This Week's Haul, July 16-22: Confessions, on a dance floor and elsewhere

And: How to help protect your neighbors

Good morning from eastern Maine, where this week, I’ve taken solace in small things: my Asiatic lilies and my bee balm are blooming, an ice cream sundae from Gifford’s, a very long nap in the air conditioning. It’s enough.

• You’d think this should go without saying, but we should not have an armed, unregulated paramilitary force harassing and harming communities because of where they were born. We should not allow certain people to act with impunity and no accountability based on the whims and opinions of others who think our basic human rights are dictated by where you are born. People should not be killed because of where they were born. I will never, ever understand the obsession some people have with punishing immigrants, who are just trying to build a better life for themselves and their families.

• You can support immigrants in Maine by donating to the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, or by donating to the Maine Solidarity Fund, which helps people with things like bonds and legal assistance. You can also give directly to Johan Sebastian Guerrero’s family through this GoFundMe. You can attend one of many protests around the state, and in November you can vote out the people who allowed this to happen. May his memory be a blessing.

• Please, please, spirits of nature, allow me to see a humpback whale feeding close to shore in Maine this summer. I will maintain a very respectful distance, but please, let me see them, doing stuff like what’s seen in this video that was posted last week. In my hometown of Searsport, no less!

• I was all geared up for the massive thunderstorms that were supposed to pummel Maine on Tuesday, but apparently that was replaced at the last minute by wildfire smoke from Canada and the Midwest. The sun is orange in parts of Maine. In a different period in history, this would be considered an omen.

• This clear-headed NYT opinion piece calls for this country to treat the spread of tick-borne diseases as the public health emergency that it is, on a par with diseases like malaria and polio, both of which were widespread in the U.S. a century ago and now either eradicated or exceedingly rare. As a child that grew up in Maine woods and meadows, I do not recall ever having any fear of ticks. Today, I check for them on my body almost daily. Given that right now we can’t even seem to effectively track food-borne illnesses, however, I won’t be optimistic about such a thing happening until other big things change.

• I know this video was taken in Prince Edward Island, but let’s be real: this is also Maine. Flip flops, margarita, camper, lobster dinner. Sounds real nice right about now, doesn’t it?

• Hey Bangor: remember how that bar and restaurant, Salt North Taproom, opened last year where Carolina’s used to be? And then it closed a few months ago because the owner literally did not pay his employees? Now it’s an Italian restaurant, apparently, called MJ’s Italian Bistro and Catering.

• I love that the town of Castine has a $45,000 annual elm tree care budget.

70 years ago this week, Bangor (and much of the rest of the country, for that matter) once again held an emergency drill for civilians to practice getting to safety should an atomic bomb be dropped on them. Putting aside the fact that people don’t really survive direct hits from a nuclear blast, such a drill first occurred in Bangor in 1955 as part of the wider national Cold War-era “Operation Alert” series of annual mock attacks. In 1955, Bangor area residents dutifully filed out of town towards the hinterlands, emptying out the city for the day. In 1956, however, people were far less compliant; many of them seemed to shrug at the evacuation request and stay put, with city leaders lamenting “public apathy” around the whole affair. Operation Alert drills continued in some capacity nationwide through 1961, before the project ended due to public protest and different civil defense being instituted.

Music & Dance

July 16: Belfast Summer Nights presents Springtide and The Gawler Sisters, 5:30 p.m., Steamboat Landing Park, Belfast

July 17: The Milbridge Theatre presents The Whiskey Bent Band, 6:30 p.m., Milbridge Marina, Milbridge

July 17: Somes Sound, 6 p.m., Fogtown Brewing, Ellsworth

July 17: Em & Company, 6 p.m., Harbor Park, Ellsworth

July 17-18: Deer Isle Jazz Festival feat. Yosvany Terry, 7 p.m. each night, Stonington Opera House, Stonington

July 17: Casual Fifth, Japanese taiko ensemble, 7 p.m., Surry Arts Barn, Surry

July 17: The Problematics and Phil Hummer and the White Falcons, 7 p.m., American Legion Hall, Belfast

July 17: Vanity Crisis, Darth Brandon, A Band Called Eden and Mr. Greyy, 7 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town

July 17: Gonzo Radio EDM dance night, 8 p.m., Barliman’s, Bangor

July 18: Noel Paul Stookey followed by contradance, 7 p.m., Central Hall, Blue Hill

July 18: Caamp, 7 p.m., Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor

July 18: Slampig, Thousand Mile Fall, Midnight Possession and Under the Horizon, 7 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town

July 18: Dar Williams, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor

July 18: Bleak Mass, monthly goth and industrial dance night, 8 p.m., Eye Candy Studio, 128 Main St. Bangor

