Conversations from the Pointed Firs 6/4/21: Chris Newell of the Abbe Museum

Host: Peter Neill
Producer: Trisha Badger

The guest is Chris Newell, recently appointed director of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor. Chris is a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and he joins Peter Neill for a discussion about the museum as storyteller and keeper of historical art, artifact and authenticity. This conversation evokes the spirit of Maine as seen through the history of the Wabanaki, the native people who have lived here since the beginning. Peter also talks with Chris about his time with the Mystic River Singers, an internationally acclaimed and award-winning Pow Wow drum group based out of Connecticut. Chris believes that education, storytelling and song are the paths to making the world a better place for all people and for creating a better, well-informed future for us all.

Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a new one-hour interview program hosted by Peter Neill with authors and artists attempting to capture the elusive elements of this special place in which we live.

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 6/4/21: “Pollen-aise”

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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DEBUT! LGBTea Time 6/3/21: Pre- Coming-Out Stories

Host: Chuck
Technical assistance: Rooibos, Rachel Albury- OUT Maine staff

-expectations
-emotions/fears before coming out
-support/lack of support etc.

Guests:
(these are their radio names)
Chuck – college student/ OUT Maine emerging leaders member
Jet- high school student/ OUT Maine emerging leaders member
Rooibos- high school student/ OUT Maine emerging leaders member
Nutmeg- high school student/ OUT Maine emerging leaders member
Joe (Leah) – OUT Maine staff

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Change Agents 6/3/21: Reducing Racism in Schools and Communities

Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

Reducing Racism in Schools and Communities: Two women, one a person of color-Puerto Rican-Latina and the other white, discuss the difficulties and successes of working to reduce racism

-Has racial bias changed in our guests life times
-What is difficult in trying to reduce racial bias in schools and communities
-What does progress in reducing racial bias look like

Guests:

Eva Vega is an anti-bias, anti-racist educator and diversity, equity and inclusion specialist and administrator with 20 years of professional experience creating change in Pre-K through university education spaces, nonprofit organizations and the corporate world. Eva creates interactive experiential educational tools, training resources, and leads group education through facilitated dialogue, workshops and performance driven keynotes. Melding wellness with equity, emotional intelligence with practical skills building, Eva aspires to better prepare participants to take on the everyday work of disrupting structurally oppressive patterns that limit our highest ideals for diversity, equity inclusion by developing a personal and professional practice. Eva received her Master’s Degree in Sociology from the New School for Social Research and is a Certified Personal Coach with ICF accredited, Leadership That Works. Eva identifies as a white-presenting Afro-Indigenous Latina and uses she/her/hers pronouns. For more information about her work log onto EvaVegaWorld or follow her on her social media

Beth Yohe is an accomplished facilitator, consultant and curriculum writer with over 20 years of experience, writing and delivering training programs on a variety of topics related to addressing bias, transforming conflict and creating dialogue. Prior to joining The Conflict Center as Executive Director, she served in a number of roles at a national civil rights organization, including as the Regional Director of Development and as the Director of Training for the National Office, overseeing its national anti-bias education training. She is involved nationally on issues related to conflict transformation, social justice, bullying prevention and social emotional learning, including serving on the Advisory Board for The Ad Council’s Love has No Labels campaign, the board of the International Bullying Prevention Association and a facilitator for the Social Justice Training Institute. She received her Masters of Science from Colorado State University and her Bachelors of Arts from Texas A&M University. She loves spending family time whether at home, at one of her daughters’ activities or out enjoying the beauty of Colorado.

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 6/3/21: Electronic Fingerprinting

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

As folks get more and more savvy about not accepting cookies or deleting them from their browsers, the companies that try to track us for profit keep coming up with new ways to identify what we do on the web and sell that information to advertisers. Take Browser Fingerprinting, for example.

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 6/2/21: The Many Facets of Hospice Care

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

The many facets of hospice care, with a focus on the surprisingly diverse roles played by hospice volunteers; also, separating myth from fact, starting with the misconception that hospice is “just” all about death and dying.

1. What do hospice volunteers do? How is what they do, different from what is generally offered in a hospice program?
2. What services do you offer that might surprise our listeners?
3. People have the idea that hospice is all about death and dying. Why isn’t that accurate?
4. How does hospice programming enhance living?
5. What are some of the basic legal issues that all of us need to consider, to ensure our wishes are known, for end-of-life care?
6. What kind of training is required to become a hospice volunteer?
7. How did training as a hospice volunteer change your attitude about life and living fully?

Guest:
Jody Wolford-Tucker, Executive Director of Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County, Maine, who has worked to create and nurture community partnerships for hospice care since 2006.

Websites of Interest:
Hospice of Hancock County
Online Resources from Hospice of Hancock County

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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The Technoptimist Show 6/2/21: Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Coming to the U.S. Soon

Join Teresa Carey as she breaks down the latest news on the technology that is solving the world’s biggest problems. In today’s show, Teresa covers a future-proof coffee, preconception genetic tests, and genetically modified mosquitoes.

To learn more about the topics:
1 Billion Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Will Be Released in the U.S.
Rare Wild Coffee Species Brews Hope For Coffee’s Future
This Spit Test Will Help Couples Know Their Baby’s Risk Of Genetic Disease

About the host:
Teresa Carey is a senior staff writer at Freethink.com, where she covers genetics and the environment. She is also a US Coast Guard licensed captain and a NatGeo Explorer. In addition to Freethink her work can be found in BuzzFeed, Scientific American, PBS NewsHour, NPR Weekend Edition, Smithsonian and more. @teresa_carey

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Maine Currents 6/1/21: “Celebrate Progress for the Penobscot River” – River Restoration Reflections

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

9 years ago we covered the removal of the Great Works Dam on the Penobscot River. It was one of the dams removed from the river as part of an effort that had taken years and much coalition building. On May 20th of this year, some of those involved in the Penobscot River Restoration project got together to talk about how the river ecosystem has changed over the years since the dams were removed. We’ll hear the panel, titled “Celebrate Progress for the Penobscot River” today, but first we take a quick trip back to June of 2012..

Panelists:
John Banks, Director, Department of Natural Resources, Penobscot Indian Nation
Laura Rose Day, Former Director, Penobscot River Restoration Trust
Kate Dempsey, State Director, The Nature Conservancy in Maine
Pete Didisheim, Advocacy Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine
Andy Goode, Vice President, U.S. Programs, Atlantic Salmon Federation

WERU thanks the Natural Resources Council of Maine for making the recording of the “Celebrate Progress for the Penobscot River” panel available for broadcast. It was edited by Amy Browne to fit this format and time slot.

About the host:

Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices and Maine Currents, she also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and the First Place 2017 Radio News Award from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

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