This Week's Haul, May 21: Taking what they giving cause I'm working for a living
And: Summer has officially taken over
Good morning from eastern Maine, where this week, summer barged in through the front doors and immediately began making itself at home. It brought a full catered meal, took over the music with its own specially crafted playlist, brought gifts for everyone and politely but firmly squeezed out spring and the last remnants of winter. It even installed our air conditioner for the season. Nobody complained. They were glad to have someone take over.
Forget about New York and L.A.; what about eastern Maine, huh?! We here at The Other Maine agree with The New Yorker and believe the local newsletter is a vital balm against the rising tide of algorithmic mundanity and faceless A.I. ghouls that threaten to rob us of all our lovely messiness and humanity.
Speaking of things made with purpose and love and real human connection: I’m one of the 50-odd Mainers featured in Buddy Doyle’s second book documenting people where they read (and what they’re reading), appropriately titled “Maine’s Still Reading.” Thanks, Buddy!
My heart goes out to the people of Searsmont and the surrounding communities after the devastating fire at Robbins Lumber last Friday. There are many ways to donate to help those injured while saving people’s lives, but I’m going to share this link to the Maine Strong Foundation, which has worked to help families and communities during other tragedies in Maine. Give if you are able!
Keep your head on a swivel, as Maine’s immigrant rights organizations are reporting an increased presence of ICE agents in some communities - particularly the Lewiston-Auburn area.
Guess I’ll go eat some baked dirt about it.
Happy Memorial Day. Check with your town about parades and other events celebrating the day. Bangor’s parade is at 10:15 a.m. on Monday morning!
One thing you may not know about me is that I am mildly (fully) obsessed with cults. Some people are into serial killers, some are into the paranormal, but for me, I’m fascinated by how seemingly sane people can find themselves involved in groups that believe what most would consider to be completely crazy things, or, much worse, control and abuse them. One of my favorite cults of all time is Heaven’s Gate, who believed that if they followed the strict rules of their leaders Do/Bo and Ti/Peep they would be transformed into beautiful, immortal aliens and whisked away aboard a spaceship. It did not end well, as you likely know. Anyway, as I did my weekly perusal through the Bangor Daily News archive, what did I see but an article from 50 years ago this week about two emissaries from what would come to be known as Heaven’s Gate, spreading their extraterrestrial gospel in Maine? Wild. Do you have any stories of cults in Maine? I would love to hear them if you do.
Music & Dance
May 21: Swingmatism Jazz Ensemble, 6:30 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
May 22: Bangor Contradance feat. Here on the Hill with caller Alex Deis-Lauby, 5:30 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor, Bangor
May 22: The Problematics and Razorshins, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
May 22: Osmia, Cryin’ Caleb and Lynda Mandolin, 7:30 p.m., Red Rabbit Bazaar, Bangor
May 22: Sanctum Obscura goth dance night, 9 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
May 23: Whatever It Takes local hip hop showcase, 6 p.m., The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
May 23: Deery and Greg Jamie, 7 p.m., Hey Sailor, Searsport
May 24: The Soulbenders, fundraiser for FarmDrop, 6 p.m., Grand Theatre, Ellsworth
May 24: Born of Osiris, Edjinn, Stillborn Condition, 6 p.m. The Old Town Theatre, Old Town
May 24: The Wallflowers, 7 p.m., Criterion Theatre, Bar Harbor
May 25: Flash in the Pans community dance, 7:30 p.m., Blue Hill Town Park, Blue Hill
Theatre & Comedy
May 23: Comedian Bob Marley, two shows 5:30 and 8 p.m., Center Theatre, Dover-Foxcroft
May 23: Drag night with host Lady D, 7 p.m., Eye Candy House of Entertainment, 128 Main St., Bangor
Art, Books, Film & Culture
May 21: Penobscot Marine Museum season opening party, 4-6 p.m., Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport
May 21: “Historical Memory of Land Use Proposals at Sears Island,” talk by Julia Hiltonsmith, 6:30 p.m., Carver Memorial Library, Searsport
May 21: Red Rabbit Film Club screens “Multiple Maniacs,” 7 p.m., Red Rabbit Bazaar, Bangor
May 21: Bangor Beautiful screening of “The Buzz About Native Plants,” 6 p.m., Bangor Public Library, Bangor
May 21: Screening of “Clear Day Thunder: Rescuing the American Chestnut” followed by chestnut tree planting, 6 p.m., Fields Pond Audubon Center, Holden
May 23: Fred Wiseman memorial screening of “Belfast, Maine,” 12:30 p.m., Colonial Theatre, Belfast
May 23: Community screening of “The Grocery List Show,” 2 p.m., Ellsworth Public Library, Ellsworth
May 23: Bangor Historical Society Best of Bangor walking tour, 6 p.m., starts at Thomas Hill House, Bangor
May 24: Bangor Beautiful community mural painting at the Bangor Farmers Market, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Bangor
May 26: Screening of “Bevel Up: Drugs, Users and Outreach Nursing,” 6:30 p.m., Needlepoint Sanctuary, 120 Park St., Bangor
May 27: Sci-Fi Book Club reads “Operation Bounce House” by Matt Dinnaman, 7:30 p.m., Bookspace, Bangor
Fairs, Festivals, Markets, Outdoors & Misc
May 23: Native Plants Festival and Sale, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Fields Pond Audubon Center, Holden
May 23: 2026 Alewife Day, watch alewives in Chemo Pond, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Maine Forest and Logging Museum, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Bradley
May 23: Belfast Garden Club plant sale, 9 a.m.-noon, Belfast Boathouse, Belfast
May 23: Come Boating! season launch and nautical yard sale, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Belfast Waterfront
Fellow Maine Substacker Andy O’Brien has the correct take on the New York Times’ questioning of Graham Platner’s working class bona fides. Does the New York Times understand anything about the working class? For a publication that confidently assumes its readership can afford multi-million dollar homes and $95 watering cans, I suspect not.
I think rich people live under the mistaken assumption that being working class (or, in their minds, poor) means that you do not have access to anything, period - or, if you do, it’s because you toiled, ceaselessly, and pulled yourself up by your bootstraps to get it. You know, that ol’ capitalist softshoe. If you have a relative or family friend that does have access to money or connections and shares some of that with you, well then, you certainly can’t be working class, right? My great uncle was a very wealthy man who helped pay for some of my college tuition, and my (not wealthy) parents gave me the down payment on our (extremely modest and purchased pre-pandemic) house. By the NYT’s estimation, that means I’m no longer working class, despite the fact that my husband and I still live, essentially, paycheck to paycheck.
I think sometimes people that aren’t working class have one idea of what a working class person is. That person is almost always a white man who works in the trades or in a factory, and does not have a college degree. That’s the convenient stereotype that pollsters and wonks and unimaginative, disconnected folks in the media have decided is working class. Anyone who is not that person - a woman or person of color, for example, or someone that has a bachelor’s or even master’s degree, or someone who works in health care or the service industry or any job, really, where they live off their wages - is not working class.
That lack of basic understanding of the lived realities of the majority of Americans (and Mainers, obviously) is a crucial misstep on the part of the monied class. As New York Times writers and corporate Democrats sit in their offices and scratch their heads about why Graham Platner is so popular, many of the rest of us are looking for something, anything, anybody that recognizes that most of us are one catastrophe away from financial ruin. The working class - ie people who work for a living - is a much bigger tent than the rich and their enablers currently understand.