The Cosmic Curator 12/18/21: Getting to the Bottom of things…

This is your Cosmic Curator, Tom Yaroschuk, with a look at what’s up in the stars for today Saturday December 18th… and the week ahead. And what a week it is. The headline for this segment is Getting to the Bottom of Things…

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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Awanadjo Almanack 12/17/21: “Wreaths and Trees”

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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Dawnland Signals 12/16/21: The Power of Poetry

Producers/Hosts: Maria Girouard, Esther Anne
Engineer: Jeffrey Hotchkiss

Critical conversations of truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland: The Power of Poetry

-How each guest came to be writers of poetry
-How poetry can be used to build community
-Guests and hosts recite poems

Guests: Mihku Paul, Maliseet and Penthea Burns, Wabanaki REACH Board Co chair

About the hosts:

Esther Anne, is a Passamaquoddy from Sipayik who lives on Indian Island and serves on the Wabanaki REACH Board of Directors.

Maria Girouard, Penobscot from Indian Island, is Executive Director of Wabanaki REACH, a statewide organization working toward truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland. Maria is a tribal historian with a Master’s Degree in History from the University of Maine and a special interest in the Maine Indian Land Claims. Maria has devoted years to community organizing, environmental stewardship and activism, and growing food in tribal communities.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 12/16/21: Brain-Computer Interfaces

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

The Future of Privacy Forum, in conjunction with IBM, released a report in November 2021 entitled: “Privacy and the Connected Mind: Understanding the Data Flows and Privacy Risks of Brain-Computer Interfaces.” Although the most extreme cases – for example, reading a person’s thoughts from outside the person’s mind or body – may be a few decades away, it may be worth our while to start thinking about the issues such tech will bring up before it actually arrives. After all, the future has a way of becoming the present, often before we expect it. We’d be wise to be ready for this future whenever it arrives.

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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BoatTalk 12/14/21: many lobstering hats, Ralph Stanley

Producers/Hosts: Mike Joyce, Alan Sprague, Jon Johansen

-boatyard news
-Ralph Stanley rip
-talk with Shelia Dassett Downeast Lobstermens’ Association

guest: Shelia Dassett

About the hosts:

Alan Sprague a.k.a. Flounder of the Soul Show, has been a programmer at WERU since the glaciers receded. For thirty years at community radio he has worked his way from being an unpaid volunteer to being an unpaid volunteer today, and he says he’s worth every cent of it. In 2003 he and Mike Joyce started the monthly call-in show Boattalk which has become a boating related show without piers (pi). Mike and Alan met many years ago while both were working at the Hinckley Company. Alan was the head service carpenter at the Hinckley skunkworks called Bass Harbor Marine or sometimes Kibbee’s Kennels. He worked there for nearly thirty years and saw yachts of stories to tell yawl. As part of Boattalk they organize the annual WERU Boattalk Cruise in late June for a fun pot-luck trip up Somes Sound, America’s former fiord. Quite cunning Mike and Alan are to work a free scenic boat trip with fine food for themselves.

Mike Joyce bio to follow

Jon Johansen bio to follow

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Outside the Box 12/14/21: “Supply Chains”

Producer/Host: Larry Dansinger

About the host:
Larry Dansinger (no pronouns) of Bangor came to Maine in 1974 and has been here ever since. Some of Larry’s activities since then: Done community organizing on numerous issues through INVERT and then Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), committed civil disobedience several times, grown a garden yearly since 1977, joined various food cooperatives and two men’s groups, refused to pay federal income taxes for war, lived on a community land trust for 23 years, and met a wonderful partner whom Larry has loved for over 40 years. Larry has produced Outside the Box features on WERU since 2007 and continues to look for unique ways of seeing almost any problem or situation.

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