MDI GIRLS ARE THE FESTIVAL OF CHAMPION CHAMPIONS!
Help Clean Up Eagle Lake: So many briefs and press releases
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Paradis Ace Hardware.
Each week (sometimes twice) we compile the press releases and our own briefs into one story so that we don’t overwhelm your inboxes with seven stories a day. This is this week’s compilation.
Our first brief is via Chris Popper from WDEA with a photo courtesy of MDIHS Athletics. You can see it here as well. Many thanks to Mr. Popper and WDEA for the constant local sports coverage!
MDI GIRLS ARE THE FESTIVAL OF CHAMPION CHAMPIONS!
BELFAST—The MDI Girls' Cross Country Team finished first in the 2024 Festival of Champions Cross Country Race on Saturday, October 5, at the Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast.
The Trojans finished with a team total of 141, which was 69 points ahead of the second place team from York.
There were 642 girls who finished the race, and a total of 61 teams.
MDI's top five finishers were
Amelia Vandongen 18:27.19
Kulani Granholm 20:01.34
Rebecca Rand 20:03.55
Meri Rainford 20:20.10
Marlee Catanese 20:28.80
Granholm, Rand, and Catanese are all freshman while Vandongen and Rainford are seniors.
The top finisher was Zoe Mosher from Park View with a time of 17:39.11 while Teanne Ewings from Houlton was the top Maine finisher with a time of 18:16.19
The Top 10 Team finishers were
MDI 141
York 210
Camden Hills 280
Falmouth 286
Portland 317
Hampden Academy 322
Thornton Academy 326
Austin Preparatory 367
JH Gillis Regional 372
Portsmouth 442
To see all the individual Girls' Scores and Team Scores click HERE
Cleaning up Bar Harbor’s Water Source Today!
BAR HARBOR—Sunday, October 6, Ed “Diver Ed” Monat and the League of Underwater Superheroes will be conducting an underwater cleanup of Eagle Lake. As Bar Harbor’s source of public water, it is vital to maintain a clean aquatic environment at Eagle Lake and you are invited to help ensue that it stays clean.
As long as “we don't get NW winds we will be doing an underwater cleanup at Eagle Lake on Sunday at 10 a.m.,” said Monat.
Monat is looking for a couple of small boats and operators, with outboards less than 10 hp, to help tend the divers while they are in the water and picking up trash from the lake bottom.
For more information you can contact Monat at ed@divered.com or 207-479-3483.
Film focuses on environmental activism
BAR HARBOR — “Bidder 70,” the real-life story of Tim DeChristopher’s extraordinary, ingenious, and effective act of civil disobedience drawing attention to the need for action on climate change, screens at College of the Atlantic on Tuesday, October 8, at 6:30 p.m. in the Davis Center for Human Ecology, Rm. 202. The event is free and open to the public.
Tim DeChristopher is the student who monkey-wrenched the 2008 fraudulent Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oil and Gas Lease Auction. He bid $1.8 million to save 22,000 acres of pristine Utah wilderness surrounding Arches and Canyonlands national parks, but had no intention to pay or drill, bringing the BLM auction to an abrupt halt. A month later, Barack Obama became president and on February 4, 2009, new U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar invalidated the entire BLM auction.
Nevertheless, DeChristopher was indicted on two federal felonies facing penalties of up to 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. During the two years awaiting his trial, DeChristopher stepped up his activism, evolved into a climate justice leader, and waited through nine trial postponements until, on February 28, 2011 his trial began.
“Bidder 70” is DeChristopher ’s journey from economics student to incarcerated felon.
The movie has won a number of awards, such as Best U.S. Feature Film at the Traverse City Film Festival, Best Film & Audience Award at the Frozen River Film Festival, Best Documentary and Act Now awards at the Crested Butte Film Festival, and others.
The film is being screened as part of COA Director of Energy David Gibson’s Endgame Decarbonization course.
Artists Perform and Host Discussion About Israel-Palestine.
