Portland Monthly Magazine October 2023

Sailing Through

Many of us are thriving now, but who’s missing the boat?

WHAT IF...?

A Message from The Humble Farmer

What if a tourist bus load of October leaf peepers breaks down in front of your house?

Honest, it’s pure bedlam!

Are you prepared to warm them travelers up with real Maine hospitality, which is primarily why they come here? A creamy cup of lobster bisque is what they’re thinkin, I guarantee it. They’s nothin’ surer in the world.

Hadn’t thought of that, had you? Well, it’s time to get smart and keep a supply on the ready! And I can tell you, it freezes awful good!

For very little money, you can plunk two half gallons of Linda Bean’s Lobster Bisque right in the freezer and simply heat it in a stove pot to serve 16 people when they show up on your lawn.

And if you don’t think folks are coming by to see you over the holidaze, it’s time to sharpen up!

0ctober: Trick or treat!

November: Turkey goes better with lobster.

December: it’s YOUR turf, and they want surf.

How do you handle these situations?

I tell you your entire existence will be improved if you always have a pot of Linda’s creamy lobster bisque simmerin’ in the background.

So pick up your phone, dial 1-855-USMAINE and say,

“I WANT LINDA BEAN’S LOBSTER BISQUE TO PUT IN MY FREEZER. I WANT TO BE PREPARED.“

P.S. Her clam chowder also won a Freeport award. Once you give ‘em your credit card number, it will come just rushin’ to your door.

— Robert Skoglund Saint George, Maine

Mountains Council of Realtors

2013, 2014 President Mountains Council of Realtors

2011-2014 MAR Board of Directors

The Lodge at Kennebunk

Kennebunk’s Affordable Alternative

en ea ound

The Lodge at Kennebunk is set on a quiet 8 acres of land, and has convenient highway access. It is also minutes away from shopping, dining, and beach options. Our facilities include a 40' outdoor heated pool, a conference room, a game room, a playground, picnic tables, and gas barbecue grills. Our amenities include extended cable television, air conditioning, phones, refrigerators, and microwaves in every room.

elu e ont nental eak a t and ed nte net

o ldw de all each a e hannel lu

o e hannel

o e on emand ke ental

Features

Colin W. Sargent

Colin W. Sargent

68 Bishop Street, Suite 3, No. 1, Portland, ME 04103

COLIN W. SARGENT

Founding Editor & Publisher

ART & PRODUCTION

Art Director NANCY SARGENT

Associate Publisher JESSE STENBAK

Design Director HANNA FLEWELLING

Design MERCEDES VILLENEUVE

Design Associate OLIVIA HALLEE

ADVERTISING

Advertising Executive PER LOFVING

Advertising Executive ANDIE EWING

EDITORIAL

Assistant Editor & Publisher ALEXIS RAYMOND

Contributing Editor GWEN THOMPSON

Writing Associate MILES BERRY

Special Features & Archives COLIN S. SARGENT

Special Projects JASON HJORT

ACCOUNTING

Controller JENNIFER LORD

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Subscribe online at www.portlandmagazine.com.

Portland Magazine, aka Portland Monthly Magazine, is published by Sargent Publishing, Inc. Repeat Internet rights are understood to be purchased with all stories and artwork. For questions regarding advertising, invoicing, and payments, call Jennifer Lord at 775-0101.

Newsstand Cover Date: October 2023 (ISSN: 1073-1857).

Letters to the editor are welcome and will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and as subject to Portland Magazine’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially. Responsible only for that portion of any advertisement which is printed incorrectly. Advertisers are responsible for copyrights of materials they submit. Nothing in this issue may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publishers. Submissions welcome, but we take no responsibility for unsolicited materials. All photography has been enhanced for your enjoyment.

Portland Magazine is proudly printed in the USA by Cummings Printing.

SARGENT PUBLISHING, INC.

Hello, Gorgeous

Hello, Gorgeoushe glides in like an empress and anchors o Gooch’s Beach.

e expedition schooner (okay, she’s a superyacht) Columbia is 141 feet long, close to three quarters the length of the USS Constitution. And yet, Columbia is a single-family vessel, while the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy was designed for a complement of 450 sailors and marines. “Old Ironsides” is priceless, but Columbia is for sale for $11.95M.

You might as well call Columbia the “Stupefyin’ Jones” of North American yachts. (See our front cover.) She’s jaw-droppingly beautiful. She really is the gem of the ocean.

She’s a stunning replica of the original Columbia, designed in 1923 by W. Starling Burgess, who, with Olin J. Stephens II, dreamed up Bath Iron Works’s legendary J Class sloop Ranger, winner of the 1937 America’s Cup. e new Columbia was built with a steel hull and lavish, loving details by Eastern Shipbuilding Group for the shipyard’s owner and CEO, Brian D’Isernia, 79, who’ s onboard as I write this. Talk about hoisting a sail!

Columbia is an apt metaphor for the tacks and turns that innovative Maine and national businesses are taking to reinvent themselves and survive stormy weather. See our story “ e Shipping (& Other) News,” p.25, which features e Maine 100TM , our list (with our data partner Dun & Bradstreet) that reveals how the top private rms headquartered in Maine are sailing through.

Seaworthy? You bet. Tell me another schooner who could beat the Bluenose. While the world watched, the original Columbia defeated the Bluenose in 1923, though on a technicality—Bluenose missed a buoy during the race.

A magazine is like a ship; I’ve spent 38 years before the masthead. October is a freshening breeze up here, and Columbia is just one of many visitors with the good sense to invest their time in Maine. Which only goes to show, cachet is king. Welcome aboard!

“Start of first race between Grand Bank fishing schooner Bluenose and Columbia, International Fishing Schooner Races, Halifax Harbour.” –archives.novascotia.ca

Letters

THE KIT TERY

by Alden x DW

AW, SHUCKS

I cannot say enough how excited I was to see the September issue in my mailbox today. With every Portland Magazine that arrives, it feels like Christmas over and over in that I get to read and learn about new and familiar businesses and people featured within your pages and savor the exciting features and stories that capture the best of what Maine has to o er.

Gregory Firlotte, West Hills, California

Madison Penny in t an suede Handcr afted on the L eydon last 270 degree f lat welt, ant ique Flex oiled leather sole Heel foxing Ex clusive to D av id Wo od M ade in New England since 18 84

For these, and mor e “Good Shoes , ” shop with us in- stor e in Por tland’s Old Por t - and online at davidwoodst yleshop. com. See you soon.

229 Commercial St. Por tland, Maine 207.773 3906

davidwood.com

davidwoodst yleshop.com davidwood_st yle

DIVE BOMB

Meet Atomic, a $63M 209-foot super yacht built for Dan Huish, a Salt Lake City detergent billionaire (All, Wisk, Snuggle, Sunlight, Surf) with a passion for scuba diving. Atomic currently awaits new owners in Portland Harbor. See “Super Yacht Spotting,” July/August 2023.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your letters, coments, or quips to editor@portlandmonthly.com or message us on Facebook.

Pink Suit The

All this talk of a bullet turning up decades later reminds us of the tragic Kennedy family’s love for Maine. Jackie grew up as a frequent summer visitor to Bar Harbor (“The Kennedy Connection,” Summerguide 2022).

To read “The Pink Suit,” our exceptional fction piece by prizewinning poet Barbara Lefcowitz, see portlandmonthly.com/portmag/2013/10/ the-pinksuit/.

Raspberry Tax

Let’s bring back bartering. In 1945, it didn’t cost $1M buy a house. We’ve just stumbled upon some loose, handwritten notes transferring a property

Bear Clause

We all have a soft spot for the Maine Black Bears, so we pricked up our ears while screening Cocaine Bear (yes, we really did), now famous for its bear maxim: “Brown, lie down. Black, ght back.” (It brings to mind the snaky catchphrase “Red to black, venom lack; red to yellow kills a fellow.”) Inland Fisheries & Wildlife biologist Jennifer Vashon has this re nement: “A black bear isn’t always black, especially in the western U.S. and Canada. However, the advice to ght back if a black bear attacks and to play dead or lie down for a grizzly still holds true. Of course, here in the East, it’s pretty easy, since we only have black bears. I also want to point out it is extremely rare to get attacked by a bear.”

WebMD gets the last word, adding “White, Good Night!” to include polar bears.

No Royalties on the Half Shell

1) The iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are the brainchild of Sanford, Maine, native and Westbrook High grad Kevin Eastman.

2) Nickelodeon/Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has just raked in over $162M worldwide in 2023.

3)

sold

Eastman

his rights in 2009 for $60M.

Nobody was more surprised than Dave Gutter when the GRAMMYs called.

INTERVIEW BY BRUCE PRATT

Share a little of your red-carpet experience with us. I was just smitten with how cool that was.

You’re nominated for a GRAMMY; it’s real.

CarpetRedRide

I called my daughter, with whom I’d had a very innocent exchange when she was about ve years old, watching the Grammys. She was just like, “Oh, Papa, you make music.

Someday when you win, or you’re nominated, you can bring me to the Grammys.” It was such an unbelievable little kid thing to say. She’s so cute and thinks I’ll win a Grammy someday. I said, “Yeah, of course I’ll bring you.”

To win a Grammy and be very close to a second win was mind-blowing.

I thought it wasn’t real, because right a er the nomination I got an email that said I had to buy my ticket and told me to include my credit-card information, and said that tickets go quickly. I was like, “Okay, this is a scam. e algorithm obviously sees I’m some sort of starving, desperate artist who will do anything to get my music out there.”

We felt like the ceremony was surreal. We saw Harry Styles and Taylor Swi My daughter and I went straight to the red carpet, but they ran our badges and said we couldn’t get in. I was like, “All right, can we step two inches onto the red carpet so my daughter can take a picture to show everyone back in Maine?”

“No.”

I said, “Listen, I’m 48 years old. I started playing music when I was eight. I’m from a small town in Maine. I won my rst Grammy 40 years later. is is my daughter.” He told us to tell that story to the “head lady” they brought over to us, and she liked our story so much she gave us full passes to go everywhere, including the exclusive a er-party.

I almost ran into Trevor Noah and Chance the Rapper walking in front of us with everyone in a hurry before the televised ceremony began. Judy Collins presented my Grammy at the podium, patted me on the back, and said, “Good job!” We saw signi cant stars, including Beyoncé, accepting their awards just as I had. It was instilled in me that I’m a legitimate musician. I’m a valuable artist—part of this community. So, I believe that’s why Maine musicians tend to be at a supreme level of creativity.

Aaron Neville’s poetry about New Orleans became a song in your head. What was that like?

e poem is from an audition I did for Aaron as a songwriter. Producer-guitarist Eric Krasno and I were a songwriting team. He’s the producer, and I’m the lyrics and top-line melody writer. We got the audition and were up against Keith Richards [of the Rolling Stones] and longtime Stones producer Don Was. at was our toughest competition. ey worked on Aaron’s last record, but he decided to go with us. I’m not answering your question, but I am. He gave me a lot of poetry and said he liked the imagery in my lyrics.

e song “Stompin’ Ground” grew out of a collection of writing he’d done about growing up in that New Orleans music scene—the people who came before him, the people he came up with—so I immediately thought of the term “stomping ground,” because that’s where you’re from. I took these poems and made an autobiographical album. I put it into a song; I took everything he’d written about di erent people in di erent places, street-corner gangs, and everything in New Orleans. And I had to do a lot of deep-dive research, because not only had I been to New Orleans just once, I was in a blizzard in Maine. “Stompin’ Ground” came out eight years ago, but we got the Grammy this year because it was on the soundtrack to a lm [in 2022]. at was surprising, because I thought its time had come and gone.

The video of the recording session for “Stompin’ Ground” might be the most joyous, infectious session I’ve ever seen.

Were you able to be there for that?

I wasn’t. I didn’t even know they were recording my song. But I was there for the screening of Take Me to the River: New Orleans. All the other songs on the soundtrack are from way back, steeped in New Orleans tradition—the classics from the time and the geographical area. Aaron Neville had a stipulation: he wouldn’t do the lm unless he could do “Stompin’ Ground,” because he thought it encapsulated his New Orleans experience.

I’ve listened to many Rustic Overtones songs. In your 20s, you were working with David Bowie and introducing something New England needed to hear--namely, your instrumentation. Where did you hear all that growing up?

When horn players began joining the band, we fused with our school music program. In the band room we’d hang out with horns, strings, and woodwinds. We just thought it would be cool to incorporate that into our garage-punk soul. I started getting turned on to horns through horn players—mostly Ryan Zoidis, who plays with Lettuce now. He pounded James Brown and Bob Marley down my throat until I got it. You might play New Hampshire today and Wisconsin tomorrow in an up-and-coming band— good luck getting there! On those long drives, we’d constantly explore di erent music. at was the thing with Rustic—we were a melting pot of di erent sounds. We were a chameleon, and every record sounded other than the one that preceded it on purpose.

You don’t want to live in an ivory tower away from people. Do you worry that winning the Grammy could change that?

No, the only thing that changes with

All right, can we step two inches onto the red carpet so my daughter can take a picture to show everyone back in Maine?

having a Grammy is it’s more leverage. When I give someone my resume or try to get more work doing something, if winning awards is essential to a particular client, they might hire me, but nothing else changes that.

Like the people I’m down-to-earth with at my shows and my friends—I’m

still broke, we’re all still broke—no big deal. A lot of the artists I’ve worked with have won the Grammy. What it does for me is erase the self-doubt that can paralyze me as a songwriter. I’m grateful for those experiences and all those accolades, but I see them as experiences that helped me grow. I don’t want anything too extreme either way: I don’t want to be homeless, I don’t

want to be lthy rich.

How do you overcome writer’s block as a musician?

Part of being a good writer is being wise about what you’re experiencing. Every single day, every moment, every time someone opens their mouth, every time a bird lands on a branch, something is inspiring or beautiful—something you can extract. A Jay-Z verse has done that to me. When he writes from his experience in a certain way, I’ll be like, “Wow, he nailed that—he got me right in the feelings.” If you love music, writer’s block shouldn’t be a problem.

Where are you located?

Bangor. I’ll send you a blurb about the show. I think you’ll be surprised by the musical guests we’ve had. I’m playing at the State eatre in Portland on December 2. n

• Non GMO & Organic ingredients

• Best CBD Beverage Gold Medals

• Made In Portland, Maine

• Ask for it at your favorite retailer or order online at satisoda.com

• Enjoy free shipping & 15% o your first order with code: Portland15

www.satisoda.com

Every single day, every moment, every time someone opens their mouth, every time a bird lands on a branch, something is inspiring or beautiful.

