tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31100965750595863982009-07-06T12:13:24.039-04:00Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-30336027118450560542009-05-09T08:36:00.005-04:002009-05-09T08:52:18.204-04:00

Here we go again: our state legislature is hard at work trying to "dumb down" our state high school graduation requirements.There are 8 learning standards defined in the Maine Learning Results, yet a new piece of legislation, LD 1325, An Act Regarding Curriculum Requirements, calls for students to "fully meet" standards in some of these areas and only to "partially meet" them in other areas--

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-70108685657545211562009-02-24T12:13:00.001-05:002009-02-24T12:13:42.831-05:00

How could the events detailed in this film have occured 30 years ago?That's what I was thinking by the end of the biopic "Milk," which we screened this weekend, one of the most moving and inspiring movies I have seen in a long time. But then, of course, this was my life: Harvey Milk was first elected as the nation's first "out" gay official (after several failed attempts)in 1977, the year I came

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-89516310910525441922009-02-10T07:36:00.001-05:002009-02-10T07:36:57.757-05:00

It’s ironic at best--and tragic for our students at worst--that those fighting school consolidation under the banner of “local control” are looking to the state “for a better deal”(or a legislative repeal) to provide our students with access to better education.School consolidation is not going away. Coordinating and sharing teaching resources, and spreading administrative costs across larger

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-82555498767125394772009-01-26T21:14:00.001-05:002009-01-26T21:18:11.647-05:00

Change.While our country is standing at the threshold of great change this week, those of us born and raised along the New England coast have never been very comfortable with it. We’re stubborn Yankees, descendents, as the journalist Colin Woodward noted in his fine history, The Lobster Coast, of fierce Anglo and French stock. Not only do we not like change: the desire to actively FIGHT it seems

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-30858854487637817912008-09-29T04:31:00.003-04:002008-09-29T04:35:29.797-04:00

For the second time in the last 25 years, we middle class and poor citizens have felt the pain of failed Republican economic policy and philosophy.Let's look at the facts. We cannot afford to allow this to happen again.Wielding the scare tactics of "tax increases" and social issues to assert the philosophy that unregulated markets not only feed individual greed but somehow benefit everyone, the

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-83488131579674748122008-07-24T10:41:00.000-04:002008-07-24T10:42:07.156-04:00

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-30025465921846473602008-07-24T10:20:00.003-04:002008-07-24T10:41:14.624-04:00

This Sunday, as part of our 8th annual Deer Isle Jazz Festival with its special, expanded focus on New Orleans, we are hosting a traditional "second line" parade through downtown Stonington, along our working waterfront.New Orleans' "second lines"--the dancers and celebrants who followed the mourners and brass bands in traditional New Orleans' funeral parades--are themselves the creatures of an

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-53456881781893804802008-07-24T09:38:00.006-04:002008-12-09T23:49:41.585-05:00

All during this bright and shiny summer of recession and war, careening toward presidential conventions, I've been wondering: where is the outrage?Then I saw the new Pixar/Disney, G rated animated film WALL-E.And there was the outrage, packaged into a little trash compacting robot on a planet ruined by overconsuming humans and displayed for the eyes of the world, and especially children, to

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-86099102994731966092008-05-12T15:15:00.000-04:002008-05-12T15:17:08.727-04:00

We’re all familiar with conservation: more people are trying to conserve energy and other natural resources; we work to conserve our fisheries and other wild species; we conserve land and the environment. Yet rarely do we apply the idea of conservation to people; and it’s critical to our island community that we do.The appearance of Martha’s Vineyard-based small business entrepreneur and author

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-31165486813516376792008-04-25T07:19:00.003-04:002008-04-25T07:29:36.300-04:00

This morning's New York Times carried the following Op Ed recognizing the upcoming 25th anniversary of the report "A Nation at Risk," which raised the first alarms about American public education and is often cited as the catalyst for modern school reform movements.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/opinion/25fiske.html?ex=1366862400&en=93f25ee7b6823d99&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-52858028379025903662008-04-10T08:03:00.002-04:002008-04-10T08:20:32.118-04:00

Economic development requires three things: vision, optimism, and a will for change.By its nature, economic development--creating new opportunities for people--is about shifting life perceptions and expectations from where they have lived their whole life to a new vision for how they might succeed.In Maine, economic development often looks like the paper mill worker agreeing to learn new skills

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-50985735506468080742008-03-04T20:28:00.003-05:002008-03-04T20:50:55.541-05:00

One of the great and awe-inspiring things about participating in the national Kennedy Center Partners in Education program is the constant motivation provided by the venue--and its raison d'etre--itself. The Center is the national memorial to President John F. Kennedy; and neither before nor in the 40+ years since his death have we had a President as committed to the ideals of art and creativity

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-83738817741684288582008-03-01T09:35:00.002-05:002008-12-09T23:49:41.908-05:00

Twice this week I have been moved to tears by overwhelming experiences of art.The photo above is from the National Symphony Orcestra in the Concert Hall at the Kennedy Center. As part of our annual meeting, we were treated to tickets of them performing with the multi-genre group, Pink Martini. We were seated, as you can see from this photo, in the front row--closer than I've been in all my years

