The Nature of Phenology 7/2/22: Sheep Laurel

Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Sheep laurel, Kalmia angustifolia, has deep pink flowers shaped like a saucer growing in clusters a couple inches beneath the new leaves that adorn the top of this 1-3-foot tall shrub.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com

About the host/writers:

Joe Horn lives in Gouldsboro, is Co-Founder of Maine Outdoor School, L3C, and is a Registered Maine Guide and Carpenter. He is passionate about fishing, cooking, and making things with his hands. He has both an MBA in Sustainability and an MS focused in Environmental Education. Joe can be reached by emailing [email protected]

Hazel Stark lives in Gouldsboro, is Co-Founder and Naturalist Educator at Maine Outdoor School, L3C, and is a Registered Maine Guide. She loves taking a closer look at nature through the lens of her camera, napping in beds of moss, and taking hikes to high points to see what being tall is all about. She has an MS in Resource Management and Conservation and is a lifelong Maine outdoorswoman. Hazel can be reached by emailing [email protected]

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The Cosmic Curator 7/2/22: Down East Fourth of July

This is your Cosmic Curator, Tom Yaroschuk, with a look at the stars for today Saturday July 2nd and the days ahead.

…there’s a saying up here in the Penobscot, that Maine has two seasons, “winter and the fourth of July.” Well in that case, we are well into one of Down East’s favorite times of year. Nothing beats the fourth of July here where the air is pure, and the water is clean.

But let’s take step back….

About the Host:
Tom Yaroschuk is a Vedic Astrologer. His intention is to help people understand their karma and the issues they may confront to cultivate more fulfilling lives. Tom is writing a memoir of the spiritual lessons derived from his work in a Homeless Day Center in between a career as an award winning television and documentary producer.

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Conversations from the Pointed Firs 7/1/22: An Interview with Rob McCall (Originally aired July 2021)

Host: Peter Neill
Producer: Trisha Badger
Music by Casey Neill

Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly interview-style podcast wherein Peter Neill talks with authors and artists who live in Maine, work in Maine, or otherwise derive their creativity from the essence of Maine.

The guest for Friday, July 1st is Rob McCall, minister and musician and creator of the Awandajo Almanac heard here on WERU and circulated across Maine in various publications and through his most recent book, Some Glad Morning, Holding Hope in Apocalyptic Times. Rob and Peter will be discussing the tradition of Nature writing in Maine, the characteristics of the genre, and the various methodologies and principles that underlie this special means by which to evoke and understand the natural world that surrounds us. This episode is a rebroadcast from July 2, 2021—the third episode of our then-new podcast.

-Nature Writing
-Poetry
-Spirit of Place
-Exploring and Enjoying the Outdoors

About the host:
Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete’s Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.

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Awanadjo Almanack 7/1/22: “What is a Weed?”

Producer/Host: Rob McCall
Production Assistance: Rebecca McCall

About the host, Rob McCall:

Born in the Black Hills of South Dakota, grew up in Oregon and Illinois. Father was a Scots-Irish preacher, mother a Yankee Congregationalist tracing her ancestry back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Father taught him about Scripture, mother taught him about Nature.

Bachelor of arts in philosophy, bachelor of divinity in American religious history, graduate studies in education, doctor of ministry in congregational studies, certified in elementary education, tree fruits and entomology.

Worked as an elementary school teacher, tree and landscape contractor, church sexton, orchard manager, chimney sweep, ambulance driver, musician. Began second career as a preacher at age 40. Served as minister of the First Congregational Church of Blue Hill, Maine 1986 – 2014. He is currently chaplain of the Brooklin Fire Department.

Since 1992 has published the weekly Awanadjo Almanack which is broadcast to midcoast Maine and on the web at WERU-FM and appears in a number of publications. His writing has also appeared in Yankee, Down East, Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors, Island Journal and elsewhere.

His first book, Small Misty Mountain, was published in 2006 by Pushcart Press and distributed by W.W. Norton. Publisher’s Weekly called it “by turns inspiring and infuriating.” His second book, Great Speckled Bird, followed in 2012. His third book, Some Glad Morning, was released in October 2020.

Passions include wild plants and animals, and traditional fiddle tunes. Married for 53 years to Rebecca Haley, artist and singer. Father of two, grandfather of two.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/30/22: Cashless Toll Roads

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Heading out to hit the road for the holiday weekend? In addition to three word signs drivers never want to see, e.g., “Road Work Ahead” or “One Lane Road”, there’s another one increasingly visible these days: “No Cash Accepted.” This one deserves a bit of pondering for not only its obvious meaning but also for some its perhaps not so obvious implications for personal privacy and autonomy.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Wabanaki Windows 6/28/22: The Meaning of Sovereignty

Producer/Host: Donna Loring
Other credits: Technical assistance for the show was provided by Joel Mann WERU Orland Maine and Jessica Lockhart of WMPG Portland Portland Maine.
Music for the show was from the CD Dream Walk by Rolfe Richter

Wabanaki Windows is a monthly show featuring topics of interest from a Wabanaki perspective. The issue this month is: Sovereignty and its meaning: A 2 part series.

This show is the 3rd show in the part 2 series.

In this episode Professors Harald Prins, Darren Ranco and Host Donna Loring discuss the on going historical develops between the Wabanaki Tribes of Maine and the State. The meaning of Sovereignty from the Tribal perspective and from the State’s perspective. Two very different views resulting in years of conflict and litigation. This show continues to look at the Land Claims Settlement Act. This Act defines the present relationship between the Wabanaki Tribes and the State of Maine. We follow the thread from the John Deane’s Letter of 1829 to the Land Claims Settlement of 1980. We will clearly see why this Act was allowed to become law.

Key Discussion Points:
1. John Deane’s Coercive Plan
2. State of Maine’s Coercive Plan laid out in 1942
3. Culmination of those plans with the signing of the 1980 Settlement Act

Guests:
Professor Harald Prins is a distinguished professor of Anthropology and an Emeritis at Kansas State University. He is an expert in Wabanaki History.
Professor Darren Ranco is a Penobscot Tribal Member and an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Native American Studies at the University of Maine Orono.

About the host:

Donna M Loring is a Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder, and former Council Member. She represented the Penobscot Nation in the State Legislature for over a decade. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Mills. She is the author of “In The Shadow of The Eagle A Tribal Representative In Maine”. Donna has an Annual lecture series in her name at the University of New England that addresses Social Justice and Human Rights issues. In 2017 She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Humane Letters from the University of Maine Orono and was given the Alumni Service Award. It is the most prestigious recognition given by the University of Maine Alumni Association. It is presented Annually to a University of Maine graduate whose life’s work is marked by outstanding achievements in professional, business, civic and/or Public service areas. Donna received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in May of 2022

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