Maine ’ s legendary shipbuilding giant Bath Iron Works has been a winner in two ways this year. According to Navy Times, they’ve been awarded a big defense contract to build three Arleigh Burke Class destroyers. ere’s more news: According to the Washington Post, BIW has won “overwhelming approval” from the shipbuilders’ union for a three-year contract that "raises pay a range of 2.6 percent to 9.6 percent in the rst year with di erences due to a mid-contract wage adjustment that already took e ect for some workers, and will be followed by a 5 percent increase in the second year and a 4 percent increase in the third.” What a li !

ough Bath Iron Works is owned by Virginia-based General Dynamics, so they can’t be included in our list of rms in e Maine 100TM, which requires a company to be headquartered in Maine for inclusion, their Maine address does more than just stir memories.

is year’s list, compiled with exclusive data from our story partner Dun & Bradstreet (did you know President Lincoln once

worked as an information gatherer for D&B?), is full of excitement. Just look at the surging VIP Tires & Service, headquartered in Auburn. Remember when bookstores introduced cafes to build clientele? VIP is emerging, at least among car lovers, as a gathering place where you can pour yourself a cup of joe, grab a magazine, and have your ride repaired on a rst-name basis. What’s more Maine than that?

4. $1.162B CIANBRO CORPORATION, Pittsfield

5. $759.200M L.L. BEAN, Freeport

6. $543.089M DEAD RIVER COMPANY, South Portland

7. $442.089M C.N. BROWN COMPANY, South Paris

8. $362.426M VIP TIRES & SERVICE, Auburn

9. $261.425M BANGOR SAVINGS BANK, Bangor

10. $252.484M WOODARD & CURRAN, Portland

1. $4.575B COVETRUS, Portland

2. $3.367B IDEXX LABORATORIES, Westbrook

3. $2.350B WEX INC., Portland

BUSINESS

11. $215.328M TWIN RIVERS

PAPER, Madawaska

12. $213.490M CAMDEN NATIONAL BANK, Camden

13. $1.876M MEMIC, Portland

14. $167.089M HUSSEY SEATING, North Berwick

15. $161.089M BAR HARBOR BANK & TRUST, Bar Harbor

16. $157.452M NORTHEAST

BANK, Lewiston

17. $155.089M MAINE MACHINE

PRODUCTS COMPANY, South Paris

18. $151.873M DARLING’S AGENCY, Brewer

19. $146.454M GEIGER, Lewiston

20. $142.788M QUIRK AUTO

GROUP, Bangor

21. $141.131M CROSS

INSURANCE, Bangor

22. $118.876M LOGICALLY, Portland

23. $118.500M SARGENT, Stillwater

24. $114.592M HAMMOND LUMBER COMPANY, Belgrade

25. $112.010M TILSON, Portland

26. $110.811M TEAM EJP, Gardiner

27. $101.989M MARDEN’S, Winslow

28. $100.448M MAINE OXY, Auburn

29. $97.788M RHFOSTER

ENERGY, Hampden

30. $94.982M HANCOCK LUMBER, Casco

31. $91.800M MACHIAS SAVINGS

BANK, Machias

32. $91.690M MAINE DRILLING

AND BLASTING, Gardiner

33. $90.533M MAINE TODAY

MEDIA, Portland

34. $85.089M INTERMED, South Portland

35. $83.278M BUTLER BROS., Lewiston

36. $82.122M O’CONNOR, Augusta

37. $79.544M NRF

DISTRIBUTORS, Augusta

38. $72.846M RENYS, Newcastle

39. $72.000M LANCO

INTEGRATED, Westbrook

40. $66.720M KENNEBUNK SAVINGS

BANK, Kennebunk

41. $65.410M NORWAY SAVINGS

BANK Norway

42. $62.304M JOHNSON & JORDAN, Scarborough

43. $61.004M BERRYDUNN, Portland

44. $59.032M NORTH COUNTRY

ASSOCIATES, Lewiston

45. $57.728M SOUTHWORTH

PRODUCTS CORP., Falmouth

46. $55.933M PURITAN

2023 Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Raymond James® is a registered trademark of Raymond James Financial, Inc. 23-BR3CT-0147 TA 5/23

Total Family Wealth Management

PRODUCTS, Guilford

47. $54.706M ANANIA & ASSOCIATES INVESTMENT COMPANY, Portland

48. $53.975M BAKER, Sanford

49. $53.954M DIVERSIFIED COMMUNICATIONS, Portland

50. $53.742M CHARLIE’S MOTOR MALL, Augusta

51. $53.350M E.S. BOULOS, Westbrook

52. $53.083M GORHAM SAVINGS BANK, Gorham

53. $53.070M KENNEBEC SAVINGS, Augusta

54. $52.260M ALCOM TRAILERS, Winslow

55. $51.798M ANDROSCOGGIN BANK, Lewiston

56. $51.220M MAINE MALL MOTORS, Portland

57. $51.170M ENVIROLOGIX, Portland

58. $50.391M NICHOLS PORTLAND, Portland

59. $49.923M ELDREDGE LUMBER & HARDWARE, York

60. $48.669M C & L AVIATION GROUP, Bangor

61. $47.950M BATH SAVINGS INSTITUTION, Bath

62. $47.089M YANKEE FORD, South Portland

63. $46.816M THE DINGLEY PRESS, Lisbon

64. $46.538M SULLIVAN AND MERRITT CONSTRUCTORS, Hermon

65. $46.120M W. D. MATTHEWS MACHINERY, Auburn

66. $46.020M FABIAN OIL, Oakland

67. $45.730M SACO AND BIDDEFORD SAVINGS INSTITUTION, Saco

68. $45.506M THE OLYMPIA COMPANIES, Portland

69. $44.120M COZY HARBOR, Portland

70. $42.741M REED & REED, Woolwich

71. $42.089M KATAHDIN TRUST, Presque Isle

72. $40.333M LUCAS TREE, Falmouth

73. $40.162M R.C. MOORE TRANSPORTATION, Scarborough

74. $39.709M RAREBREED VETERINARY PARTNERS, Portland

75. $39.089M DAIGLE OIL COMPANY, Fort Kent

76. $39.345M BANGOR DAILY NEWS, Bangor

77. $38.350M MAINE COMMUNITY BANK, Biddeford

78. $38.290M REVISION ENERGY, Portland

Henry David Thoreau

Margaret Todd

SAIL AMONG THE ISLANDS OF FRENCHMAN BAY

2 HOUR CRUISES SAILING FROM BAR HARBOR, 3 TRIPS DAILY 10AM • 2PM • SUNSET

207-288-4585 | 207-546-2927

Private Charters Available

PLEASE CALL 207-288-4585

SOUTHWEST HARBOR/ MANSET & THE CRANBERRY ISLES

DAILY PASSENGER SERVICE 207-244-5882

Cranberry Cove Ferry

151' 4-Masted Schooner

2075462927

79. $38.282M J.S. MCCARTHY, Augusta

80. $38.089M BANCROFT CONTRACTING, South Paris

81. $37.457M FREIGHTLINER OF MAINE, Bangor

82. $36.483M MATHEWS BROTHERS, Belfast

83. $35.089M WITHAM FAMILY HOTELS, Bar Harbor

84. $35.325M POTTLE’S TRANSPORTATION, Hermon

85. $35.056M SUN MEDIA GROUP, Lewiston

86. $34.898M VIKING LUMBER, Belfast

87. $34.720M ORTHOPAEDIC ASSOCIATES OF PORTLAND, Portland

88. $32.470M CENTRAL MAINE MOTORS, Waterville

89. $32.110M PARTNERS BANK OF NEW ENGLAND, Sanford

90. $31.147M KENNEBEC LUMBER, Solon

91. $30.559M WRIGHT-PIERCE, Topsham

92. $29.483M HALEY WARD, Bangor

93. $29.089M SHP MANAGEMENT

CORP., Cumberland Foreside

94. $29.360M SYNERGY CHC

CORP., Westbrook

95. $28.951M ROBBINS LUMBER, INC., Searsmont

96. $28.089M MAINE POTATO

GROWERS, INC., Presque Isle

97. $28.089M SPECTRUM HEALTHCARE PARTNERS, South Portland

98. $27.089M A. E. ROBINSON

OIL, Dover-Foxcroft

99. $27.180M KLEINSCHMIDT

GROUP, Pittsfield

100. $26.957M R. J. GRONDIN & SONS, Gorham

These for-profit firms are headquartered in Maine. Non-profits, governmental agencies, and companies funded in part with public money do not appear. All data is provided by Dun & Bradstreet (Hoover’s) and represents calendar year 2022 gross revenues. Please contact Hoover’s/D&B, not Portland Magazine, for corrections and clarifications. At press time 2023, Maine Machine Products is now Precinmac. The company was split; Maine Machine Products was sold out of state, but Precinmac still operates in Maine.

Maine-Mined Yellow Beryl and Golden South Sea Pearl with Diamonds, 18k green gold

KMG Foods produces French-Canadian inspired seasoning blends Our mission is to maintain delicious nostalgic food traditions while updating the process to make them easier, faster, and more adaptable to one's

KMG Foods produces French-Canadian inspired seasoning blends. Our mission is to maintain delicious nostalgic food traditions while updating the process to make them easier, faster, and more adaptable to one's dietary needs

No Shelter

from the Storm

Homelessness in Portland: 2014 vs. Now

BY ALEXIS RAYMOND

Portland has always been a big part of the discussion when it comes to homelessness in Maine. It’s hard to imagine that Vacationland, famous for its farmland and scenic ocean views, would deny people a ordable housing and sufcient resources. “I’ve been around since 2013 working at the Preble Street Soup Kitchens before I started in this role here. So, I’ve been watching for a decade,” says Erin Kelly, senior director of social work at Preble Street human service agency.

A STEP AWAY

In 2014 Portland saw the homeless pop-

ulation jump to 497 people. In previous years homelessness rarely exceeded a couple of hundred individuals. “People are one emergency away from being homeless. eir kid gets sick, their car breaks down—that’s all it takes, and everything comes crumbling down,” Kelly says.

HERE AND NOW

In 2023 Portland is facing a rising homeless population of over 1,200 people. Currently, there are three active shelters in Portland; some are being housed in hotels. However, we can’t ignore the homeless encampments on the Western Promenade, in

the Park & Ride Lot on Marginal Way, and on the outskirts of Deering Oaks Park. We can see tents as the backdrop in most tourist photos.

“My wife and I are both disabled,” says Jerry Gey on experiencing homelessness in Portland. “She doesn’t feel comfortable sleeping in a tent. Luckily, we have an SUV. It’s not really running, but the doors lock and there's glass. It’s awful up there [at the encampment on Marginal Way]; people are getting shot and stabbed. Portland won’t put that in the paper. ey shut that story right down. Portland doesn’t want the tourists to know they have no control, because then they won’t come and

HANNA FLEWELLING

Pardon My

BY RHEA CÔTÉ ROBBINS

Everyone seems so jubilantly ‘languaged’ in Québec City, and as they walk by me in their diverse splendor, the need for it all to be in English melts…

A week later, I’m back at camp in Maine—the Belgrades—but the jolt of

Bienvenue a Quebec. Please leave your anglaise at the door.

travel to the country next door is still with me.

e reality that so close to where I live,

the French language is “here” atop the heap of spoken tongues once ruled by short, clipped, Germanic, one-syllabled English (apart from words borrowed from the French to begin with) begs for more ruminations.

Is the new Québec language law, Loi 96, really about the preservation

of the right to speak French or about the way English, o en unchallenged, is expected to be the favored way to speak worldwide?

What are languages but expressions of engendered lifestyles?

As a recent visitor to Québec with heritage roots deeply planted in the geography, my experiences of Loi 96 were that at rst blush, the bilingual courtesies of the land remained intact and ready to serve the visitors.

Restaurant sta /menus, signage in the museums or the streets, etc. were both in French and with English translation or the sta completely bilingual.

e deeper tension may lie with: remember when bilingual meant as long as it’s in English?

There are rumblings in the press about how the particulars of Loi 96 will a ect the previously bilingual legal, medical, and other o cial documents and academic course o erings (not to mention expected eductional outcomes) in the future. O cial documents will now be o ered in French only, without any of the expected translations or language accommodation. If one immigrates to Québec, they are expected to be bilingual in six months.

e clock is ticking on the language debate. In Maine, slurs against French speakers have been centuries in operation, to the point of last-name changes for some families in order to appear more “English.” e result is, some members of recent generations are storyless as to the particulars of the oppressions-to-conform their ancestors endured. Our tour guide expressed his opinion of Loi 96 as on a par with the U.S. dealing with bordered identities in the South.

Whether as a second or rst language, English—as part of the geography of internalized oppression for some and a last

The deeper tension may lie with: remember when bilingual meant as long as it’s in English?

stand to remain true to their ancestors for others—de nes the bilingual debate in les États

In Québec, the e ects of the new Loi 96 and its tightening of the language belt are yet to be felt or seen in the tourist sectors. I’d visit freely and savor the sights, sounds, and cuisine of Québec without a thought to what language you

speak, but there are English translations for those who participate in that kind of talk. n

Hitchcock was here! The master filmmaker stayed in Québec City’s looming Château Frontenac (see p. 43) while directing his haunting 1953 thriller I Confess, starring Montgomery Clift as a Catholic priest who goes on trial for murder after he refuses to reveal the name of the true culprit to the police.

Just as the chateau looms over the city skyline, it’s a backdrop to–even an observer of–the story’s action, all the way to a heart-thumping chase scene inside the hotel.

According to nationalgeographic.ca, “Many of the city’s landmarks appear in I Confess, making perfect—and, in the case of the escalier casse-cou (“breakneck steps”), perfectly-named—backdrops for the moody film noir.”

Today, the Frontenac is a Fairmont property where you can stay in the 800-squarefoot Hitchcock Suite with vast views of the St. Lawrence River.

Seven Arctic explorers, one Snowy Owl— what could possibly go wrong? Join Arcturus and his pals Lena, Captain Donald MacMillan, and a crew of friendly research sailors aboard the lovely schooner Bowdoin in 1934. The wounded snowy owl gets a lift from Portland, Maine, to his Arctic homeland. On the way, everyone learns something new in this children’s story inspired by a true adventure. $12.95

Suggested for ages 3 to 9.

Whether as a second or first language, English… defines the bilingual debate in lesÉtats.

Tidbit: An Englishman in Québec

Too Long Time Coming

Sometimes we need to think inside the box.

BY ALEXIS RAYMOND

Native Americans weren’t considered U.S. citizens until the Snyder Act of 1924. It wasn’t until 30 years later that the Maine Su rage for Native American Referendum was passed in 1954, allowing those on reservations to exercise their right to vote.

Above: Lucy Nicolar Poolaw (Penobscot Nation) was the rst to cast. n

Smokin’ Numbers

BY COLIN W. SARGENT

Like the airline pilots say, if you’re way up in the clouds, it’s a good idea to check your instruments to make sure you’re ying on the straight and level. Which is not to say we recommend in- ight cannabis products for airline pilots.

