A Word in Edgewise 4/13/26: Of Horace, Dryden, & Kate Colby . . .

Producer/Host: R.W. Estela

Hi, I’m RW Estela: Since 1991, I’ve been presenting A Word in Edgewise, WERU’s longest-running short feature, a veritable almanac of worldly and heavenly happenings, a confluence of 21st-century life in its myriad manifestations, international and domestic, cosmopolitan and rural, often revealing, as the French say, the more things change, the more they stay the same — though not always! Sometimes in addressing issues affecting our day-to-day lives, in this age of vagary and ambiguity, when chronological time is punctuated elliptically, things can quickly turn edgy and controversial, as we search for understanding amid our dialectic. Tune in Monday mornings at 7:30 a.m. for an exciting journey through space and time with a few notable birthdays thrown in for good measure during A Word in Edgewise . . .

About the host:
RW Estela was raised as a first-generation American in Colorado by a German mother and a Corsican-Basque father who would become a three-war veteran for the US Army, so RW was naturally a military brat and later engaged in various Vietnam-era civil-service adventures before paying his way through college by skiing for the University of Colorado, playing Boulder coffeehouses, and teaching. He has climbed all of Colorado’s Fourteeners; found work as an FAA-certificated commercial pilot, a California-licensed building contractor, a publishing editor, a practitioner of Aikido, and a college professor of English; among his many interdisciplinary pursuits are the design and building of Terrell Residence Library (recently renamed the Terrell House Permaculture Living & Learning Center at the University of Maine), writing Building It In Two Languages (a bilingual dictionary of construction terminology), aerial photo documentation of two dam removals (Great Works and Veazie) on the Penobscot River, and once a week since 1991 drafting an installment of A Word In Edgewise, his essay series addressing issues affecting our day-to-day lives — and WERU’s oldest continuous short feature. When pandemics do not interfere, he does the Triple Crown of Maine open-water ocean swims (Peaks to Portland, Islesboro Crossing, and Nubble Light Challenge) and the Whitewater Downriver Point Series of the Maine Canoe and Kayak Racing Organization. RW is the father of two and the grandfather of three and lives with his partner Kathleen of 37 years and their two Maine Coons in Orono.

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 4/12/26: A Conversation with Seaweed Biologist Amanda Savoie, Part 2

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser

Research scientist Amanda Savoie describes how new surveys are revealing more Arctic seaweed diversity than previously assumed, even in regions once thought to lack suitable substrate. She reflects on the cultural importance of kelp in northern communities, the ecological role of seaweeds as primary producers and habitat-formers, and why documenting coastal biodiversity is critical as warming oceans reshape kelp forests in places like the Gulf of Maine.

More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org.

About the hosts:
Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations.  Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine.  Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee.

Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 4/11/26

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings!

About the host:
Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill.

Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 4/11/26: April Showers

Producer/Host: Anu Dudley

About the host: Rev. Dr. Anu Dudley is an ordained Pagan minister and a retired history professor. She continues to teach classes, including the three-year ordination curriculum at the Temple of the Feminine Divine, and others such as History of the Goddess, Paganism 101, Ethical Magic, and Introduction to the Runes. Currently she is writing a book about how to cast the runes using their original Goddess meanings. She lives in the woods off-grid in a small homesteading community in Central Maine.

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Let’s Talk About It 4/10/26: Survivors Share experiences with the medical community

Producer/Host: Patrisha McLean
Production Assistance: Tammy Oropesa
Music: Jackie Lee McLean

Let’s Talk About It: Conversations with Survivors of Domestic Abuse

This month: Six survivors talk about what medical providers got right and what they got wrong in treatment for their domestic abuse injuries and trauma.

Topics:

1) The medical community.
2) Physical symptoms of emotional abuse.
3) Why survivors reveal and do not reveal the real cause of their partner-inflicted injuries.

Guests:
Mary Kamradt, Mary Lou Smith, Laudan Ghayebi, Bethany McInnis, Sydney, Amy

About the host:
Patrisha McLean is the founder/president of Finding Our Voices, the grass roots survivor-powered non profit organization breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time all across Maine.

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Around Town 4/10/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Indivisible– a nationwide movement of millions of people working to stop the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and to demand a real democracy- is calling for a national day of action on April 25th, to protest the Trump administration’s efforts to build prison camp warehouses across the country. They write: “On April 25, we’re joining Detention Watch Network and Disappeared in America for a coordinated, nationwide mobilization against the Trump administration’s reckless expansion of ICE warehouse detention centers…
“Our partners will host six major events at frontline sites — communities where new detention centers are actively being proposed. We’re also asking folks to host visible, peaceful, non-violent actions in your own communities to draw attention to the cruelty of Trump’s detention agenda and to pressure our local officials to resist the construction of new detention centers”

Leading up to the April 25th day of action, there will be a training call next Tuesday, April 14th, at 5pm (Eastern) led by organizers at one of the frontline sites dealing with the issue. The discussion will include how to find out if there are plans to build a detention center prison near you, and “tools and support to host a safe, peaceful and effective event in your community”
FMI and to Register for the Call

On Saturday, April 11, from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm, WERU will present our Annual Spring Gathering, once again at the Alamo Theatre, 85 Main Street in Bucksport. Come on down and enjoy the good company of all kinds of people who love WERU, including listeners, volunteers, board members, and station staff. We will provide pizza, popcorn, punch, and other yummy things to eat and drink. And if that’s not enough, we’ll be showing two inspiring short films about community radio: a 15-minute video entitled “A (Very Brief) History of WERU,” and a 34-minute documentary film about WMPG Community Radio at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, called “An Extraordinary Place.” The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion featuring representatives from WERU and WMPG. The event is free and open to the public, and no RSVP is required. We hope to see you there!

Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Common Ground Radio 4/9/26: Gardening for Food Security

Host: Holli Cederholm

Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond.

This month:
With food prices on the rise, alongside federal cuts to food aid programs, many of Maine’s families face difficulty putting food on the table. Meanwhile, the growing season is upon us and home gardeners can help strengthen food access in their communities by partnering with local food relief organizations, from food pantries and cupboards to community meal programs and share tables/sheds. This month on Common Ground Radio, we’re discussing gardening for food security and ways that Mainers can help get healthy local food to those in need. Our guests are Mattie John Bamman, the communications coordinator for Waldo County Bounty, and Kate Garland, a horticulture professional with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

Guest/s:
• Mattie John Bamman.
• Kate Garland.

FMI-
• Waldo County Bounty Give & Take Program — waldocountybounty.org/give-and-take-tables
• Waldo County Bounty Grow A Row Pledge — waldocountybounty.org/wcb-grow-a-row-pledge
• Veggies for All Gleaning Program — waldocountybounty.org/gleaning
• University of Maine Cooperative Extension offices — extension.umaine.edu/county-offices/
• Maine Harvest for Hunger — extension.umaine.edu/harvest-for-hunger/
• Maine Home Garden News — extension.umaine.edu/gardening/2026/03/30/maine-home-garden-news-april/
• Victory Garden for ME series — extension.umaine.edu/gardening/victory-gardens-for-me/
• Publications from UMaine Extension — extension.umaine.edu/publications/
• Videos from UMaine Extension — extension.umaine.edu/gardening/resources/

About the hosts:
Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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