BAR HARBOR — Three artists examine the boundaries between text, body, and voice while addressing contexts of political violence in Israel-Palestine with a multilingual (Arabic, Hebrew, Yiddish, English) musical performance and discussion at College of the Atlantic on Sunday, October 13, at 7 p.m., in the Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Community Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Neta Weiner, Stav Marin, and Samira Saraya are artists who have collaborated for more than a decade in a range of artistic projects, sharing the stage in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Salzburg, Berlin, and New York, among other places. Their work demonstrates the possibilities of art for opening up questions and facilitating conflictual dialogues and collaboration.
Weiner, Marin, and Saraya will perform segments of one of their recent works, Beat Midras, as part of a musical and spoken word multilingual performance, followed by a conversation with the audience about their work and about the current situation in Israel-Palestine. Beat Midras is a word play between the Jewish concept of Beit Midrash, a Jewish religious-intellectual discursive space, madāris/madrassa, the Arabic name for an educational institution (secular or religious), and the sonic, rhythmic and musical meanings of the English word beat. Broadly, this work investigates multi-languaging and the politicization of the linguistic public sphere via various performative and creative traditions, including spoken word, martial arts, contemporary dance, and beatboxing. More specifically, it explores relationships between language, vocal production, and movement in the politics of Israeli-Palestinian contexts, with particular attention to gender formation.
Neta Weiner is a musician, theater director, singer, actor, rapper, poet, accordionist, and the artistic director of Beit System Ali, a multi-lingual hip-hop project. He was born in Kibbutz Givat Haim in 1987. Weiner has created and acted in several critically acclaimed and award-winning stage works produced for festivals and prominent theaters worldwide. As a musician, he wrote the soundtrack for the acclaimed TV teen series “Madrasa” (meaning “school” in Arabic). Weiner is a lecturer in Tufts University’s Theatre, Dance, and Performance Department and a guest scholar at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University.
Stav Marin is a choreographer, dancer, and performer. She has been recognized with the prestigious Ministry of Culture Award. Marin served as the artistic director of the Intimadance Festival in Tel Aviv, has worked on numerous dance and theater productions globally, and has collaborated with various international choreographers, dance companies, and artists. She is also a member of System Ali. Marin is a lecturer at Tufts University’s Theatre, Dance, and Performance Department and a guest scholar at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University.
Samira Saraya is an actor, writer, director, spoken word artist, musician, and LGBTQ activist. She was born in Haifa in 1975. In her early 20s, she began performing as a drag king while working as a nurse. She won the Acco Festival Award for unique acting in 2012, Fringe Theatre Award for 2015 and 2017, Best Actress Award in the 2017 Jerusalem Film Festival, and the Best Script Award for her short film Polygraph at the 2018 at TLVFest. Saraya graduated from Tel Aviv University with a degree in directing and debuted with Polygraph in 2020. She is also a member of the System Ali band.
Americana virtuosos Mr. Sun to perform
BAR HARBOR — Acoustic Americana virtuosos Mr. Sun will be joined by visual artist Alex Rheault for live music and artmaking at College of the Atlantic on Friday, Oct. 18. The performance starts at 7 p.m. in the Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Community Center. Tickets at the door are $10 to the general public.
Mr Sun comprises some of the most original musicians to apply themselves to the American string band. Mr. Sun is renowned fiddler Darol Anger, professor emeritus at Berklee College of Music, who has released dozens of influential solo albums over a 50-year career in addition to his work with David Grisman and Mike Marshall, and founded the Turtle Island Quartet, Psychograss, and Republic of Strings; Joe K. Walsh, mandolin virtuoso and vocalist who spent four years with the award-winning bluegrass act the Gibson Brothers before becoming a solo artist, songwriter, and Strings Department professor at Berklee; all-around guitar genius Grant Gordy, a former member of David Grisman’s band and respected solo artist and educator; and the phenomenal Scots bassist Aidan O’Donnell, who has backed harpist Maeve Gilchrist and countless modern jazz heroes.
Southern maine visual artist, mentor, curator, and poet Alex Rheault joins Mr. Sun for live artmaking during the show.