Maine’s retail cannabis sales are nearing some dizzy heights. In 2021,

the rst year of measured revenues a er adult-use (non-medicinal) cannabis was legalized here, total retail sales were $81,963,009. In 2022, total adult-use sales surged to $158,890,994. By the end of August 2023, adult-use sales had already roared up to $140,128,914. It’s a dead cert that 2023 will bring in more than $18M in the next four months, with a new annual record ahead. How high will it go?

August 2023 had the highest retail sales this year, at $21,648,253. Bigger

than July, more considerable than June. Part of the growth may be due to the increasing popularity of infused products and the ever more extraordinary array of o erings. Adult-use cannabis sales is an evolving cultural story in Maine. Many other states have their eyes on us. New Hampshire, for example, approves medical use only. In Texas, adult-use retail sales are illegal. “Kansas is one of three states where possession of cannabis for any purpose remains illegal,” Kansas Re ector reports.

e numbers aren’t just smoking here; they’re drinking and baking, too—even boiling weed to make tea. We’ve just come across a cannabis-infused lobster mac and cheese recipe. Some of these innovations re ect Maine’s inventive culture. With safety protocols followed (for more information, contact the O ce of Cannabis Policy in Augusta), the sky’s the limit. n

“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

PIXABAY

Schools without Borders

Flew into Old Orchard Beach for my HiSET! Good thing I got to bed last night...

BY COLIN STERLING SARGENT

Maine could be a hotspot for sharp students from around the globe. A Maine high-school diploma or a set of equivalency tests from Maine holds weight worldwide, and it’s available to anyone who can arrange to be in Maine to sit for the exams. Unlike many U.S. states that only let locals take these tests, Maine welcomes anyone with a photo ID, even if it’s a foreign passport. Pass the HiSET, which stands for High School Equivalency Test, and you’ll get a certi cate from the Maine Department of Education. e catch? You have to pay.

If you’re not from Maine, it’s $240 ($45 per test plus a $15 testing center fee) for

all ve tests—Reading, Writing, Math, Science, and Social Studies—plus your travel and lodging costs. But think of it as a vacation; Maine is worth seeing!

Doing well on these tough tests can be challenging. ey measure your skills directly, rather than simply grading assignments. According to Maine, a HiSET certi cate is as solid as a high-school diploma. ere’s plenty of free test- prep material online.

If you’re at least 17 and you’re not currently enrolled in high school, you’re all set to take the tests. Prepare by taking the O cial HiSET Practice Test, then

A Maine high-school diploma or a set of equivalency tests from Maine holds weight worldwide, and it’s available to anyone who can arrange to be in Maine to sit for the exams.

Magnetic North

Sometimes you get to go where you really want to go.

Say you crave to be among crowds with live music in the fresh air, and you also want to be on the urban waterfront with the perfect view.

I’ve never gone to Portland Lobster Company and le feeling grouchy—and I’m a Scorpio!

At a private party that is publicly wonderful, we sit at the red picnic tables and are treated like royalty.

BY COLIN W. SARGENT

I enjoy a perfect pound-and-aquarter lobster with corn, fries, and broccoli slaw. e pre-cracked lobster is so easy to love. ere’s a place called the Old Port Lobster Shack in California. Don’t their diners wish they were really here!

Around me I’m seeing friends and friendly strangers who are becoming instant friends devouring the Lobster Stew, Lobster Rolls, Crispy Calamari, Fried Clams, Steamers, Garden Salads,

and Caesar Salads—not to mention selecting from the wine list, local beers. and cra cocktails. I nd myself jealous of the Crab Cake Burger disappearing beside me. And that’s how this place rolls, all the way through November.

e Veggie Burger and big, beautiful pitchers of ice water show how considerate this attraction is. Even though it’s late in the season, summer’s nally come to Maine tonight. n

SELECT AREA RESTAURANTS

Anthony’s Italian Kitchen 30 years of Old World recipes. Best meatballs in town. Mile-high lasagnas, fresh-filled cannoli pastries, 54 sandwiches, pizza. A timeless great family spot. Beer and wine. Free parking. 151 Middle St., Portland, AnthonysItalianKitchen.com, 774-8668.

J’s Oyster Premier seafood destination & locals’ favorite w/indoor & outdoor waterfront seating on a scenic Portland pier. Since 1977, classic favorites, friendly service. Named by Coastal Living one of “America’s Best Seafood Dives 2016.” 722-4828.

Bandaloop has moved into a restored 1700s barn on Route 1 in Arundel. Since 2004 we have offered locally sourced, globally inspired, organic cuisine. Our new home has plenty of space, parking, outdoor seating, takeout, and an event space in the loft. We continue to offer something for every palate—from vegans to carnivores and everything in between. bandalooprestaurant.com

The Corner Room features bright, wideopen space with towering ceilings complemented by handcrafted woodwork. Patrons can expect a warm, comfortable atmosphere, marked by the rich aromas

SELECT AREA RESTAURANTS

of house-made pastas, pizzas, antipasti and artisanal breads. Come and enjoy the taste of Venice in the heart of Portland, ME! 879-4747, 110 Exchange Street. Visit thecornerroomkitchenandbar.com for more information.

Portland Lobster Company “Maine’s Best Lobster Roll,” lobster dinners, steamers, fried claims, chowder. Enjoy live music daily w/ ice-cold local beer or fine wine on our deck overlooking gorgeous Portland Harbor. 180 Commercial St., 775-2112, portlandlobstercompany.com.

Bruno’s Voted Portland’s Best Italian Restaurant by Market Surveys of America, Bruno’s offers a delicious variety of classic Italian, American, and seafood dishes–and they make all of their pasta in-house. Great sandwiches, pizza, calzones, soups, chowders, and salads. Enjoy lunch or dinner in the dining room or the tavern. Casual dining at its best. 33 Allen Ave., 8789511, https://www.restaurantji.com/me/ portland/brunos-restaurant-and-tavern-/ Maria’s Ristorante Portland’s original classic Italian restaurant. Greg & Tony Napolitano prepare classics: Zuppa di Pesce, Eggplant Parmigiana, Grilled Veal Sausages, Veal Chop Milanese, homemade cavatelli pastas, Pistachio Gelato & Maine’s Best Meatballs. See our own sauce in local stores. $11.95-$22.95. Open at 5 Wed.-Sat. Catering always avail. 1335 Congress Street 772-9232, mariasrestaurant.com.

Flatbread Company Portland Tucked between two wharves with picturesque waterfront views. Family-friendly restaurant w/ signature pizzas, weekly carne & veggie specials. Made w/ local ingredients, baked in wood-fired, clay ovens. Everything’s homemade, organic, and nitrate-free. 24 local drafts & cocktails showcase all-local breweries & distilleries. 72 Commercial St., 772-8777, flatbreadcompany.com.

Get Out!

On Stage

Belfast Maskers, 17 Court St. A Festival of One Act Plays, through Oct. 14. 619-3256.

Center Theatre, 20 E. Main St., Dover-Foxcroft. National Theatre Live: Frankenstein, Oct. 9; Rocky Horror Picture Show, Oct. 28; National Theatre Live: King Lear, Nov. 3–6. 564-8943.

Chocolate Church Arts Center, 804 Washington St., Bath. Once Upon a Mattress, through Oct. 15. 442-8455. City Theater, 205 Main St., Biddeford. Love, Loss, And What I Wore, through Oct. 15. 282-0849.

Collins Center for the Arts, 2 Flagstaff Rd., Orono. NT Live Broadcast: Good, Oct. 12; NT Live Broadcast: Frankenstein, Oct. 30; NT Live Broadcast: Best of Enemies, Nov. 3. 581-1755.

Community Little Theatre, 30 Academy St., Auburn. The Drowsy Chaperone, Oct. 26–Nov. 5. 783-0958.

Good Theater, The Hill Arts, 76 Congress St. Fireflies, Oct. 11–29; Broadway at Good Theater: The Twin Piano Edition, Nov. 1–19. 835-0895.

Grand Theater, 165 Main St., Ellsworth. Matilda the Musical, through Oct. 15. 667-9500.

Mad Horse Theater, 24 Mosher St., South Portland. POTUS, through Oct. 15; White, Nov. 16–Dec. 10. 747-4148.

Maine Film Center, 93 Main St., Waterville. National Theatre Live: Hamlet, Nov. 11. 873-7000.

Ogunquit Playhouse, 10 Main St. Tootsie, through Oct. 29. 646-5511.

Penobscot Theatre Company, Bangor Opera House, 131 Main St. Dirty Deeds Downeast, Oct. 19–Nov. 5; Godspell Jr., Nov. 3–5. 942-3333.

Public Theatre, 31 Maple St., Lewiston. Paint Night, Oct. 20–29; My Witch: The Margaret Hamilton Stories, Nov. 10–12. 782-3200.

Saco River Theatre, 29 Salmon Falls Rd., Buxton. The Originals Present Outside Mullingar, Oct. 27–Nov. 4. 929-6473.

Strand Theatre, 345 Main St., Rockland. Naughty Bits, Oct. 13–14; Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1, Oct. 27. 594-0070.

USM Department of Theatre, Russell Hall, Gorham Campus. A Winter’s Tale, Oct. 27–Nov. 5; Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Nov. 17–19. 780-5151.

Waterville Opera House, 1 Common St. School Show: Henry IV, Part 1, Oct. 11. 873-7000.

774-0465

Music

1932 Criterion Theatre, 35 Cottage St., Bar Harbor. The Fab Four, Oct. 28; Mat Kearney, Nov. 16; Queen Flash, Nov. 18. 288-0829.

Aura, 121 Center St. The Motet, Oct. 14; Riff Raff, Oct. 22; Railroad Earth, Nov. 3; Twisted Roots, Nov. 4; Molly Tuttle, Nov. 16. 772-8274.

GET OUT!

Blue, 650A Congress St. Perennials & Sequoia Fenson, Oct. 12; Foreside Funk, Oct. 13; Choro Luoco, Cliff Cameron, & The Arcanauts, Oct. 14; Songwriters in the Round, Oct. 17; Sue Sheriff Jazz, Locus Delicti, & Hunter Lefebvre, Oct. 21; D Gross & Kyle Friday, Oct. 26; Tracy McMullen, Forest City Swing, & John Dalton, Oct. 28; Halloween Bash, Oct. 31; Jazz sesh, every Wed. 774-4111.

Cadenza, 5 Depot St., Freeport. Heather Pierson Trio, Oct. 14; Sean Mencher & Hugh Bowden, Oct. 28; Unfinished Blues Band, Nov. 4; Bess Jacques, Nov. 11; Anni Clark, Nov. 17. 560-5300.

Camden Opera House, 29 Elm St. Sweet Baby James, Oct. 14; Vicki Burns, Oct. 20; Hiroya Tsukamoto, Oct. 27; Open the Door for Three, Nov. 3; Joan Ellison, Nov. 18; Oshima Brothers, Nov. 24. 236-7963.

Center Theatre, 20 E. Main St., Dover-Foxcroft. Rock Hearts, Oct. 21. 564-8943.

Chocolate Church Arts Center, 804 Washington St., Bath. The Last Waltz, Oct. 20; Slaid Cleaves, Oct. 21; Schooner Fare, Oct. 28; Yellow Brick Road, Nov. 4; Primo Cubano, Nov. 17. 442-8455.

Collins Center for the Arts, 2 Flagstaff Rd., Orono. The Met Live in HD: Dead Man Walking, Oct. 21; Danish String Quartet, Nov. 10; Melissa Aldana Trio, Nov. 16–17; Masterworks II: Star Crossed: Romeo & Juliette, Nov. 19. 581-1755.

Denmark Arts Center, 50 W. Main St. Luke Concannon, Oct. 13; Hiroya Tsukamoto, Oct. 28; Heather Pierson & Leah Boyd, Nov. 3. 452-2412.

Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. The General, on demand through Oct. 30; Kotzschmar Spooktacular Songs and Storytime, Oct. 28; Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Oct. 28 (on demand Oct. 31–Nov. 30). 553-4363.

Gracie Theatre, 1 College Cir., Bangor. Material Girls, Oct. 27; Vijay Venkatesh, Nov. 5. 941-7888.

Grand Theater, 165 Main St., Ellsworth. MET LIVE: Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Oct. 21; MET LIVE: X: The Life and Times of Malcom X, Nov. 18. 667-9500.

The Hill Arts, 76 Congress St. Los Galactacos, Oct. 22; Unfinished Blues Band, Nov. 24. 347-7177.

Photos by Michele Stapleton

Anni Clark, Nov. 17 at Cadenza.

GET OUT!

Jonathan’s Ogunquit, 92 Bourne Ln. Suede with Fred Boyle, Oct. 21; James Montgomery, Oct. 27; Billy Gilman, Oct. 28; Another Tequila Sunrise, Nov. 3; Moondance, Nov. 10; Runnin’ Down a Dream, Nov. 17; Cheryl Wheeler & Kenny White, Nov. 25. 646-4777.

Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater St., Damariscotta. The Met Live in HD: Dead Man Walking, Oct. 21; The Met Live in HD: X: The Life and Times of Malcom X, Nov. 18. 563-3424.

Maine Film Center, 93 Main St., Waterville. Met Opera Encore: Dead Man Walking, Nov. 4. 873-7000.

Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo St. Newberry & Verch, Oct. 26; Trio Sefardi, Nov. 9; La Nona Kanta with Trio Sefardi, Nov. 11. 879-4629.

Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. Loreena McKennitt, Oct. 11. 842-0800.

One Longfellow Square, 181 State St. Goldings, Bernstein, & Stewart Organ Trio, Oct. 9; Louise Bichan, Oct. 12; Honeysuckle, Oct. 13; Tricky Britches, Oct. 14; Portland Jazz Orchestra, Oct. 19 & Nov. 16; The Rattle and The Clatter, Oct. 20; Buffalo Nichols, Oct. 21; Ben Cosgrove, Oct. 27; Le Vent Du Nord, Oct. 28; Viv & Riley and OldHat

Stringband, Oct. 29; Mama’s Broke, Nov. 3; säje, Nov. 5; Crys Matthews, Nov. 18; Beth Nielson Chapman, Nov. 19; Duke Robillard Band, Nov. 25. 761-1757.

Opera House at Boothbay Harbor, 86 Townsend Ave. Kathy Mattea, Oct. 21; John Hiatt, Oct. 27; Tannahill Weavers, Oct. 28; Mike Block & Biriba, Nov. 11. 633-5159.

Portland Conservatory of Music, 28 Neal St. The Eastern Boundary Quartet, Oct. 14; Barbara Truex Project, Oct. 28; Timothy Burris & Amy Hunter, Nov. 2; Oceans And, Nov. 3; Cardinaux/McEvoy/Goldman Trio, Nov. 11; Seyir Duo, Nov. 16. 775-3356.

