard shirt, bow tie, and jacket, with a top hat on his head, his choice of garb spoke to the type of life he was living at the time. As a pastor he was most likely well known within the community, and as a supporter of Temperance he would become involved with one of the nation's biggest and widespread movements. In the 1870s he became president of the state temperance organization, and as an old man in 1900, he was elected to be the sheriff of Portland. He was a well respected man within the community, and his clothing definitely suggests that he always wished to convey and represent himself in that manner.

Of course there was much clothing for women as well. Gowns, gowns, and more gowns. Wedding gowns, and just gowns you'd wear everyday, it didn't seem like there was a whole lot other than gowns for woman to wear during this period. One part of the exhibit I thought was neat, was a part showing off an early 20th century wedding in northern Maine. One of the wedding gowns used was on display, along with a few other trivial artifacts from the event.

What made the wedding unique and unusual was the fact that two couples were actually getting married at the same wedding. A black and white silent film showed the two couples walking into the church and back out as newly weds, along with an entire parade the town had put on for them. Why was it a double wedding, wasn't made quite clear. I thought that maybe because of a time of economic struggle and uneasiness, weddings had been combined to cut down costs, but a parade for the couples doesn't seem to be too cost effective. Either way, it definitely seemed to be an interesting spectacle.

It was interesting to me just how conservative dress was in these time periods, compared to what we see everyday today. It didn't come to a surprise to me, as times have changed greatly even since the 1950s, but it is very amusing to look at. Dresses and skirts that come all the way down to the ankles, snap on collars to make any shirt look formal, and the different hairstyles of the time were both interesting and fun to look at.

Not so much in the same sense as the amusement you get when you look at a 1980s high school yearbook with the puffy hair and loads of makeup, but in a more critical sense of truly being able to grasp society of these times. Like today you can get a sense of economic status and a community's respect for an individual just based on the clothing they wear and the ways they wear it. But it seemed that dress mattered even more then. There wasn't the cluster and variance of styles then that there are today, if you were wealthy and respected you wore one set of clothing, and if you weren't and were of a lower class or a different trade you wore something else. People were much more distinctive with what they wore.