Pet Sounds 11/21/21: Daylight Savings time and Your Pet

Producer/Host: Dr. John Hunt

About the host:

My Sunday morning short has been running for about 11 years. I’ve cover a wide range of animal related topics from COVID to porcupines.

After graduating from Michigan State University Veterinary School in 1982 I practiced at three different veterinary hospitals in the Hartford, Conn area for 5 years. Then I bought a small part time clinic in Bucksport and turned it into a full time small animal surgery and medicine hospital. From 1987 to 2014 I enjoyed serving the Bucksport-Orland area pet owners. My kids grew up in Bucksport. I was a Boy Scoutmaster for a few years, and coached cross country and track in the Bucksport school system for 20 years. I’ve written three books working on a fourth.

I sold my practice and retired from practicing medicine in 2014. Since “retiring” I’ve continued Pet Sounds and my monthly Lets Talk Animals show on WERU. I’ve been teaching at local community colleges, officiating at high school track meets, writing and started a blog on line.

I enjoy hiking, reading, writing and anticipate spending more time with my first grandchild.

The Nature of Phenology 11/20/21: Mountain Ash

Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Mountain ash, which is not really an ash tree nor does it exclusively grow on mountains, offers late-season berries for hungry wildlife.

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]

The Cosmic Curator 11/20/21: Astrology update for the week ahead

This is your Cosmic Curator, Tom Yaroschuk, with your astrological update for today, Saturday November 20th and the week ahead.

They day begins with the Moon moving through Taurus, its sign of exaltation. That means The Moon’s nurturing, sensitive, emotive energies are in sync with the Taurus expression of art, food, and romance..

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.

Democracy Forum 11/19/21: Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Religion: Politics and Religion in America

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine

Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Religion: Politics and Religion in America

-What is the constitutional foundation of the separation of church and state?
-Why is it important?
-Is freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights? How did the doctrine emerge and develop from the prohibition on the establishment of religion?
-How is the interpretation and practice affecting modern politics?
-What is the intersection of political activism and religious groups, now and in our history?

Guests:
Mark Brewer, Professor of Political Science and Department Chair, University of Maine
Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Tocqueville Associate Professor of Religion & Public Life, Department of Political Science, Concurrent Associate Professor of Law, Notre Dame University

To learn more about this topic:

Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, James Madison, presented to the Virginia General Assembly in 1785

In U.S., Far More Support Than Oppose Separation of Church and State, Pew Research Center, October 2021

The Sleeper SCOTUS Case That Threatens the Separation of Church and State, The Atlantic, October 2021

Two Concepts of Religious Liberty: The Natural Rights and Moral Autonomy Approaches to the Free Exercise of Religion, Vincent Phillip Munoz, American Political Science Review, May 2016

Opinion | If they’re going to keep passing religious laws, we’re going to need exemptions, Washington Post, September 2021

The 2020 Census of American Religion, Public Religion Research Institute, July 2021

How ‘In God We Trust’ bills are helping advance a Christian nationalist agenda, The Conversation, July 2021

Relevant No More?: The Catholic/Protestant Divide in American Electoral Politics by Mark D. Brewer, 2003

The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Michael Fisher, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther
Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn

About the host:
Ann currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009. In her work for the League, Ann has worked for greater public understanding of public policy issues and for the League’s priority issues in Clean Elections & Campaign Finance Reform, Voting Rights, Ethics in Government, Ranked Choice Voting, and Repeal of Term Limits. Representing LWVME at Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, she served that coalition as co-president from 2006 to 2011. She remains on the board of MCCE and serves as Treasurer. She is active in the LWV-Downeast and hosts their monthly radio show, The Democracy Forum, on WERU FM Community Radio -which started out in 2004 as an recurring special, and became a regular monthly program in 2012. She was the 2013 recipient of the Baldwin Award from the ACLU of Maine for her work on voting rights and elections. She joined the League in 1998 when she retired as Senior Vice President at SEI Investments. Ann was a founder of the MDI Restorative Justice Program, 1999 – 2000, and served on its Executive Board.

Awanadjo Almanack 11/19/21: “Leaf to Wood”

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.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 11/18/21: Cars Today & Tomorrow

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Some folks like watching cars and find it cool. It might be considerably less cool when your car is watching you. And that is coming…

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.

11/17/21 50+ Aging in Rural Maine: “Five Major Health Issues Facing Older Rural Residents”

Producer/Host: Suzanne Carmichael, AARP Maine volunteer

“Five Major Health Issues Facing Older Rural Residents”

-Transportation problem getting health care (why, options, lack of public awareness)
-Health care access issues
-Role of social connectedness
-Nutritional challenges
-Role of poverty

Guests:
John Gale, President, National Rural Health Association, Senior
Research Associate, Maine Rural Health Research Center (University of Southern Maine)

About the host:

Suzanne Spitz Carmichael is a retired public interest attorney. She was the Executive Director/lobbyist for three state-wide Ralph Nader consumer groups (Ohio, New York & Maine). Another position was as Maine’s first state-wide ombudsman (for the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.) She has also been a freelance journalist writing primarily for the New York Times and other national publications. Other professional work included a stint as the Associate Producer of documentaries for the Seattle NBC affiliate for which she won a regional Emmy, and two jobs directing grant-making foundations. Suzanne has also offered public relations workshops and consulting services for non-profits and artists throughout the country. She notes that “My only background concerning issues facing older Mainers is that I’m 77, have lived in Deer Isle year ’round since 1997, and seem to always be analyzing issues as they happen to me or folks I know.”