Portland House of Music, 25 Temple St. Drivetrain, Oct. 13; Oshima Brothers, Oct. 14; Down East Dead, Oct. 18; theWorst, Oct. 21; 5AM Trio with Wax Future, Oct. 25; Rayland Baxter, Oct. 26; Matt Anderson, Oct. 27; Gone Gone Beyond, Oct. 28; Steely Dead, Oct. 29; The Magic Beans, Nov. 2; Weakened Friends, Nov. 10; Carbon Leaf, Nov. 11; Mipso, Nov. 12; Echoes, Nov. 22. 805-0134.

Portland Ovations, Hannaford Hall, USM Portland Campus, 88 Bedford St. Ustad Shafaat Khan Trio, Oct. 26.

OF BILLY GILMAN

Billy Gilman, Oct. 28 at Jonathan’s Ogunquit

842-0800.

Portland Ovations, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. Stomp, Nov. 18. 842-0800.

Portland Symphony Orchestra, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. Musical Landscapes, Oct. 17; Kings of Soul, Oct. 21; Singers & Songwriters with Michael Cavanaugh, Nov. 4–5; Symphonic Season, Nov. 12. 842-0800.

Saco River Theatre, 29 Salmon Falls Rd., Buxton. Durham County Poets, Nov. 11; Derek Gripper, Nov. 18; Erica Brown and the Bluegrass Connection, Nov. 25. 929-6473.

State Theatre, 609 Congress St. Buddy Guy, Oct. 10; Kip Moore, Oct. 14; Bruce Cockburn, Oct. 23; The California Honeydrops, Oct. 24; The Disco Biscuits, Oct. 26; Neighbor,

Oct. 27; Moon Taxi, Nov. 6; Lettuce, Nov. 9; Jeremy Zucker, Nov. 11; Spencer and the Walrus, Nov. 24–26; DakhaBrakha, Nov. 28; Dylan Scott, Nov. 30. 956-6000.

Stone Mountain Arts Center, 695 Dugway Rd., Brownfield. Blind Boys of Alabama, Oct. 10; Kathy Mattea, Oct. 20; Lonesome Ace Stringband, Oct. 21; The Tannahill Weavers, Oct. 27; Sam Bush, Oct. 28; Cowboy Junkies, Nov. 2–3; Secret Sisters, Nov. 4; Della Mae, Nov. 16; Marc Cohn, Nov. 17; Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Nov. 18. 935-7292. Strand Theatre, 345 Main St., Rockland. Dar Williams, Oct. 20; Met Opera Live: Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Oct. 21; Met Opera Encore: Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Oct. 31; The Secret Sisters, Nov. 5; Black Opry

Belfast Flying Shoes

Revue, Nov. 10; Met Opera Live: Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcom X, Nov. 18. 594-0070.

Sun Tiki Studios, 375 Forest Ave. JOBS with An Anderson & Red Eft, Oct. 12; Higher Ground: A Tribute to Stevie Wonder, Oct. 21; Jeffrey Davis & The Burning Hell, Nov. 4. 808-8080. Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick, 1 Middle St. Sally Rogers & Claudia Schmidt, Oct. 28; James Keelaghan, Nov. 18. 729-8515.

Vinegar Hill Music Theatre, 53 Old Post Rd., Arundel. Amy Helm, Oct. 12; The Kingston Trio, Oct. 22; Gina and the Red Eye Flight Crew Halloween Bash, Oct. 27; 12/OC, Oct. 28; The Gibson Brothers, Nov. 3; Michael Corleto with Xander Nelson Band, Nov. 4; Joe K. Walsh, Ella Jordan, & Jed Wilson, Nov. 9; Chris Smither, Nov. 10; Liz Frame & the Kickers, Nov. 11; Jim Messina, Nov. 16; Roosevelt Collier, Nov. 17. 985-5552.

Waldo Theatre, 916 Main St., Waldoboro. Dancing with Ivory, Oct. 13; Fall Fiddle Fest, Oct. 20–21; Matt Nakoa, Nov. 11; Mat Kearney, Nov. 15. 975-6490.

Waterville Opera House, 1 Common St. Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt, Oct. 16; The Kingston Trio, Oct. 21. 873-7000.

Dance

Belfast Flying Shoes, First Church in Belfast UCC Fellowship Hall, 8 Court St. Flying Shoes on First Fridays. 338-0979.

Blue, 650A Congress St. Salsa Nite, Oct. 19. 774-4111. Center Theatre, 20 E. Main St., Dover-Foxcroft. ZomBee Parks and the Hornets Dance Party, Oct. 29. 564-8943. Hackmatack Playhouse, 539 School St., Berwick.

Contra Dance with River Road, Oct. 28. 698-1807.

Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo St. Samāgata: A Coming Together, Oct. 14; Balkan Dance Party with Bulgarika, Nov. 12. 879-4629.

Portland Ballet, Westbrook Performing Arts Center, 471 Stroudwater St. Tales by Poe, Oct. 27–28. 857-3860.

Portland School of Ballet, Westbrook Performing Arts Center, 471 Stroudwater St. Thrills & Chills, Oct. 28. 857-3860.

Comedy

Collins Center for the Arts, 2 Flagstaff Rd., Orono. Capitol Fools, Oct. 22. 581-1755.

The Hill Arts, 76 Congress St. Hey Party People!, Oct. 16; Balderdash Academy Improv Jam, Oct. 24. 347-7177.

Jonathan’s Ogunquit, 92 Bourne Ln. Jim Florentine, Oct. 20; Bob Marley, Nov. 12. 646-4777.

Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. Iliza, Oct. 14; Steve Martin & Martin Short, Nov. 10. 842-0800.

Mystic Theater, 49 Franklin St., Rumford. Welcome to Maine, Nov. 10–11. 369-0129.

One Longfellow Square, 181 State St. Stephen Kellogg, Nov. 24. 761-1757.

State Theatre, 609 Congress St. Mark Normand, Oct. 20; Judge John Hodgman, Nov. 2. 956-6000.

Stone Mountain Arts Center, 695 Dugway Rd., Brownfield. Comedian Bob Marley, Oct. 19 & 25. 935-7292.

Vinegar Hill Music Theatre, 53 Old Post Rd., Arundel. Todd Barry, Oct. 20. 985-5552.

(Continued on page 73)

Take a great fall walk (or drive!) on the Maine Sculpture Trail, Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium. An outdoor exhibit of 34 sculptures over 200 miles Downeast. schoodicsculpture.org.

e source for Chemotherapy & PostMastectomy Essentials, Swimsuits, Sports Bras, Compression Garments, Tank Tops, Wigs & Turbans.

We will bill Medica 1189 Congr t

re and Most Insurance Open 10 am - 4 pm Mon. - Fri. ess St. • Portland ME For best service call for an appointmen (207) 775-4048 / (888) 599-6626

PHOTO BY NJC PHOTOGRAPHY

Get into

Octobe r

T.S. Eliot was helpful when he shared “April is the cruelest month” in “The Waste Land.” But he didn’t mention the zaniest. We offer October. Leave it to www.holidayinsights.com to take us closer:

Count Your Buttons Day

International Nacho Day

National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day

Sweetest Day

22. Mother-in-Law Day

National Nut Day

Smart is Cool Day

23. National Mole Day

TV Talk Show Host Day

24. National Bologna Day

United Nations Day

25. Howl at the Moon Night

International Artist Day

Punk for a Day Day

World Opera Day

World Pasta Day

26. National Mincemeat Day

27. Black Cat Day

Frankenstein Friday

National Tell a Story Day

Navy Day

28. Make a Difference Day

Plush Animal Lovers Day

29. Hermit Day

National Cat Day

National Frankenstein Day

30. National Candy Corn Day

Mischief Night

31. Carve a Pumpkin Day

Halloween

Increase Your Psychic Powers Day

Waldo Theatre, 916 Main St., Waldoboro. Making It Up As You Go: The Art of Improvisation Workshop, Oct. 14 & Nov. 11. 975-6490.

Waterville Opera House, 1 Common St. Tim Sample, Oct. 25. 873-7000.

Film

Center Theatre, 20 E. Main St., Dover-Foxcroft. A Haunting in Venice, through Oct. 12. 564-8943.

Collins Center for the Arts, 2 Flagstaff Rd., Orono. The Religion Move, Nov. 12. 581-1755.

Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater St., Damariscotta. Roman Holiday (1953), Nov. 2–3. 563-3424.

Maine Film Center, 93 Main St., Waterville. Friday the 13th, Oct. 13; Casper, Oct. 15; Paris is Burning, Oct. 16; Maine’s Home Movies, Oct. 21; Young Frankenstein, Oct. 29; Drag Me to Hell, Oct. 30. 873-7000.

Maine Jewish Film Festival, Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Sq. Celebrate 25 years of bringing people together through the power of great films, Nov. 4–11. 831-7495.

State Theatre, 609 Congress St. Damnationland

XIII, Oct. 13; Teton Gravity Research: Legend Has It, Nov. 3. 956-6000.

Strand Theatre, 345 Main St., Rockland. Coco, Oct. 29. 594-0070.

Waldo Theatre, 916 Main St., Waldoboro. Steward Udall: The Politics of Beauty, Oct. 12. 975-6490.

Holiday

Cadenza, 5 Depot St., Freeport. Pat Colwell & The Soul Sensations Motown Christmas, Dec. 16; Heather Pierson Plays Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown Christmas, Dec. 21. 560-5300.

Camden Opera House, 29 Elm St. Paul Sullivan: Christmas in Maine, Dec. 16. 236-7963.

Chocolate Church Arts Center, 804 Washington St., Bath. Pat Colwell & The Soul Sensations Motown Chrristmas, Nov. 25; Holiday Hot Chocolate Jubilee with the Volunteers Jazz Band, Dec. 16; Sing! It’s Christmas, Dec. 18. 442-8455.

City Theater, 205 Main St., Biddeford. Elf The Musical, Dec. 1–17. 282-0849.

Collins Center for the Arts, 2 Flagstaff Rd., Orono. A Celtic Family Christmas, Nov. 29; Texas Tenors, Dec. 1; Paul Sullivan & Friends Holiday, Dec. 9; Nutcracker, Nov. 16–17. 581-1755.

Cross Insurance Arena, 1 Civic Center Sq. Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, Dec. 5. 791-2200.

Denmark Arts Center, 50 W. Main St. Jolly Holiday Handmade Bazaar, Nov. 11. 452-2412.

Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. Christmas with Kennerley, Dec. 19 (on demand Dec. 22–Jan. 22, 2024). 553-4363.

Gracie Theatre, 1 College Cir., Bangor. Sister’s Christmas Catechism, Dec. 2; COIG: Celtic Christmas Tour, Dec. 7. 941-7888.

The Hill Arts, 76 Congress St. Andy Happel’s Holiday Hootenanny, Dec. 3; Magic 8 Ball, Dec. 17. 347-7177.

GET OUT!

Jonathan’s Ogunquit, 92 Bourne Ln. Jim Brickman Hits Live with A Little Bit of Christmas, Nov. 18; Chris Collins & Boulder Canyon: A John Denver Christmas, Dec. 8; Funky Divas of Gospel, Dec. 9; Deep Blue C Studio Orchestra, Dec. 10. 646-4777.

Kittery Art Association, 2 Walker St. KAA Annual Holiday Show and Bazaar, Nov. 30–Dec. 17. 451-9384.

Lyric Music Theater, 176 Sawyer St., South Portland. A Christmas Story, the Musical, Dec. 1–17. 799-1421.

Maine Film Center, 93 Main St., Waterville. The Grinch, Dec. 2. 873-7000.

Maine State Ballet, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. The Nutcracker, Nov. 24–Dec. 3. 842-0800.

Meetinghouse Arts, 40 Main St., Freeport. Sparkle: Holiday Show, Nov. 17–Dec. 30. 865-0040.

Mystic Theater, 49 Franklin St., Rumford. COIG Christmas Concert, Dec. 6. 369-0129.

New England Craft Fairs, see website for locations.

20th Annual Early Bird Arts & Craft Show, Nov. 11–12;

11th Annual Holly Berry Arts & Craft Show, Nov. 18–19;

43rd Annual Thanksgiving Weekend Christmas in New England Arts & Craft Fair, Nov. 25–26; 30th Annual Last Minute Arts & Craft Fair, Dec. 9–10; 32nd Annual Last Minute Christmas Arts & Craft Fair, Dec. 16–17. Newenglandcraftfairs.com.

Ogunquit Playhouse, 10 Main St. The Sound of Music: Holiday Show, Nov. 29–Dec. 17. 646-5511.

Opera House at Boothbay Harbor, 86 Townsend Ave. The Great Gingerbread House Building Class, Nov. 15; Coig, Dec. 2; Gingerbread Spectacular!, Dec. 15–17; Kevin Kiley & Friends, Dec. 20. 633-5159.

Penobscot Theatre Company, Bangor Opera House, 131 Main St. A Christmas Carol, Nov. 30–Dec. 24. 942-3333.

Portland Ballet, Westbrook Performing Arts Center, 471 Stroudwater St. A Victorian Nutcracker, Dec. 16–23; A Victorian Nutcracker: Land of the Sweets Experience, Dec. 16–17. 857-3860.

Portland Conservatory of Music, 28 Neal St. Choral Art Holiday Singalong, Dec. 21. 775-3356.

Portland Stage, 25A Forest Ave. A Christmas Carol, Dec. 2–24. 774-0465.

Portland Symphony Orchestra, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. Magic of Christmas, Dec. 8–17 (on demand Dec. 16–Jan. 8, 2024). 842-0800.

Public Theatre, 31 Maple St., Lewiston. A Christmas Carol, Dec. 8–10. 782-3200.

Richard Boyd Art Gallery, 15 Epps St., Peaks Island. Holiday Offerings, Dec. 1–31. 712-1097.

Saco River Theatre, 29 Salmon Falls Rd., Buxton. Neil McGarry’s A Christmas Carol, Dec. 16. 929-6473.

State Theatre, 609 Congress St. A Drag Queen Christmas, Nov. 19. 956-6000.

Stone Mountain Arts Center, 695 Dugway Rd., Brownfield. Taste of Christmas Rooster Luncheon, Dec. 6; Dana Cunningham & Carol Noonan, Dec. 8; Stone Mountain Live for Christmas, Dec. 15–16. 935-7292.

Strawbery Banke Museum, 14 Hancock St., Portsmouth, NH. Candlelight Stroll, Saturdays and Sundays Dec.

Your Maine Wedding Gi Destination!

We’re excited to share all the new items and patterns we've been creating, like our new Leaf Dishe s and Celtic Flower dinnerware. Visit our three showrooms, working studio, or outlet barn to explore our full line of handmade pottery and ever-changing collections of American-made crafts, jewelry, and gifts. Open 7 days.