Rheault adapts a language of collage to draw fragments with a brush, glue studio ephemera with found scraps from everyday life, and writes daily votives and parking lot poems. She teaches at University of New England and privately, operates Drawing Room to build community through communal practices, and SparkleWorks to assist individuals and families with care. She is fluent in Italian, rides a Guzzi, and finds meaning in all living activities.
Rheault’s typewriter drawing for Jefferson Navicky’s recent book has traveled with the Illustration Institute’s “State of Illustration” exhibit. She will exhibit a word scroll, “Voluta,” this fall at UNE, assembling discarded words to reflect futile madnesses of judgmentalism.
Fight Like Hell: The Testimony of Mother Jones
BAR HARBOR — A screening of “Fight Like Hell: The Testimony of Mother Jones,” along with a Q&A with film actress and writer Kaiulani Lee, takes place at College of the Atlantic on Tuesday, Oct. 22. The free event begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Davis Center for Human Ecology, Room 102.
We were never supposed to know Mother Jones’ name. She was a poor Irish immigrant who survived famine and war, fire and plague. Unable to save her husband or their four small children, she dedicated her life to saving working families everywhere. The robber barons called her “the most dangerous woman in America,” but workers called her “Mother Jones.”
Upton Sinclair said of her, “She had force, she had wit, she had the fire of indignation; she was the walking wrath of god.” Mother Jones said of herself, “I’m not a humanitarian, I’m a hellraiser.” Most famously, she told her followers to “pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.” She educated, agitated, organized the dispossessed, and showed America what it could be.
With the gap between the rich and poor growing wider by the day, the just and democratic society Mother Jones fought for is under attack. Her hour has come again.
Drawn from her autobiography, letters, speeches, and interviews, this one-shot film was adapted from Obie Award-winning actress Kaiulani Lee’s one-woman play, “Can’t Scare Me,” produced by the same team as “A Sense of Wonder,” with Kaiulani Lee as Rachel Carson, and directed by Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney.
Kaiulani Lee is an Asian American actress with over 35 years of experience in theater, film, and television, starring in over a dozen on- and off-Broadway productions. She has been nominated for the Drama Desk Award on Broadway and has won the Obie Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Achievement. In 2011, Lee’s second play, “Can’t Scare Me…The Story of Mother Jones,” opened at the Atlas Theater in Washington, D.C.
The screening is sponsored by COA Director of Energy David Gibson’s Endgame Decarbonization course.
HARVEST FESTIVAL AT THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL!
Refuse Collection Notice for Indigenous Peoples Day
MOUNT DESERT—Monday refuse will be collected on Tuesday
There will be NO refuse collection on Monday October 14, 2024. Refuse normally collected on Monday will be collected on Tuesday, October 15, 2024. All other collection days remain the same.
REMINDER: The complete refuse schedule, including holidays and summer/winter schedule, can be found in the Annual Town Report (look in the yellow pages), and on the Town website and the Town Office.
To alert the refuse collectors that you need refuse picked up, please leave a message at 276-5733. Of course, this applies to year-round as well as summer residents.
The Town Office will be closed on October 14, 2024, for Indigenous Peoples Day.
Painter of Maine Labor Mural Judy Taylor Scheduled for Public Appearance
NORTHEAST HARBOR—On Wednesday, October 16th from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. the Northeast Harbor Library will host Maine-based painter and educator Judy Taylor for a presentation entititled "Representations of Working People in the Visual Arts". Taylor will discuss how artists past and present have used their neighbors and contemporaries as subjects in their work, and will talk about what she looks for in a model. She will also show works from some of the women of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s and those who painted in the hospitals during the two world wars.
Taylor’s work consists of figurative and narrative paintings, labor-focused work, landscapes and portraiture. Her scenes of workers and nature found on Mount Desert Island often incorporate island residents as models. In 2007 she was awarded the commission to paint the History of Labor in Maine which took a full year to complete. Taylor's work is on display during the month of October in the Mellon Room at the library.
