The Nature of Phenology 5/7/22: Bearberry

Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Bearberry is blooming now in sandy or rocky soils in Downeast Maine. This circumpolar species offers a great example of the characteristics of the Ericaceae family, a hardy plant family to get to know.

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 5/7/22: Mother’s Day

This is your Cosmic Curator, Tom Yaroschuk, with a look at the stars for today Saturday, the 7th day of May as seen through the lens of Vedic Astrology.

With the gloom of March and April behind us, the Penobscot is singing with the sound of lawn mowers and weed whackers. Its May, your local nursery’s favorite month.
Saturday begins with lots of positive energy.
The Moon is in sensitive and nurturing Cancer….

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 5/6/22: Julia Bouwsma- Poet Laureate of Maine and author of “Midden”

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

Conversations from the Pointed Firs: A monthly series with Maine-connected authors and artists about new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.

The guest for this month is Julia Bouwsma, poet laureate of Maine and author of “Midden”, an award-winning collection of poems published by Fordham University Press in 2018, an intimate and raw set of poems addressing a dark and important piece of Maine history that transpired on Malaga Island in Casco Bay in 1912.

Key Discussion Points:
-racism
-forcible eviction
-Maine islands
-Casco Bay
-Maine poetry
-poet laureate
-collection of poems

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 5/6/22: “Dandelion Wine”

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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Change Agents 5/5/22: Mental Health Risks and Help for Trans and Non-binary Youth

Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

Change Agents, human right and social justice advocates on WERU FM

Guest, Emma Wynne Hill, a queer and non-binary psychotherapist currently working in Waterville for UCP of Maine, specializes in serving LGBTQIA+ young people.
Emma discusses the mental health risk for trans and non-binary youth and the work they do in helping youth navigate a sometimes hostile climate.

Discussed the emotional and physical harms that Trans and Non Binary youth navigate
Discussed the impact on Trans and Non Binary youth from new laws around the nation relating to transgender youth
Discussed Emma’s work that can provide help for transgender and non-binary youth

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 5/5/22: Digital Currency 1

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

There is a good bit of talk about digital currency these days, even to the point of replacing paper money all together and having a cashless economy. What might such a cashless economy be like, and is it something to welcome or fear? It’s probably a good idea to start thinking about that question because the topic is definitely a live one.

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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Healthy Options 5/4/22: Yearly Update on TICKS, Lyme, and Tick-borne Illnesses

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman
Co-Producer: Petra Hall
Technical assistance: Joel Mann & Amy Browne

Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well

Ticks ARE out- and biting (ugh!), so it’s time for our yearly update on TICKS, Lyme, and tick-borne illness, with tick specialist, Dr. Beatrice Szantyr.

Key Discussion Points:

1. What is a tickborne illness?
2. What tickborne infections are viruses and which are bacterial, and how can they be treated?
3. What is the prevalence of Lyme disease, and other infections in Maine?
5. What percentage of people get a rash with Lyme infections and what does that rash look like?
6. Besides deer ticks, what other kinds of ticks are here now in Maine? What kind of diseases/infections can we get from them?
7. What is anaplasmosis and Powassan virus and why are we so concerned about these infections?
8. What can we do to protect ourselves from tick bites?
9. What do I do if I’ve been bitten? Where can I send the tick to analyze what it may carry, and will this help in my possible treatment?

Guest: Dr. Beatrice Szantyr, an Internist and Pediatrician who lectures on Lyme disease and related tick-borne disorders in Maine and nationally, to both professional and community groups. She is an active member of the Maine CDC Vector Borne Disease Work Group, and a member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society. Dr. Szantyr most recently served on the 2022 Federal Tick-Borne Disease Working Group, the Access to Care and Education Subcommittee.

Websites of Interest:
Tick testing Maine
Tick testing Amherst MA. (tests for more diseases)

MANY websites of interest from previous Healthy Options programs can also be found at:
Healthy Options Archive 5/5/21
Healthy Options Archive 6/3/20

About the host:
Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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