2–17. (603)433-1100.

Vivid Motion, The Hill Arts, 76 Congress St. ‘Twas the Night Before Burlesque, Dec. 8–16. 347-7177.

Waterville Opera House, 1 Common St. Elf the Musical, Nov. 17–26. 873-7000.

Art

Aperto Fine Art, 63 Main St., Bridgton. Anne Neely: Looking Now, through Oct. 15. 291-4245.

Bates College Museum of Art, 75 Russell St., Lewiston. Exploding Native Inevitable, Oct. 27–Mar. 4, 2024; Brad Kahlhamer: Nomadic Studio, Maine Camp, Oct. 27–Mar. 4, 2024. 786-6158.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 245 Maine St., Brunswick. People Watching: Contemporary Photography Since 1965, through Nov. 5; Re|Framing the Collection: New Considerations in European and American Art, 1475–1875, through Dec. 31; Figures from the Fire: J. Pierpont Morgan’s Ancient Bronzes at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, through Jan. 7, 2024; Metamorphosis and Malice: Pontormo’s Three Monochrome Paintings from Renaissance Florence and Related Works, through Jan. 7, 2024; Nick van Woert: History, Material, Environment, through Jun. 9, 2024. 725-3275.

Brick Store Museum, 117 Main St., Kennebunk. Pastel Society of Maine International Show, through Dec. 17. 985-4802.

Caldbeck Gallery, 12 Elm St., Rockland. Home, through Oct. 31; John Woolsey, through Oct. 31. 594-5935.

Carol L. Douglas Studio and Gallery, 394 Commercial St., Rockport. Landscape and marine paintings, workshops and instruction. Watch-me-paint. com. 585-201-1558.

Center for Maine Contemporary Art, 21 Winter St., Rockland. Jeane Cohen: This Watching Land, through Jan. 7, 2024; Alison Hildreth: Darkness Visible, through Jan. 7, 2024; Gamaliel Rodriguez: (In)hospitable, through Jan. 7, 2024. 701-5005.

Vicki Burns, Oct. 20 at Camden Opera House

GET OUT!

Colby College Museum of Art, 5600 Mayflower Hill Dr., Waterville. Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change, through Oct. 22; Come Closer: Selections from the Collection, 1978-1994, through Nov. 26; Constellations: Forming the Collection, 1973-2023, through Nov. 26; 2023 Faculty Biennial, Nov. 9–Dec. 10; Bill Morrison: Cycles and Loops, through Dec. 31; Painted: Our Bodies, Hearts, and Village, through Jul. 28, 2024. 859-5600.

Cove Street Arts, 71 Cove St. Diagonal Latitudes, through Nov. 4; Attention to Detail, through Nov. 11; Out & About II, through Nov. 18; John Walker: Selected Prints, through Jan. 31, 2024. 808-8911.

David Lussier Gallery, 66 Wallingford Sq., Kittery. Gallery with works by artists including Benjamin Lussier, David Lussier, George Van Hook, and Pamela Lussier. 860-336-9051.

De’Bramble Art Gallery, 16 Middle St., Freeport. Art by Marilyn J. Welch and Friends. (510)717-8427.

Denmark Arts Center, 50 W. Main St. Sip n’ Clay Workshops: for Beginners (Tuesdays in Oct.); for Advanced (Thursdays in Oct.). 452-2412.

Dowling Walsh Gallery, 365 Main St., Rockland. Joanna Logue, through Oct. 28; Rachel Gloria Adams: Tidal Bloom, through Oct. 28. 596-0084.

Farnsworth Art Museum, 16 Museum St., Rockland. Alvaro’s World: Andrew Wyeth and the Olson House, through Oct. 29; The Farnsworth at 75, through Dec. 31; Preserving a National Historic Landmark: the Olson House, through Dec. 31; Pope.L: Small Cup, through Feb. 4, 2024; Every Leaf & Twig: Andrew Wyeth’s Botanical Imagination, through Mar. 24, 2024; Louise Nevelson: Dusk to Dawn, through Sept. 29, 2024. 596-6457.

First Friday Art Walks, Creative Portland, 84 Free St. Nov. 3. 370-4784.

Greenhut Galleries, 146 Middle St. Nancy Morgan Barnes Solo Exhibition, through Oct. 28; Taking Shape: Featuring Matt Demers, Keri Kimura, & Thomas Stenquist, Nov. 2–25. 772-2693.

Kittery Art Association, 2 Walker St. Advancing Your Art Career: Amanda Kidd Kestler, Oct. 19; Seacoast Moderns Group Show, through Oct. 29; Natural Wonders: All Member Show, Nov. 2–26. 451-9384.

Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress St. CODE RED: Climate, Justice & Natural History Collections, through Dec. 30; Photojournalism & the 1936 Flood, through Dec. 30. 774-1822.

Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington St., Bath. Women Behind the Lens: The Photography of Emma D. Sewall, Josephine Ginn Banks, and Abbie F. Minott, through Nov. 1; Eric Darling: Drift Rope Project, through Dec. 8; SeaChange: Darkness and Light in the Gulf of Maine, through Dec. 31; Sustaining Maine’s Waters: Understanding the Changing Gulf of Maine, through Dec. 31, 2024. 443-1316.

Maine Sculpture Trail, Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium. An outdoor exhibit of 34 sculptures over 200 miles Downeast. schoodicsculpture.org.

Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo St. Peter Wallis’ Mythic and Quotidian, through Oct. 26. 879-4629.

Meetinghouse Arts, 40 Main St., Freeport. Wild Mercy, Nov. 3–11. 865-0040.

Moss Galleries, 251 US-1, Falmouth. David Wolfe, through Oct. 28. 781-2620.

Ogunquit Museum of American Art, 543 Shore Rd. Joe Wardwell Mural Commission, through Nov. 12; Networks of Modernism: 1898–1968, through Nov. 12; The Architect of a Museum, through Nov. 12; Spontaneous Generation: The Work of Liam Lee, through Nov. 12; Ever Bladwin: Down the Line, through Nov. 12; Meg Webster: Site-Specific Work, through Nov. 12. 646-4909.

Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, 9500 College Station, Brunswick. Iñuit Qiñiġaa i: Contemporary Inuuit Photography, Collections and Recollections: Objects and the Stories They Tell, & At Home In the North, through May 26, 2024. 725-3416.

Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Sq. Fragments of Epic Memory, through Jan. 7, 2024; Alex Katz, Wedding Dress, through Jun. 2, 2024. 775-6148.

Portsmouth Historical Society, 10 Middle St., Portsmouth, NH. A Sense of Place, through Oct. 28. (603)436-8433.

Richard Boyd Art Gallery, 15 Epps St., Peaks Island. Scenes of Maine, Oct. 1–30; Serenity: An Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Nov. 3–26. 712-1097.

River Arts, 36 Elm St, Damariscotta. Abstract, through Oct. 14; Artist’s Choice, Oct. 21–Nov. 18; Celebration, Nov. 25–Dec. 30. 563-6868.

Saco Museum, 371 Main St. Maine Plein Air Painters: Of Land and Sea, through Oct. 13. 283-3861.

Strawbery Banke Museum, 14 Hancock St., Portsmouth, NH. Portsmouth Possessions: Objects that Shaped the City, through Oct. 31. (603)433-1100.

University of New England Art Galleries, UNE Art Gallery, 716 Stevens Ave. Seeking Light: Plants from Shoreline to Canopy in the Arts & Sciences, Oct. 27–Jan. 21, 2024. 602-3000.

University of New England Art Galleries, Jack S. Ketchum Library, 11 Hills Beach Rd., Biddeford. Seeking Light: Plants from Shoreline to Canopy in the Arts & Sciences. Oct. 13–Jan. 7, 2024. 602-3000.

Don’t Miss

10th Annual Veterans Day 5K Road Race, Wells Elk Lodge, 356 Bald Hill Rd. Race starts and ends at the Wells Elk Lodge, Nov. 11. 646-2451.

Camden Opera House, 29 Elm St. Heather Cox Richardson, Oct. 26. 236-7963.

Castine Historical Society, 17 School St. Hidden Legacies: A Walking Tour of Castine’s African American History, Oct. 14. 326-4118.

Celebration Barn Theater, 190 Stock Farm Rd., South Paris. The Early Evening Show, Oct. 14. 743-8452.

Center Theatre, 20 E. Main St., Dover-Foxcroft. Delicious Diva Drag Show, Oct. 20. 564-8943.

Chocolate Church Arts Center, 804 Washington St., Bath. Bhakti Yoga Classes, Oct. 18 & Nov. 15. 442-8455.

Collins Center for the Arts, 2 Flagstaff Rd., Orono.

Mad Hatter’s Cocktail Party, Oct. 20; MOMIX’s Alice, Oct.

Pam’s Wreaths has been a family owned business since 1984. We offer a full line of Christmas wreaths and decorations, including our very popular Moose Head Wreath. Call or go online for more information

GET OUT!

20. 581-1755.

Cross Insurance Arena, 1 Civic Center Sq. Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Party, Oct. 13–15. 791-2200.

Denmark Arts Center, 50 W. Main St. The Stacy Brothers, Oct. 21. 452-2412.

Gracie Theatre, 1 College Cir., Bangor. Mike Super, Nov. 11. 941-7888.

Hackmatack Playhouse, 539 School St., Berwick. Fall Festival, Oct. 21. 698-1807.

Harvestfest, Short Sands Beach, York. Local food vendors, kids activities, juried crafters, old-fashioned market vendors, & live music, Oct. 14. 363-4422.

Jonathan’s Ogunquit, 92 Bourne Ln. Vicki Monroe, Nov. 2. 646-4777.

League of Maine Craft Show, Wells Junior High, 1470 Post Rd., Wells. Over 70 Maine & New England artists & crafters with traditional, contemporary & country crafts, including stained glass, jewelry, pottery, soaps, candles, wood crafts, fiber arts, graphics, photography, & handcrafted specialty foods, Nov. 4–5. 646-5172.

Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo St. An Evening with the Spirits presented by Stanley the Great, Oct. 20–21. 879-4629.

Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, Nov. 16–17. 842-0800.

Mystic Theater, 49 Franklin St., Rumford. Fun and Magic with the Witches of 49 Franklin, Oct. 29. 369-0129.

New England Craft Fairs, Augusta Armory, 179 Western Ave., Augusta. 40th Annual Fall/Halloween Arts & Craft Show, Oct. 21–22. Newenglandcraftfairs.com.

Penobscot Theatre Company, Bangor Arts Exchange, 193 Exchange St. 50th Anniversary Costume Gala, Oct. 28. 942-3333.

Penobscot Theatre Company, Bangor Opera House, 131 Main St. Haunted Bangor Opera House Tours, Oct. 30–31. 942-3333.

Portland Ovations, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St. MOMIX’s Alice, Oct. 19. 842-0800.

Portland Ovations, Westbrook Performing Arts Center, 471 Stroudwater St. It’s Okay to Be Different (Stories by Todd Parr), Oct. 29. 842-0800.

Portsmouth Historical Society, 10 Middle St., Portsmouth, NH. Women of Portsmouth Walking Tour, Oct. 11; President Washington Walking Tour, Oct. 20; Historical Walking Tours, through Oct. 31. (603)436-8433.

Print: A Bookstore, 273 Congress St. David Gessner (A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World: Tales of Fire, Wind, and Water), Oct. 17; Peter Coviello (Is There God after Prince?), Oct. 23; Jiordan Castle (Disappearing Act), Oct. 25; Nina MacLaughlin (Winter Solstice), Nov. 17. 536-4778.

Snowflake Trail, Downtown Limington, Limerick, and Newfield. Annual open house for small businesses. “Follow the trail and enjoy local, craft-brewed beer, hand-made artisan French style chocolates, Maine maple syrup, local foods, and much more, Nov. 10–12. thesnowflaketrail.com.

State Theatre, 609 Congress St. A Live Conversation with John Cusack, Oct. 22. 956-6000.

Strawbery Banke Museum, 14 Hancock St., Ports-

C A ’S

mouth, NH. Ghosts on the Banke, Oct. 26–29; Dawnland StoryFest Workshop, Nov. 4. (603)433-1100.

Vinegar Hill Music Theatre, 53 Old Post Rd., Arundel. Richard Russo & Andre Dubus, III: In Conversation, Oct. 19. 985-5552.

WW&F Railway, 97 Cross Rd., Alna. Pumpkin Pickin’ Trains to SeaLyon Farm, Oct. 14 & 21. 882-4193.

Tasty

The Burleigh, Kennebunkport Inn, 1 Dock Sq. But First, Tequila, Nov. 12; Spiked Cocoa & Coffee, Nov. 19. 204-9668.

Now You’re Cooking, 49 Front St., Bath. Facebook Live cooking demos with a rotating list of staff & local chefs, every Thu. 443-1402.

Portsmouth Historical Society, Earth Eagle Brewings, 175 High St. Portsmouth on Tap: Earth Eagle, Nov. 16. (603)436-8433.

State Theatre, 609 Congress St. Big Heart Little Stove: A Conversation with Erin French, Nov. 16. 956-6000. Via Sophia by the Sea, 27 Western Ave., Kennebunk. Italian Cocktail Classes, Nov. 10–19. 967-6530.

To submit an event listing: portlandmonthly.com/portmag/ submit-an-event/

Compiled by Bethany Palmer

D ES T S HO E S T OR E

John Patrick Shanley

111 York Street (Rte. 1), Kennebunk 207.985.8356 | Open 7 Days 9-5

americanaworkshop.me@gmail.com www.americanaworkshop.com

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

Buying Gold & Silver Delivery Available • Free

Red Hands

“Death to the Dracu grandson!”

In terror, Iordana Ceausescu of Romania disappeared in secret to Old Orchard Beach with her son while the world searched for them. She lived a buried life among us for five years. Drawn from 800 hours of unique interviews with Iordana.

Red Hands is a deeply compelling tale of a woman caught inside the destruction of a regime. Iordana is a normal girl, brought up with all the perks of Romania’s corrupt communist regime. Then she falls in love and marries the eldest son of her parents’ arch-rival, Romania’s monstrous dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. They become the inlaws from hell, but she brings them their only grandson. And then there’s the 1989 revolution, when crowds will kill anyone with the Ceausescu name. and chaos, can Iordana keep her little son alive?

Colin W. Sargent’s Red Hands “an astounding account of the Romanian revolution in the voice of Ceausescu’s daughter-in-law.”

Drawn from eight hundred hours of unique interviews with Iordana Ceausescu, and told in her voice.

Martin Goodman in the Morning Star

“Brilliant. If the novel is Macbeth it is Romeo and Juliet too, for the pounding heart of the book is a great love story that never fails to move. A tale from last century and a warning for this one, Hands is a novel of rare power that teaches us much about Romania and even more about ourselves.”