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-15775224481023417462008-02-28T06:36:00.003-05:002008-12-09T23:49:42.129-05:00

I am privileged to be in Washington, D.C. this week, at the annual meeting for the Kennedy Center Partners in Education Program in which we and our local school district participate together.We flew out of Bangor just under another snow storm: an "icy mix" was falling as we sat at the jetway, and soon they hosed us down with the alien green goop that they say de-ice the wings. Despite the effects

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-36605855702393500062008-02-23T13:54:00.002-05:002008-02-23T13:57:55.118-05:00

On Wednesday, I posted a piece using the horrible condition of our winter roads as an analogy for a discourse on suffering . . . on Thursday, I was vaulting down the back steps of the Opera House, having completed a school vacation matinee showing of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" for 36 children under 3 feet tall, and their accompanying eight adults, when three--yes, three--giant Maine DOT trucks

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-71137659596966772562008-02-20T06:09:00.000-05:002008-12-09T23:49:42.526-05:00

Yesterday, I could smell daffodils in the sun, I could close my eyes and see and feel Easter approaching. I know it's out there, even if daffodils don't bloom in Maine until late April and the prints of crow wings grace the snow.The wind is still cold enough to wear full winter gear: ski jacket, hat, gloves. It was blowing hard from the west and, while walking the dogs along the cove, it caused

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-60473103001122942812008-02-19T05:17:00.001-05:002008-12-09T23:49:43.036-05:00

Lent is actually quite an interesting period; or it could be, if it were once again more broadly observed. Think of the potential impact on American foreign policy alone of the parable of Jesus spending 40 days in the desert, reflecting on sin and fighting temptation; and its corollary of christians reflecting on and asking forgiveness for our sins, and focusing on acts of kindness for others.

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-16313066225543072482008-02-18T19:19:00.000-05:002008-12-09T23:49:43.357-05:00

It's Lent and I've given up alchohol (again). It is viciously icy here day after day, and Judith has just fallen on the lovely, coated shore (as pictured) for the fourth time this winter.No wonder I am getting cranked up to be in "Post Valentine's Day, February Rant Mode," and being told by friends they are "bored"--a word used all too frequently in my neck of the winter woods--is just the thing

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-92128400486266704062008-02-03T14:33:00.000-05:002008-12-09T23:49:43.517-05:00

Today our home team, the New England Patriots, are poised to win their fourth Super Bowl in five years.Our Boston Red Sox, after not having won a World Series since 1903, won their first World Series in 2004 and won again in 2007.Meanwhile, the Celtics, a great basketball team when I was growing up but one that's been in the doldrums for nearly 20 years, have lost only eight games this season and

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-20070141441991608462008-01-29T12:18:00.000-05:002008-12-09T23:49:43.686-05:00

As caucus day finally reaches us here in Maine (Sunday, February 10), it's impossible not to dwell on, well, partisanship. After all, the very nature of the caucuses is that there are Democratic and Republican events and choices.I've had a couple of chances lately to experience and then to muse on the differences between local Democrats and Republicans, and, try as I might, I can't seem to

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-71928449053362889962008-01-25T07:16:00.000-05:002008-01-25T07:35:22.711-05:00

Late yesterday afternoon, as I was racing up island from the theater to the school, I noticed it was nearly 4:30 (meaning I was half an hour late already for the meeting of the school technology committee meeting, which I was attending)--and I noticed my truck's gas gauge indicated I had zero gas.I was, as is so often the case and in so many ways, running on fumes.I slowed down (good for truck,

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-50734123253082200542008-01-23T10:49:00.000-05:002008-12-09T23:49:43.789-05:00

Last night I was in the theater alone. On the stage, on a ladder, paint can in my hand, painting a set piece for tonight's student performance of "The Laramie Project."To be precise: I am painting the X-shaped fence on which Matthew Shephard was left to die.There is something great about working alone on a stage set, at night, after rehearsal and the work day is over. The presence of what is in

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-55195693513334005782008-01-21T10:11:00.000-05:002008-01-21T10:54:04.884-05:00

As those of you who've followed my published work know, today--the public holiday in recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, birthday--is my favorite of all holidays. That's because this is our only national holiday which supports a subordinate and seemingly fading spirit underpinning our Constitution: our desire not only for the pursuit of individual liberty; but also our desire for

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-21263442531811446552008-01-16T07:12:00.001-05:002008-12-09T23:49:44.086-05:00

That's right: if you say it repeatedly, like a mantra, its meaninglessness becomes apparent."Local control," alongside projecting what taxpayers will not pay, is the biggest club used to bludgeon a consistent process of educational improvement out of our schools. And at this juncture, in citing the real issue again--the need for a sound process of consistent, continual, educational improvement in

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-60448062026251982352008-01-14T12:32:00.000-05:002008-12-09T23:49:44.849-05:00

The biggest laughs and most audience interaction during this weekend's screening of the movie Lars and the Real Girl at the Opera House came when it was noted that Lars's girlfriend--a life-size, anatomically correct blow up doll named Bianca, whom Lars ordered from the internet--had been elected to the school board in his far northern, tiny rural community."We need to get us one of those!"

Lindahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15983504606396860405noreply@blogger.com1