July 19: Chris Ross, 4 p.m., Fogtown Brewing Ellsworth

July 19: Ethan W. Olsen, JES and MorningDove, 5 p.m., Red Rabbit Bazaar, Bangor

July 19: “Weird” Al Yankovic, 7 p.m., Maine Savings Amphitheater, Bangor

July 19: Spaced, Stab and Free to Think, 7 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town

July 19: Masters of the Telecaster guitar revue show feat. G.E. Smith, Larry Campbell and Jim Weider, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor

July 20: Flash in the Pans steel drum band, 7:30 p.m., Blue Hill Town Park, Blue Hill

July 22: Florentis, 6 p.m., Bangor Public Library lawn, Bangor

July 22: Five Finger Death Punch, Cody Jinks and Eva Under Fire, 7 p.m., Maine Savings Amphitheater

July 22: The Punch Brothers, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor

Theatre & Comedy

July 16-19: Ten Bucks Theatre Company Shakespeare Under the Stars presents “Julius Caesar,” nightly at 6 p.m., Indian Trail Park, Brewer

July 16-19: Some Theatre Company presents “Macbeth,” reimagined one-act version, nightly, Some Theatre’s Bangor Mall theater space, Bangor

July 18: Delicious Drag Divas, 6:30 p.m., Center Theatre, Dover-Foxcroft

July 21: Bluebird Improv feat. Matt Walsh, Tim Meadows, Brad Morris, Marc Evan Jackson, Joe Canale and Stephanie Weir, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor

Art, Books, Film & Culture

July 16: Authors Cassandra Neyenesch and Jessica Berger Gross in conversation, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books, Belfast

July 16: Poetry reading with Christine Yurick and David Rezzi, 7 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill

July 17: Book signing and reading with author and journalist Douglas Rooks, 5 p.m., Anodyne Books, Searsport

July 17: Romantasy book club reads “Broken Dove” by Dani Francis, 7:30 p.m., Bookspace, Bangor

July 18: Town Talk with Dar Williams, Johnna Blackman, Carrie Jones, Puranjot Kaur, John Zavodny and Andy Revkin, 1 p.m., Hidden Barn Books, Bar Harbor

July 21: Screening of “1776,” 6:30 p.m., Colonial Theatre, Belfast

July 21: Author event with Libby Edwardson on her book “We Sent Them Down Singing,” 7 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill

July 22-23: Maine Silent Film Festival, two days of screenings and music, 7 p.m., Alamo Theatre, Bucksport

July 22: Left Bank Books presents a reading by Marilyn Moss Rockefeller from her new book, “Time is the Substance,” 7 p.m., The First Church, Belfast

July 22: Derry-Free Horror Book Club reads “The Children” by Melissa Albert, 7:30 p.m., Bookspace, Bangor

Fairs, Festivals, Markets, Outdoors & Misc.

July 17-19: Maine Celtic Celebration; full weekend of music, events, vendors, food and more; Steamboat Landing Park, Belfast

July 17: Night of Nocturnal Insects nature walk, 8 p.m., Fields Pond Audubon Center, Holden

July 18: Morning paddle with the Maine Women’s Lobby, 10 a.m., Hirundo Wildlife Refuge, Alton

July 18: Food AND Medicine annual self-guided Urban Garden Tour, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. throughout Bangor and Brewer; full list of locations is here

Given that the album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts last week, I’m the approximately four millionth person to say that Madonna’s new album, “Confessions II,” is a massive hit and her best album in 20 years. It’s a lush, sonically dense one-hour dance party - the last dance pop album that felt this good to listen to was Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia.” It’s going to feel great to listen to on the dance floor. It’s going to feel great to listen to in the car. It’s going to feel great to listen to while cleaning your kitchen. It moves your ass, and your mind.

I bring this up, however, because I’ve been thinking a lot about getting older, and about being in a female-presenting body, and about the delicate navigation one must do as one moves into different eras of life and as challenges both expected and not arise. And here comes Madonna, well past the age when society believes women should be put out to pasture, putting out an absolute banger and showing the children (that includes me?!) how it’s done.

Obviously, Madonna is one of the most famous and culturally influential people ever, and is incredibly wealthy and has unlimited resources to do pretty much anything she wants. She’s also nearly 70, and just put out an album that puts most of the current crop of pop girlies to shame. Regardless of what anyone thinks about her controversies, her shapeshifting, her plastic surgery or anything she’s ever done in her wild, incredible life, she’s never been anything but fully, gloriously herself. She gives a fuck about some things, surely, but in the grand scheme of the universe, she simply does not give a fuck - especially about what our society thinks is correct for certain people. I find that extremely reassuring; dare I say, inspiring? Whatever chapter you’re currently in - and even if pop music is not your bag - I hope you can find the courage to care less about what others think of you, and care more about what matters to you.