D.D. Johnston

COLIN

Among the

Pointed Firs

In North Berwick, dreams roll on.

BY COLIN W. SARGENT

Swept away by the novels of Jane Austen? Fancy living like the landed gentry in the forests of Maine? Whether it’s tea or a Tesla that brings you here, the quiet elegance of the Morrell House at 182 Morrills Mill Road in North Berwick will surely skid your barouche to a stop. is Georgian architectural gem is swoon-worthy.

DISAPPEARING ACT

“ is home was built in 1763 by Winthrop Morrell, the grandson of John Morrell Sr.,” says seller Colleen Kelly. She greets us at the door with a friendly smile and handshake.

e elder Morrell was among the earliest European settlers in this neck of the woods. His log cabin took shape on this site when it was still part of Kittery.

“

ere are many legends and sto-

ries here,” Kelly says. She leads us across the breakfast room to the cavernous brick hearth and cooking replace and points to a rectangular gap in the back wall of the rebox. “See this opening?”

I peer inside. At first

it looks like an old bean oven, but as my eyes adjust to the dark, I realize it’s opening into a large void behind the chimney.

“ is may have been a hiding place,” a safe room “where you could sort of shelter behind the chimney, out of view. To get into the safe space, you have to go down to the cellar, climb up behind the chimney, and stand on a ledge. Follow me.”

Descending into the considerable granite basement, we feel cooler going down the stairs from the cave effect.

Kelly approaches the base of the massive center chimney. Four feet up from the oor there’s an open horizontal access. “Look inside and look up.”

I lean inside and do as she says. A sha of light twinkles through the sooty depths across what seems like a million feet and 260 years. It’s the light from the breakfast room replace!

“Over here is a slab of ancient wood I found down here. It perfectly ts this opening. You could pull yourself into the space, stand on the ledge, and set the slab behind you so it appears as just another piece of rough paneling.”

Poof! You’ve disappeared.

“Did Sarah Orne Jewett ever visit this house? It seems right up her alley, and she lived in the town square here in North Berwick.”

“ ere are so many things written about this house, it would take a lifetime to read them all.” She leads us to a cubby built into the dining-room wall. “Here’s a little museum of artifacts that my real-estate agent has started.”

And just like that, we’re hooked.

UNSPOOLING BEAUTY

The main house is 3,000 square feet. e front door opens into a classic center hallway featuring a carved winding staircase. e same wide-board wainscoting we glimpse in the main rooms continues up the stairwell. To the le is the grand salon with a stove built into the replace. To the right is the gracious dining room with a replace. Kelly installed the pleasingly coordinated Jacobean-style wallpaper that works beautifully with the bu -painted woodwork.

e dining room and grand salon lead to the back half of the house, which boasts a sitting room, a full bath, a laundry, a kitchen with a marvelous slate sink, a pantry, and a secondary staircase. And that welcoming breakfast room overlooks nearly four acres at the

back, where fences and fruit trees guide your gaze to vanishing point.

On the second oor are two baths and two grand bedrooms, one with a replace. A third room, with two paneled walls and a large replace, would make a perfect library. Just match the rich paneling with built-in bookcases in the same shade.

Many rooms in the Morrell House fairly swagger with deep, luxurious crown molding. Add to that the dearness, even the beguiling country simplicity, of this retreat, and you think, what a place to see your children grow up.

PRIVATE REBELLION

Up a spiral stair, the third- oor bedroom has extremely wide planks (one ovee 30 inches) that New England settlers were

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: STAFF; STRUCTURE MEDIA; STAFF; STRUCTURE MEDIA (2)

prohibited from using because the best trees were selected and saved for the mast trade in the King’s Navy. at’s why early patriots made a sport of hiding the grandest planks in the attic, where one of His Majesty’s inspectors wouldn’t ever see them. I don’t know what Winthrop Morrell’s politics were, but this may be a clue. Kelly removed these planks by hand from the adjacent attic space and installed them in the bedroom to replace a Berber carpet.

A FANCY NAMED DESIRE

“Let me show you the barn, which was moved here long ago from Sanford. Sometimes I think it would make a wonderful lo ed living space. It connects to the sitting room in the main house.” e barn has space for at least three vehicles, two stalls for your thoroughbreds, and plenty of tack space. With the doors swung open, you can see the picturesque chicken

coop steps away. She stops, and we follow her eyes across the dappled shade of the fruit trees and towering oaks through the so elegance of the spot. She gestures toward the two-story carriage house with a large oval window, a decorative

cupola, and arched double doors. It rises through the trees.

Kelly saw the potential of the Morrell House and bought it for $776,500 in May of 2022. She painted, papered, and updated the bathrooms and kitchen. e price today is $849,900.

“I considered making the carriage house the wedding venue. It has a post-and-beam interior and even resident swallows.” What a place for amateur theatricals, like in Mans eld Park.

“I was looking for a place to serve as a bed-and-breakfast, and I fell in love with this house and these gardens. I sadly came to realize it wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought.”

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

Majestic silences, tall fall trees. Another point of desire: at 200 acres, Bauneg Beg Lake is big enough to touch San-

ford on the other side. It, too, is hidden, but the property has a right of way to it along a private road. Once you discover the mossy shore, you see Mercury outboards. It’s a third the size of Highland Lake in Falmouth.

This is the kind of sylvan enclave where you can dare to investigate who you are. It’s a world of mysterious turns, arrowheads [a signi cant int projectile point is on display in the house—we’ve sent an image of it to the Maine State Museum for identi cation], deer, and otters. Don’t forget the enormous bronze National Register of Historic Places plaque on the corner of the main house. Park your extra cars here. Wait for the world to start making sense again. Everywhere around you, this pre-Revolutionary étude oods with love.

Taxes for 2023 are $7,080. n

Picturesque setting that ofers old New England charm yet modern day upgrades, systems and barn. The house is a restored antique cape with 36 acres, attached garage/ barn, stone walls, fower perennial fower beds and a chestnut tree! There are multiple work area/buildings that included a heated breezeway There large barn/arena/ofce/2 bd apartment. Has been used for rasing sheep. It’s a dead end road. The property is in Farmland Trust. Sugarloaf Ski/Golf Resort is 25 mins away. Price: $1,100,000

Beautiful western mountains of Maine. Cape on 80 acres of fields and forest! Dead end road in Salem Township. Fish Hatchery Rd. Fireplace. 3 bed, 2 baths plus additional large sunroom. Garage and building/ workshop. Fruit trees and berry bushes. $395,000

LOOKING FOR WATERFRONT? Here is one of our several waterfront listings. 4 bd 3 bath with ROW to water and near boat launch and public beach. $380,000. CSM has water front homes, camps and land in the beautiful western mtns of Maine. Spring Lake, Flagstaff Lake, Embden Pond and rivers and streams.

FREEMAN TOWNSHIP

Rustic Fishing/Hunting Camp with 400'+ Frontage That Includes a Peninsula. Off Grid 1 Room Camp with Gas Appliances/Lights, Wood Stove, Outhouse. Fantastic One of a Kind Lakeside Setting, Offering 4.90 Wooded Acres with Private Peninsula and Cove. Seasonal Access. $285,000

MOOSELOOKMEGUNTIC

A RARE FIND, Rustic 3BR 3-Season Cottage Privately Sited on 5.9 WoodedAcres. Offering 200' Prime Frontage, Level Lawn to Water's Edge,Grandfathered Boathouse, Permanent Dock. Outstanding Lake, Mountain andSunset Views. $675,000

AZISCOHOS LAKE

James L. Eastlack, Owner Broker 207-864-5777 or 207-670-5058 | JLEastlack@gmail.com

Your Own Private Island on Mooselookmeguntic Lake!

SPRING LAKE –property on a great remote body of water. Off grid w/generator, year round building, detached garage, Ice fish, hunt, enjoy all seasons! $495,000.

2582 Main St - Wonderful commercial business on Main Street w/ 105' on Rangeley Lake, Marina/ Convenience Store, 25+ Slips, Gas, Shop, Downtown Commercial Zoning, High Traffic Location, $965,000.

Located close to the village with expansive southwest views of Rangeley Lake, 4 beds, 3.5 baths, very close to Saddleback Ski Area, snowmobile and ATV from your doorstep, heated garage! $639,000.

Aimee Danforth 207-890-3744

MLS #1547561 Over 8.5 acres of undeveloped land ready for your next adventure! Easy road access, great swimming and boat access. Only 15 mi. north of Caribou, 20 min to Long Lake. $430,000.

Ginny Nuttall 207-557-4139

MLS # 1556591 Meticulously maintained home on desirable Mingo Loop Rd. Quiet country living with all the amenities close by. 3 BR/2BA. Oversized attached garage with large living space above. $489,000.

SPRING LAKE – 6 Spring Lake Rd - Escape to nature and a wonderful waterfront property on a great remote body of water. Off grid w/generator, year round building, detached garage, Ice fish, hunt, enjoy all seasons! $495,000.

RANGELEY LAKE – Lakeside Marina & Convenience - Wonderful business opportuinty in downtown commercial zoning, convenience store, 25 boat slips, gas, boat rental business, great waterfront location! $965,000.

20 Vista Lane – RANGELEY LAKE – A rare offering, the Buena Vista Estate on 567 feet of deep water frontage,53 private acres w/south facing exposure, total privacy, development potential. $2,650,000.

Bramble Island - An amazing opportunity to own a private island on Mooselookmeguntic Lake! Located of the Bald Mountain Road with deeded access and a mainland lot on the backside of the road. The island ofers a 2 bedroom cottage in immaculate condition with a small kitchenette, incinerating toilet and an outdoor shower. Fully powered with electricity, propane stove and hot water heater, all the comforts you can imagine! Wonderful covered porch, new aluminum dock and good sized boathouse for storage of all your toys. This island ofers miles of views across the lake at nothing but conservation land and no light pollution. If you are looking for the ultimate summer cottage...look no further, call today for a private showing! $649,000.

RANGELEY LAKE VIEWS – 21 Pine Grove - 4 Beds, 3.5 Baths, Fully Furnished, SW facing views w/LOTS of sun, Snowmobile and ATV from your doorstep, Detached 32x32 garage fully heated, a must see! $639,000.

PROCTOR ROAD – Gorgeous VIEWS overlooking Rangeley Lake and Saddleback Ski Area, wonderful estate property located just outside the Rangeley village, 48.32 Acres,4 bed,4.5 bath home w/ guest quarters. $1,495,000.

Aimee Danforth 207-890-3744

MLS #1547971 A rare oppotunity to own an iconic destination well known across The County! The Long Lake Sporting Club with a half century of family owned operation is being sold absolutely turn key! $3,000,000

MLS #1563012 Sturtevant Pond - New Construction - 2274 sq ft 4bd 2.5ba Lodge, 300' of Waterfront, Great Room, Granite Countertops, Thor appliances, Viessmann Radiant Heating, 12 x 25 screened porch, 26 x 26 garage. A true Sportsman’s Paradise and very welcoming for entertaining and your entire family. $849,000

Wendy Dodge 207-212-9979

MLS #1532036 Imagine your Rangeley area home, built where you experience waterfront tranquility on 500 feet of Long Pond Stream from this 6.2 acre parcel. Close to skiing and hiking. $240,000.

MLS #1560175 Aziscohos Lake – 2.1 acres, Beautiful view and 368’ Lake front, southwest exposure. Build an off-grid home, accessible by auto, boat or snowmachine. If you are looking for a quiet, peaceful setting to listen to the loons, watch the sunset...this is it. $275,000

Aimee Danforth 207-890-3744

Ginny Nuttall 207-557-4139

277 Stephens Road – MOOSELOOK LAKE – West facing Sandy Beach frontage, 4 bed, 3 bath home w/attached 3 car heated garage and detached 3 car garage w/large bonus room! $850,000.

631 Bald Mtn. Road – MOOSELOOK LAKE – A rare offering, 4 bed, 4.5 bath contemporary lakefront home w/beach, detached garage AND private island w/2 bedroom guest cottage, 3.56 Acres! $1,899,000.

Photo by C ourtney Elizabet h

register on the o cial testing website to choose your test location.

Every state has its own rules for these tests. Maine simpli es things by charging a fee rather than requiring you to live here. is opens doors for people from other countries who are uent in English to earn an American quali cation, setting them up for online colleges or other educational paths. While some states

Insider Perspective

p.m. She stops and turns her computer back on when we mention HiSET.

“Yes, it’s a wonderful thing to do to finish high school, no matter where you're from.” Or where you are. “I’ve been lucky to meet and interact with people from countries all over who want to further their educations through these opportunities in Maine. Portland Adult Education has a huge program. The students of any age who land here have the chance to get that HiSET degree, which replaces the old GED.”

Linking to https://www.portlandadulted.org/programs/high-school-credentials, we find the HiSET tests in Portland are administered at the Cathedral School PAE Center at 14 Locust Street. (It’s amazing to consider that Portland Adult Education started in 1848.) On this website you can get credentialing information and resources. According to hiset.org/maine, it appears that you must pass all 5 tests to get a Maine HiSET degree, but only one is required to be administered and passed in Maine, and you don’t have to take them in a particular order. The phone number to call to arrange for a test appointment is (207) 874-8155.

allow online HiSET testing, it’s typically just for residents. For now, you’ll need to visit Maine to take your tests, but this pathway for dreamers could potentially be part of a global conversation.

“No comment,” says the Portland Police Department.

SEEKING ASYLUM

Portland has reported most of this summer that 80 to 90 percent of those occupying shelters are asylum seekers. “Closing the Portland Expo is a huge blow to what we’ve been working towards,” Kelly says. Wide coverage of the asylum-seeker protest at the Portland Expo in July made the crisis even more known. “As a community, we need to be cautious about the narrative that because of the asylum seekers, everyone else is outside. It’s not them versus us; it’s just us.”

THE HOMELESS NARRATIVE

Assumptions can be made about the causes of homelessness and why it’s on the rise. It might be time to widen the lens. “ e belief is always that substance abuse and mental health put people on the street. While these issues exist in the homeless community, in my decade of working, that has never been the primary cause. Some of these things happen a er the fact,” Kelly says.

JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

In order for things to change, it’s clear a lot needs to happen. “Homelessness is a complex issue,” Kelly says. “We can’t tackle it from one side. Without a case worker it can feel impossible to achieve any sense of stability to get o the street.”

“

ings that have never happened before are happening now.” Gey says.

“My wife and I came to Portland in February a er three years of experiencing on-and-o homelessness. I used to park in the lot on Marginal Way before they put their gate across the middle.

e cops came out and said, ‘No overnight parking.’ I said, ‘Well, we don’t have anywhere else to go.’”