This free event will be held in person at the library with a Zoom option. Registration is encouraged by visiting www.nehlibrary.org.
Pop-up Jazz Cafe to Visit Northeast Harbor
NORTHEAST HARBOR—On Saturday, October 12th from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m the Northeast Harbor Library will host Jazz and Donuts, a free live music event featuring local musicians and complimentary coffee and donuts.
A passion project of pianist Greg Snakard, Jazz and Donuts is an opportunity to gather with neighbors for a cozy autumn morning and enjoy live music from some of our year-round residents. Snakard will be accompanied by Matthew Harkins on saxophone.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in Jazz Piano Performance, Greg Snakard became well known for his live performances and for hosting Saturday Morning Jazz Jams. Changing careers to pursue carpentry, Snakard moved to MDI where he quickly connected with local musicians and performers. He draws inspiration from some of the great jazz pianists such as Bill Evans, Red Garland, Errol Garner, Herbie Hancock, and Barry Harris.
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is recommended but not required by visiting the library's website at www.nehlibrary.org.
Author Talk with Caroline Ailanthus: Birfurcation Events
Thursday, October 10 at 7 p.m.
BAR HARBOR—Join us for an author talk with Caroline Ailanthus on her latest book Bifurcation Events, a compelling short-fiction cycle that weaves together one novel, two novellas, and five short stories. This session, followed by a Q&A, will feature selected readings from the novel and discuss how the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the creation of these interconnected stories.
About the novel:
There are moments that divide life into before and after. Death can do it. Any disaster can. But so can miracles. So can love. Andy, a scientist, calls these moments bifurcation events, a technical term that may or may not apply literally. He's seen his share, most dramatically in the complete collapse of the civilization of his youth--and the beginnings of another. His story, or part of it, was told in the novel, Ecological Memory. Here are the related stories of some of his family and friends. One novel. Two novellas. Five short stories. Bifurcation Events.
About the author:
Caroline Ailanthus is a novelist, blogger, and free-lance writer and editor. Most of her work revolves around science somehow, even her fiction. Or, perhaps, especially her fiction. She is the author of three novels, To Give a Rose, Ecological Memory, and Bifurcation Events, as well as various blogs, short stories and essays.
Caroline grew up in Delaware and attended various small, odd schools, mostly in New England. She has a BA in Environmental Leadership and an MS in Conservation Biology. She now lives in Maryland with her husband and assorted dogs and cats. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found either walking her beagles or making a complete mess of the kitchen.
Copies of “Birfurcation Events” will be for sale, courtesy of Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops.
This event is free and in-person or online. Register here: https://www.jesuplibrary.org/events/ailanthus
RECURRING YOUTH PROGRAMS AT THE JESUP
WELCOME FALL CONTRA DANCE
BAR HARBOR—Welcome Fall at our fun contra dance! Music by Big Moose. Caller Bill Schubeck will teach all dances. Beginners, families, experienced dancers welcome. Refreshments.
$10 donation benefits Jesup library.
October 26: 7-10 p.m.
SNACK SHACK FUNDRAISERS AT MDI HIGH SCHOOL
BELT SANDER RACES ARE COMING!
AROOSTOOK RENEWABLE PROJECT AWARDED $425 MILLION
Governor Janet Mills issued the following statement today applauding the U.S. Department of Energy for awarding a $425 million capacity contract -- one of the largest Federal investments in energy development in Maine ever—to advance the Aroostook Renewable Project, a proposed clean energy transmission line project in northern Maine:
"This unprecedented investment from the Biden-Harris Administration has the power to transform the energy future of northern Maine. By expanding our transmission infrastructure, this investment can make the electric grid more stable and reliable and allow us to harness affordable, clean energy generated right here in our own backyard instead of having to import expensive and harmful fossil fuels from out-of-state. Investments like these bring us closer to the energy independence that can help stabilize costs for people and strengthen our economy, which is all the more important to me for rural Maine. While there are many important steps ahead, this is an exciting step forward and a testament to the tremendous energy opportunity available in northern Maine. I thank the Biden-Harris Administration, including Secretary Granholm, for recognizing this potential and for once again delivering vital funding that can benefit Maine people for generations to come."
