The Nature of Phenology 11/21/20: Birch Seeds

Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Paper birch, also known as white birch or canoe birch, is perhaps one of the most easy to identify northern trees thanks to its brilliantly white bark which peels readily into paper-like sections. The peak of their seed drop is in September through the end of November.

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

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Democracy Forum 11/20/20: Election Reflections 2020

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine

Participatory Democracy: Election Reflections 2020

We will talk about the November 3 general election
What just happened here in Maine and around the country
What went right, what went wrong
What it says about the future of our democracy

Guests b:
Shelly Crosby, Orono Town Clerk and president of the Maine Town and City Clerks Association
Matthew Dunlap, Maine Secretary of State
Amy Fried, John Mitchell Nickerson Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine
Jill Goldthwait, Columnist and former independent Maine State Senator
Meg McCormick, Maine Director & New England Coordinator, Campus Election Engagement

To learn more about this topic:
Half of Americans Don’t Vote. What Are They Thinking? Colin Woodard in Politico, February 2020
College Students, Voting and the COVID-19 Election, Knight Foundation, August 2020
The 100 Million Project: The Untold Story of American Non-Voters, Knight Foundation
Polarization and the Politics of Personal Responsibility. Jeffrey M. Stonecash and Mark D. Brewer 2015
In Suspense: Donald Trump’s Efforts to Undermine Public Trust in Democracy, Amy Fried and Donald B. Harris, October, 2020.

Prerecorded on 11/19/2020 using Zoom technology.

The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Kirk Earl, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Judith Lyles, Ann Luther, 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.

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Dawnland Signals 11/19/20: Land Acknowledgments

Producers/Hosts: Maria Girouard, Esther Anne
Production assistance: Jeffrey Hotchkiss

Critical conversations of truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland

Land Acknowledgments
-The origin of the new found interest in land acknowledgements
-Different types of land acknowledgments
-Appropriate ways to do a land acknowledgement

Guests: Dr. Darren Ranco, Penobscot, Chair Native American Programs, UMaine; Diane Oltarzewski, Belfast resident, Maine-Wabanaki REACH Board.

About the hosts:

Esther Anne, Passamaquoddy from Sipayik, joined the Muskie School of Public Service in 2003 where she works on projects that engage and benefit tribal communities including facilitating the Maine tribal-state Indian Child Welfare Act workgroup and creating child welfare resources with the Capacity Building Center for Tribes. She had a primary role in the creation and establishment of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Maine-Wabanaki REACH. Esther now serves as secretary for the REACH Board of Directors and on the REACH Communications Committee. Esther lives on Indian Island and her family includes adult children and a grandbaby.

Maria Girouard, Penobscot from Indian Island, is Executive Director of Maine-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 11/19/20: Free Speech in the Digital Age 4

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Zoom has announced that it will remove the 40 minute limit on free Zoom use for Thanksgiving day so that folks can celebrate with family and friends safely in this pandemic time. Pretty cool! Some other recent actions by Zoom and Facebook and Google, however, aren’t cool at all. Here’s why, and the huge questions those actions raise in our increasingly online lives.

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Maine Currents 11/17/20 Elections 2020 Edition: Election Outcomes, Polling Fails, and Where Things Go From Here

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

It’s the 3rd Tuesday of the month, so it’s once again time for our Elections 2020 edition of Maine Currents, with guests, Professor Amy Fried, Chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Maine, former State Representative Ralph Chapman
Ann Luther, board member for the League of Women Voters of Maine, and host of the Democracy Forum here on WERU, and Will Hayward, Advocacy Program Coordinator for the League of Women Voters, joining us for a discussion of the election outcomes, polling fails, and where things go from here

Taped via Zoom on Tuesday, November 17th, 2020

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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