2034 IN PORTLAND

If we look at the numbers and how they’ve doubled in the last decade, they seem a warning of what’s to come. “ is

What’s your impression of Portland, Maine?

“Food trucks & homeless people.”

will continue to get worse if we don’t come together and demand better as a community,” Kelly says. “More people are going to lose their homes and fall into homelessness. I think it’s so important to say this: we can stop people from being homeless.”

“If you’re low-income, they’re making it impossible to live,” Gey says. “You can’t give yourself even the lowest luxury item. If you want a nice dish soap, you can’t a ord it.”

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

“Educate yourself on what causes homelessness,” Kelly says. “Distancing yourself is easy, but there’s no easy answer to this problem. We just aren’t asking the right questions or having the difficult conversations. Everyone deserves a home. People don’t have to be worthy of a place to live—that is not the correct foundation of thinking.” n

–Jay Pharoah

The belief is that substance abuse and mental health put people on the street. While these issues exist, that’s never been the primary cause. Some issues happen after the fact.

WE REACH Jenny Rose, A.E. Director at RSU 16 and a board member of Maine Adult Education, on the way to the parking lot at 5

Red Hands

by Colin W. Sargent

Prologue

TIRES SCREECHED on the usually quiet street. A car door slammed. I pushed myself away from my desk and wheeled to the library window. An intruder with a knitted cap pulled low blew past the gate and started up the brick walkway. I headed toward the stairwell and leaned over the banister, trying to gauge if I could duck this fresh hell. He rattled the door knob and with cupped hands peered into the sidelight. As he banged the glass, a Rolex ashed on his wrist. Late forties, roughly ve-ten, dark curls brushing the collar of his tted leather jacket like a 1960s movie star. His jawline was vaguely familiar, the extravagant watch a dead giveaway. e former race driver Catalin Tutunaru wasn’t going to be put o .

“Colin. I know you’re in there. Your car is in the driveway.”

I moved from the stairwell to the door. “How did you nd out where I live?”

“I asked at your o ce.”

“ ey shouldn’t have told you.”

“Are you going to let me in?”

“I’m deciding.”

“Aw, come on, man, don’t I bring you scoops?”

CATALIN AND I had met when I wrote a review of the Romanian sport-utility vehicle dealership he was launching outside of town. e four-wheel-drives were rugged, cool, and never failed to turn heads and elicit a “nice rig” from teenagers. I overcame my skepticism. Maine just might prove a good beachhead to sell these Cold War souvenirs. e self-indulgent market, always on the hunt for the next new thing in post-Revolutionary chic, would surely snap up these relics.

Catalin embraced his interview experience, perhaps because he’d been out of the limelight a few years and missed the celebrity status. He even forgave me a ga e: I’d asked if his Auto Romania vehicles–originally designed for soldiers and now Warsaw Pact surplus–had “Soviet” styling.

“Soviet!?” Catalin jumped to his feet, his hand on his

Iordana Ceausescu, an impossibly privileged member of the Romanian Nomenclatura, hides here in Maine in the aftermath of the bloody revolution.

heart. “AROs are the product of a free Romania!”

It struck me that I didn’t know much about his homeland, beyond having seen e Prince and the Showgirl and the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup.

During the interview, Catalin took o his jacket and folded it neatly over the back of his desk chair. “One moment, please.” He pulled up his shirt. With a manicured index nger he pointed to a depression on his lower torso where a tiny devil had dug something out of his side. e crater was two inches deep, three inches wide, the excavation surgery ragged and rushed. e skin had healed to a pearly shade. “ is too is a souvenir of my homeland.”

“In Maine, we’d call that a hunting accident,” I said. But it didn’t look like something a deer ri e would do.

“Good one,” Catalin said. “I’m going to use that.”

SO HERE WAS Catalin now, standing in my foyer, grinning. No question about how he’d earned his nickname, e Cat.

“Well, this is weird,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Do you know anything about the Ceausescus?” Catalin asked.

“ e dictators? Nothing beyond what I’ve seen on CNN.”

“Perfect. ere’s someone I’d like you to meet.” He crossed his arms and motioned with a quick jerk of his head toward his Porsche, which looked like a spaceship that had landed in my Victorian neighborhood. I could see a shadowy gure hunched down in the passenger seat.

“I’ve brought a friend who needs a friend,” Catalin said. “But if I introduce you to this person, you have to swear to secrecy. No story here for your magazine. She is in great danger. Many people

would like to hurt her. No one in the world knows she’s anywhere near this continent at this moment.”

“ en why are you doing this?” I asked.

“Because she needs to tell someone her story so that if something happens to her, the truth will have been told.” Catalin clapped me on the shoulder.

“Besides, she said you got me just right. Or, we can stop right now. is will never have happened.” He dropped to a whisper. “She wants to be heard, but her peculiar circumstances have made that... problematic.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll tell no one she’s here now.” I regarded the shadow in the car. “Please bring her in. I’ll put on some co ee.”

When I returned from the kitchen, Catalin was already helping a specter with enormous dark glasses–even though it was one of those early winter days where the sun was threatening never to appear–up the front steps. She was nervous and gaunt. Her chestnut hair, elegantly dressed, was slightly streaked with gray.

“Iordana Ceausescu, this is Colin, the writer I told you about,” Catalin said.

When I shook her outstretched icy hand, I had the sense she was a bird poised to take ight in a split second.

“Borila,” she said.

I wasn’t sure if this was a correction or command.

“Iordana Borila Ceausescu,” Catalin said.

She looked down, radiating a strange combination of shyness and privilege. Certainly she’d seen newsreels of Jackie Kennedy. When she lifted her chin in the air like dispossessed royalty and removed her sunglasses, purple circles around her eyes gave her a lost look. It couldn’t be. Was this the daughter-in-law

of the executed dictators of Romania? I took her coat and hung it in the hall closet. What on earth was she doing here? How had she found herself in Maine? A black swallowtail in the snow.

If there were a secret Gulag hidden above New York, maybe it was Maine, thrust into the dark Atlantic Ocean like an angry st. Not only was this northeasternmost point of the United States a border state with Canada, it was the most obscure, its face turned into the wind. e beaches were savage and icy. Once it got so cold I saw a wave freeze solid in mid-crash.

Maybe not so bad a place to hide, or be hidden. I remembered a story I’d written about captured German soldiers imprisoned in Maine as lumber crews under armed guard. “Just try and escape,” sentries said. “Look out there. Fir trees and wolves. Take your best shot. You might just make it.”

“Did you bring her across the border from Canada?” I asked.

Catalin grinned. “Ask her. She’s right here.”

“May I address you in English?”

“I speak English, a little German, some Russian,” Iordana said.

I felt relief.

“I’m better at French, Hungarian, and, of course, Romanian. Even your Maine. It was ‘wicked nice’ of you to have invited me here.” She smiled.

But, of course, I hadn’t.

Catalin squeezed her wrist. ey seemed close, like friendly cousins. He turned to leave. “Maybe you’ll write a novel about her,” he said. “I’m headed to my o ce.”

e door clicked shut as he left. She tensed up at the low-grade rumble of a garbage truck going down the street.

“My library is upstairs,” I said. “It’s my favorite place in the house. ere are fewer distractions there.”

Her voice was so soft it seemed miles away. “Okay.”

She followed me up to the well-lit library, taking in the green tile replace, oak wainscoting, and ancient grass wall coverings from India. I sat

She looked down, radiating a strange combination of shyness and privilege. When she lifted her chin and removed her sunglasses, purple circles around her eyes gave her a lost look.

back at my desk. I turned my computer all the way o

She perched on the edge of the inglenook bench with the worn velvet pad and studied the words carved into the mantel: e Turning of the Worm. “Shakespeare,” she said. A twinkle. “‘ e smallest worm will turn being trodden on.’ My parents would have enjoyed this. An English bard’s subversive slogan carved into a Yank’s replace.”

“You were close to your parents, then.”

Iordana shifted in her seat. I noticed a small moth hole at the knee of her cashmere slacks. She covered it with her hand. “Do you mind if I smoke?” she asked.

“If you need to relax.” I hadn’t meant to be so rude, but both my parents had died of lung cancer. Everyone I knew had given it up, but I knew full well this was still a European thing, and I instinctively understood the smoker’s impulse to slow down and savor. “Sorry. Let me get you an ashtray.”

Because I sensed she needed the ritual of lighting up in order to gather herself, I switched to a seat across from her and opened a spiral notebook. I waited a full minute while she exhaled. Or was it a sigh? e glowing re was still warming the room.

“What’s the rst thing you’d like to tell me?” I asked.

“I can’t think of anything.”

“ at’s okay. We don’t even need to talk if you don’t want to.” We sat quietly for a minute. Sometimes the most revealing remarks are those left unspoken.

“Why don’t you ask me some more questions?” she said. Another tiny smile. “Like a therapist.”

“I’m nobody’s therapist! I’m a Scorpio, so I’m too defensively barbed. Too ready to take umbrage and sting. But how about we take turns until you become

more comfortable?”

Iordana waved her cigarette around the room. “Interesting. Did you do the restoration yourself?”

Had I seen on the news, the “fugitive daughter-in-law is an expert in the decorative arts”? Perhaps her question was along the lines of, do you cut your own hair? “Partly. I worry sometimes it’ll never be nished. My turn. Is it lonely being here in Maine alone?”

“I’m not alone.”

ere was no chance she was ready to elaborate. When I’d been restoring my house, a chandelier I’d failed to properly secure had crashed to the oor from a high ceiling while I slept. ere was no prelude or postlude, only darkness and a jumble of shattered crystal fragments scattered across the oor. Over a series of months, I’d been able to salvage the treasure by carefully piecing together the prisms, trying each in this position and that until everything seemed to t. Maybe this was the way I could give Iordana her voice back. I would be in the dark, trying to guess what her circumstances had looked like, imagine the click of her life’s disengagement, the whoosh of its descent, the sound of it smashing on the palace oor.

at was it. I would be an investigator, a detective gently questioning the survivor of a head wound–or a heart wound. I’d make a Scheherazade of her yet.

Iordana jumped at the sound of the Porsche back ring as Catalin pulled away. Had he been there all this time?

“Where were you just now?” I picked up my pen, ready to take notes.

“I was in a car, speeding in Bucharest. ere was blood on the seat.”

“ at must have been hard.”

“I can’t stand to think of it.”

“Maybe you could tell me about your

earliest memories growing up.”

She stared into the re.

Chapter 1

Bucharest, Romania Reading Co ee

Under a ragged coat lies wisdom

ONE OF MY earliest memories is of Lidia, our Bessarabian gardener, coming into our house to read my mother’s fortune in a co ee cup.

First, Lidia directed, “drink it down and stir what’s left, because it’s your future.” Once my mother nished, Lidia took her cup and turned it upside down on a napkin. e silt from the thick Turkish co ee spilled down on the insides of the cup and left patterns, like lace, like rivers. en, Lidia cradled the cup in the palms of her hands, almost in a caress. She looked deep into it the way one might look at a storm across a lake. Or into relight.

“If a white rivulet is interrupted by a black blotch, it means something is going to happen to you on a trip.”

If a smudge matched a certain pattern as the silt descended, it might be a serpent, an enemy who’d sting you in a few days, embarrass you. A dog shape meant a friend was near.

In the early 1950s, we moved into our gray stone two-story house on Herastrau No. 12, and Lidia came with us. is was the house where I remember being happy. It had been “donated” by a dispossessed Armenian merchant after the war. Upon arrival my parents discarded everything, from the stainedglass windows to a Spanish suite upholstered in red Cordoba leather and Louis XV furniture, something they came to regret later.

Biri, my pet lamb and closest friend, liked to eat the ivy that crept up the walls, and I loved to make fantasies and stories out of the vines and clouds as they ran together at the top of my window.

I would be in the dark, trying to guess her circumstances, imagine the click of her life’s disengagement, the whoosh of its descent, the sound of it smashing on the palace floor.

Lidia made a pen for Biri in our tulip garden, near my seesaw.

When Tatuca (Daddy) Stalin died in 1953, our country went into mourning with the rest of the Communist Bloc. Special music was played on the radio for months in honor of him. But before too long, whispers on the wind suggested not everyone was so sad.

ings were changing. Lidia, sensing this, began to wear a clove of garlic inside a handkerchief with knots tied in all four corners. She told us she carried it around to reverse any curses.

ough she’d substituted Socialism for religion in her girlhood, my mother began to call on Lidia more and more. Having no gun, it was the only thing she could turn to in this land of “organized

atheism”. But my mother was not alone in this–before it was all over, Romanians everywhere sought answers frantically in co ee cups, tea leaves, tarot cards, even kernels of corn tossed furtively behind their desks.

Some of my mother’s friends began to drop in for these early-morning co ees. ey never discussed events or names, but everybody knew what it was all about. If the bottom of your cup was too white, you might be a boring person, but at least you were safe. Sometimes Lidia would stick one of her long, tapered ngers into the black goo at the bottom of a seeker’s cup and say it meant her soul was in shadow, that she had problems. If a lot of black clung to the bottom for dear life, that someone might

disappear. In the new Romania, a fallen one could su er a mysterious reversal of health during her next hospital visit. Far worse would be to survive as one of the whispered half a million souls seized via internal deportation. You could wake up in a labor colony.

Lidia peered over the edge of the cup to see if there were a storm coming, an ill wind blowing against her cheek. She stared into my eyes, seeking some sort of recognition, some hint of con rmation.

I wanted to tease my mother about it, but when Lidia saw this on my face she asked if I wanted my co ee read, too.

I refused. Even then I was very secretive, very private, didn’t want to share my life with anybody. I never wanted to believe that my fate was already written, because I was afraid it would be true.

Immersed in his government papers, my father, Iordan “Petre” Borila, would have nothing to do with this prostii,

Our daily struggle with digital over-stimulation is continuous and real. With emails, pop-up ads, and notifications, we are often in sensory overload. Reading a print publication is a focused experience outside of the digital realm. Printed content has tested better with brand recall than digital, and is easier on the eyes. Bottom line: printed publications provide readers with a meaningful and memorable experience.

Cummings Printing is a third-generation family-owned company specializing in printing high-quality, shortrun publications. At each phase of the print process, they provide a human-touch that is unmatched by the competition. We help you create compelling publications so your readers truly understand the allure of the printed word.

Though it was scandalous for two young girls to go in unescorted,we sailed through the doors of the Hotel Lido.

this nonsense, whatsoever. Soothsaying was frowned upon by the government. Whenever he saw Lidia in conference with my mother, he only shook his head.