Flies & Lies
BAR HARBOR—Downeast Trout Unlimited is excited to announce the “Flies & Lies” fly-tying group.
Flies & Lies is open to anyone interested in the art of fly tying and the sport of fly fishing. This group will share information about fly-tying techniques and provide teaching opportunities for the fly-tying community. The group will meet on Sundays twice per month from October to April to promote fly fishing and conservation.
Location: 96 Cottage Street, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, Machias Savings Bank, Community Room.
Time: 5 – 8 p.m.
The meeting dates are:
2024 Dates: October 6, November 3 and 17, December 15.
2025 Dates: January 5 and 19, February 2 and 16, March 2 and 16, April 6 and 20.
Contacts:
Tammy Packie (207) 288-5442 tpackie@gmail.com
Bob Bechtold (207)-288-4957 Trichoptera42@gmail.com
We look forward to seeing you and hearing your fishing stories from 2024.
Please bring everything you need to tie flies including your vice, tools, lamp, extension cord, and tying materials (furs, feathers, hooks, beads, thread, etc.)
For more information, including meeting dates and times, go to https://downeasttu.org/ or Downeast TU on Facebook.
Many thanks to Machias Savings Bank and Downeast Trout Unlimited for their generosity and support in providing this meeting space.
Downeast Trout Unlimited meeting with Lauren Pickford Oct 16 2024
Ellsworth—Join Downeast Trout Unlimited for our first meeting of the season on October 16 as Lauren Pickford, Trout Unlimited Maine Project Manager, will describe current and future projects around the state including strategic wood additions. Pickford was recently hired as the Trout Unlimited Project Manager for Maine for her extensive experience and deep commitment to conservation. Throughout her career, she has worked to preserve Maine's natural resources for both recreation and wildlife.
Lauren earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Maine and a master’s degree in Wildlife Conservation and Management from Unity College. She has focused on watershed protection in central and western Maine, most recently in trout and landlocked salmon conservation in the Greater Sebago Lakes Watershed. Her work with Sebago Clean Waters and Lakes Environmental Association reconnected miles of streams and rivers.
Lauren served as Planning & Land Use Manager at the Lakes Environmental Association in Bridgton, ME, overseeing projects to protect water quality, aquatic habitats, and stream connectivity. She led a watershed-wide Aquatic Organism Passage Initiative and advocated for environmental protections in legislation and local policies. At the 7 Lakes Alliance in Belgrade Lauren managed volunteer and staff programs, including Maine's largest Youth Conservation Corps, and assisted in fundraising, outreach, and educational events throughout the watershed.
Lauren's dedication to Maine's natural landscapes is also reflected in her personal life. She plays ice hockey and engages in many outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming, and skiing. Lauren grew up in southern Maine on the tidal Piscataqua River and now lives in Sumner, with a small brook trout stream in her backyard.
Hybrid meeting Wed. October 16 at 5:30 p.m., at the Moore Community Center 125 State Street Ellsworth and via Zoom. Pre-register at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82292257617?pwd=7zhrxxJoU7CmgMoNX7xxsdzGKlz6qS.1
Downeast Trout Unlimited (DETU) chapter 305 is dedicated to conserving, protecting, and restoring Maine's cold water fisheries and their watersheds. Go to www.tu.org/join305Downeast to join-New memberships are half price! To renew call 800-834-2419. Donations may be mailed to Downeast Trout Unlimited, c/o Dana Hunter, Treasurer; 9 Lobster Pool Road Little Deer Isle, ME 04650.
Contact DETU Secretary Tammy Packie, tpackie@gmail.com or visit https://www.downeasttu.org/ or Downeast TU on Facebook.
If you’d like to donate to help support us, you can, but no pressure! Just click here.
If you’d like to sponsor the Bar Harbor Story, you can! Learn more here.