As Ministru, he was a key member of the Socialist Republic of Romania’s Central Committee. Half Bulgarian and half Romanian, he grew up with grenades around his waist but no shoes. During the Spanish Civil War he was shot in the upper left leg, the hunk of esh cut from him the size of a soup can in order to include the bullet, without anesthesia. He’d then come back and fought alongside my mother in the Divizia Tudor Vladimirescu, a special Romanian unit formed in the Soviet Union to overthrow Axis control of Romania and fascism in general. Finished with Romania, they’d swept the fascisti from Hungaria to Czechoslovakia.

Sometimes, he’d come to see me, his namesake daughter, after I was asleep during the many long nights he worked late at party meetings or returned halfway to morning from visiting factories as far o as Brasov. He’d bring me tiny treats–bon-bons; Romanian pearlshaped candies in a small metal box; or, my favorite, Soviet “Mishka” chocolates rolled in pretty papers adorned with pictures of two or three bears. In Russia, my father whispered to me in his gru , sweet voice, all bears were nicknamed “Mishka”, “Mikey”.

Other than these precious moments, I knew it would be wrong to expect my parents to have much more time for me. Ecaterina, my revolutionary journalist mother, was forever charging ahead with the surge of current events. Imprisoned at 16 in Tirgu Mures for distributing handbills, she rose to fame as a news correspondent covering the War to Reunify Korea.

One early morning she came and stood in my doorway before heading o to her job as editor in chief of Elore (Forward). When she looked around my room, it wasn’t just a look.

e shadows of our two bodyguards passed behind her. She leaned over,

and I thought she was going to kiss me. Instead she said, “Be grateful someone will make your nice bed. e furniture in our old house was made by political prisoners.”

I tried to picture our old house, but all I could see was Lidia’s rainbow of co ee cups, white, green, pink, yellow, blue, with small matching saucers. I remembered Lidia’s blonde hair and very large hands as she turned the cup in her powerful palm. I tried to see the gures she saw, but I couldn’t.

Like the rest of Bucharest, we were “wide asleep”, unsuspecting of the dangers of the mist that was slowly encircling us Back then we hadn’t yet seen the scinteia, the sparkle of the monster Nicolae Ceausescu was to become. Strike that. e monster I was to become.

Chapter 2

e sh rots rst from the head

WHEN MY PARENTS’ STATUS in the Party rose with my father being named Vice Premier, so did our fortunes. We moved across the street into the mansion formerly occupied by First Secretary Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, our old ally. is house, directly fronting Herastrau Park, was resplendent with stone alleys, cherries, Japanese bushes with pink owers, and Russian birch trees. Four individual suites with bedrooms and sitting rooms ran luxuriously through this structure, one for my parents, one for other family members, and one for me.

My mother loved owers and was devoted to our large garden, where she grew everything from primroses to cyclamen. Among the treats this house a orded was a greenhouse where Lidia could still read our co ee cups as well as a private cinema in our basement for us to watch newsreels and the latest lms.

We didn’t “own” this house–my parents refused such a capitalist indulgence–

but instead were issued it as housing. It was a fact–many of my friends lived in issued houses with gardens and villas seized from royalists and upper-middle-class families, mostly people with money before who were now unsuccessfully suing the government for restitution and occasionally walking slowly past the houses and looking up at them with shadowed eyes from the streets.

I can still hear the booming laugh of Gheorghiu-Dej drowning out the voices of the other grownups at parties my parents threw downstairs while I drifted o to sleep late at night. e scent of his tobacco etched my memory forever.

Our First Premier had developed a taste for Viceroy cigarettes. He was never without them, the clouds of smoke from his exotic Virginia imports oating up from his mouth as he held court recounting King Michael’s abdication and negotiations with our comrades who became the People’s Democratic Front and the Central Committee. It started a fashion, and for the longest time every good communist was nobody in Romania unless he had one of these cigarettes between his ngers.

Gheorghiu-Dej had sleepy eyes like a matinee idol, and he approached his challenges with intelligence and irony. He’d been in power either as premier or rst secretary of the Romanian Workers’ Party or president of the State Council since the revised constitution of September 24, 1952, the Soviet model that made us more like the USSR.

In any event, around 1958 it was suddenly decreed that foreign cigarettes were a bourgeois indulgence, so our scientists at the National Academy were invited to work night and day to make an exact copy of Gheorghiu-Dej’s favorite, Viceroy cigarettes.

e exoticizing of such capitalist indulgences ushered in the snake of a new aristocracy in Romania. e Garda Vechea, the old-guard communist party members, were turning into those they’d fought so hard to bring down. Many of these people had spent much of the 1930s in prison in rags for their beliefs,

Ilegalist communists who were now capitalizing on their prestige to make a better world for their children.

e families of these Ilegalisti, ours among them, were honored with special food privileges, cars, free hospitals appropriated for their use alone, and free medicine.

In time “everyone” had bodyguards, butlers, even crews for a eet of inboard-engined Italian Riva speedboats carved from mahogany and teak which were made available for our exclusive use. We had only to make a telephone call and one of these long, low boats with white, green, and taupe cushions would appear with a reassuring hum along the shore of whichever Ilegalist villa we were staying at on Lake Snagov, attended by a young soldier in dark pants, a white shirt, and a uniform cap.

ery imitation Viceroy cigarette, dubbed “Snagovs” after the lake, you’d nd one of the rst beautiful people in Romania.

Are you afraid of the dark or the men?

It was delicious, inevitable. Behind ev-

BUCHAREST WAS in the midst of a building boom when the red snow came. I was with my friend Ileana, one of the sophisticated ones. Her father ranked perhaps sixth or seventh in the Central Committee. Mine ranked ninth. Ileana inhaled Snagovs, wore heavy Czechoslovakian nylons, had her own hairdresser and an easy air of being too cool for school. But most wondrous of all, she wore high heels, strictly forbidden to me by my mother. ey caught my eye as we were walking home from class. en something else brushed my cheek. I looked up. “ is red snow is... beautiful.” I watched the ash sift down to the rooftops of our capital city.

“You’re strange,” Ileana said. “Red snow? is is Western trash, fallout from an ‘enlightened’ democratic people.” She grabbed my arm and started running.

Elders had grumbled about rumors of red dust from the French Algerian nuclear experiments in the Sahara before, but in a Communist Bloc country, who’d listen? I’d never seen it until now. It was soft on my skin, and warm. I’d imagined it would be sandy, since it had come from a desert. It was all over my hair but didn’t sting my eyes. Ileana pulled me under a canopy. “Get with it,” she said. “Put your scarf on. You look terrible with that stu in your hair. You remain forever in the back of things.”

“I don’t care, it’s wonderful.” I did a little dance. “ e scirocco brings it from Africa.”

“Spare me, Doe Eyes.”

Paprika-red, it sprinkled to the at roof of the Patria Cinema on Magheru Boulevard and skidded down the cof-

fee-colored awnings fronting the new indoor grocery complex where party members and lucky others bought pineapple, shrimp, salads, and fruit cocktail. e red cloud wafted from the Calea Plevnei to the Piata Amzei along the Piata Victoriei. Residents thunked heavy wooden shutters against it in every window. Cars sped by with wipers on, mostly boxy black Soviet Zis and Zils, which we laughingly called “ is” and “ at”.

Two older men dressed in black frowned at us. “ is is deadly,” one of them said. “You girls should not be out here. Get inside.” He made little scurry motions with his dead white sh hand. “It’s going to get worse.” He squeezed his neck. “People can’t breathe.”

Older men were funny. I imagined teeth on the sh hand, and then the eye on its side, his ring. e evil eye, green.

Other people scurried, too. A grandmother spit three times delicately on her granddaughter’s head for good luck and gasped, “I am unstaring you to take away the evil of others from you.” e red ribbon on the little girl’s head sparkled with the moisture, looking even more vivid in the red powder swirling all around us. “ ere. Come on. Be careful to step out with your right foot for luck.”

“Where can we go?” Ileana said, but she already knew.

ough it was scandalous for two young girls to go in unescorted, we sailed through the doors of the Hotel Lido. Massive in its reinforced concrete with barely a ourish of gold around the huge arched door, the Lido made me feel as though we were stepping into an oyster, a few degrees cooler from the cave e ect of the enormous lobby. On the right side wealthy Britons checked in with their baggage at the registration desk, and on the left tall green plants choked a dark, paneled room where young gentlemen slouched in chairs and drank amber

uids from glasses.

Ileana led me by the hand to a corner table for my rst woman-to-woman talk.

We sat down, the feeling of the room spreading all around us like a dress. As Ileana began my education, I felt like I was pushing o in a canoe, into the dark part of the river where the rocks were.

“Will you tell your parents we’ve come in here?” Ileana said. She scanned a menu for punches and cocktails with the most mysterious names.

“ is scares me.”

“Are you afraid of the dark or the men?”

“You know we’re too young.”

“But can you believe it?” Ileana said, a little too loudly. A few of the men noticed her. is made her words more important.

Were Anne Frank’s parents party members? Was she driven to school each day in a limousine?

I closed my eyes. Yes, yes, yes. “No.” I felt the crinkle of my identi cation papers in my pocket. It had been just a year since I’d gone to the photographers and had my pictures taken. At fourteen, all good Romanians reported to the security station in their sector to have identi cation papers made, a sort of intra-Romanian passport that had to be carried at all times and could be demanded by the Securitate at any time. You needed them to enroll in school, enter a government building, travel on public transportation, register in a hotel, or even buy food. It was unthinkable to travel without them. If you lost your papers, you’d be suspected as subversive, a danger to the state. I knew we were di erent when my mother approved the photographs and sent one of our bodyguards to get the papers for me. I didn’t have to wait in line at the police station like my other schoolmates.

“You don’t feel comfortable here?”

“I’m worried, but I think... I like it a little.”

“A little like that man over there?”

A young man in a rumpled shirt sat with a very new coat thrown over the arm of his chair. A single zippered kit bag crouched near his feet. His shoes shone properly, cautiously. He gave us a sly wink.

“What are you two doing in here?” the barkeep inquired.

“We’re waiting for our parents. ey’ll be right down.” Ileana raised her leg beneath the table so that her nylons made little cool zooms against each other beside my bare leg. She was beautiful-dangerous, catachresis like the red snow.

“Shall we be like little girls,” she said. “Or shall we talk of men?”

“ e man I’m thinking of is my father, who’ll punish me when he comes back from his meeting. In actuality he’ll watch my mother punish me, but he’ll approve of it.”

“How did they meet?”

“My parents?” Few of my friends had asked me about my parents before. Drinks arrived like strangers at the table. Light re ecting into my lemonade lit up our corner of the room. I peered into the glass. I stared down as the grain of the tabletop began to turn into human faces.

“Isn’t she Boanghen?”

I frowned at the derisive term for Hungarians, but didn’t look up. “My mother is proudly from a free Romania. Her family was Hungarian, by way of Transylvania. at’s why she’s been honored with her position at the Journal, where she promotes diversity by writing exclusively in Hungarian.”

“Jews?”

“Why do you ask that?”

“My mother told me.”

“She is. So what?”

My rst taste of casual anti-Semitism. It was on Ileana’s face. “I’m not supposed to play with you.”

“What?”

“If your mother is a Jewess, then you are a Jewess. It’s like dipping your foot in water. If you’re wet, you’re wet. Stop looking at me. Look at your dark dress

and sullen face. You look like Anne Frank.”

I blinked at the comparison. Did Anne Frank have such privileges? Were her parents party members? Was she driven to school each day in a limousine?

I looked up and noticed how the light bathed Ileana’s perfectly bronzed skin. I tried to change the subject. “Your tan is really something. Where’d you go on vacation?”

“My parents have a new place at Constanta. What a swinging seaport! You should see the place everyone’s saying the Ceausescus are going to take. Don’t tell me you guys are still stuck in Mamaia.”

She studied me. Even though hot resorts were springing up at the Black Sea getaway where oversexed Ovid had been banished for writing Ars amatoria, my parents preferred the stately villas at Mamaia. “Now I know you’re my friend,” I said.

“Oh?”

“Only a friend would insult me so.”

“Ah, I meant nothing. We’re all from good old communist families.” at hair, her narrowed eyes telegraphed to me.

IREAD HER MIND and smoothed my hair as she tried to dismiss everything Borila with a glance. My father’s hair. He’d fought with Dolores Ibarruri, whom they called La Passionaria, and later made secretary of the communist party in Spain. He was in all books about the Spanish War. “Just so you know, my mother was in prison with Gypsies, by the way. She’s taught me Gypsy curses, so watch out.”

Ileana laughed. “I’m frankly worried about contamination from Jews. We had Jews in the government years ago–they got the hell out. So why do I like you?”

“Do you?”

“I don’t know. Do boys like you?”

“I’m sure I don’t know.”

I hoped they did like me. I hoped they liked my long, straight hair and large eyes. And the way I looked down

a lot, a popular mannerism for a girl in Romania.

“I mean, your father brings you chocolates in the night.”

Had I actually told her that?

“ e little girl of the chocolate nights. Wouldn’t you like to be visited by a boy from school instead?”

“No.”

“And so you like girls?”

“I didn’t say that. I will love someone, later.”

“And it’ll be a big part of your life, won’t it, Doe Eyes?”

I stretched. I didn’t like Ileana tiptoeing into my thoughts like this. “Not a part,” I said. “Everything. Love will be everything to me.”

“And will this everything be with Petre Ionescu?”

“No. He’s in my classes, nothing more.”

“I think he’s out of this world.” e man with the rumpled shirt smiled, hearing everything.

Ileana tilted her head in his direction and whispered, “Is he a rapist? A swan butcher? A moral defective?” She began an intrigue about him. en we saw a friend approach him and swing another piece of luggage against the wall and from out of nowhere Ileana said, “So what do you think about Valentin?”

“What? No. I have no interest in him.”

“So you know who I meant.”

“Yes. Valentin Ceausescu. ere is nothing.”

We returned to our discussions about parents and our tantalizing lack of an escort, the certain trouble when our parents found out.

“ ey’ll nd out,” I said, not for the rst time.

“How, will you tell them?”

“No, they’ll just nd out.”

“And what then? Ha! Burned by the broth, you blow on everything before you try it. You’re too cautious. Cine se frige in ciorba su a si in iaurt. I’ll bet you even blow on your yogurt.” n

Sample from the 2023 nonfiction novel Red Hands , Barbican Press, Los Angeles & London.

I have no interest in Valentin Ceausescu. There is nothing.

FOR PEACE OF MIND THIS WINTER,TURN TO VIP

As northern New England’s leader in all things tires and service, we believe in being here when you need us, treating you with respect, and ge ing the job done right. You deserve that.

When it comes to the snow, ice, and frigid temps, winter tires give you a safety edge that all-season tires won’t. Whether you’re in the market for new winter tires or you need your winter tires installed, VIP is here for you. Enjoy the peace of mind that comes with enhanced stability and confidence on the road this winter.

With 69 locations throughout ME, NH, VT and MA, our ASE Certified Automotive Professionals are ready to serve you.