This Just In

Portland’s wishes for 2010

New Year’s resolutions

By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 30, 2009

Ah, these fresh moments of the new year, when our hopes and resolutions are unsullied by the rough ravages of time, politics, and the Maine winter. It's the season to speak our dreams aloud, before reality turns them into intangible ephemera. We asked a completely random group of local luminaries a very open-ended question: What do you hope to see in the new year? Here are some of their answers.

JUSTIN ALFOND

JUSTIN ALFOND
State Senator, District 8 (Portland)
I would like to see all Mainers take the lessons of 2009 and remember them for 2010; we must plan for the future, care for those around us, and speak up when things do not seem right. Health, friends, and family are what truly matter.

JILL BARKLEY
Public Awareness and Policy Coordinator, Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence
For my community, I hope to see us continue to learn from one another and support each other in the fight toward full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mainers. No one can vote away our commitment to each other.

CHRIS BOWE
Co-owner, Longfellow Books
I am hoping that people begin to truly live locally. To eat and read and drink what is in their 'hood and not lust after what is out of town or out of season or beyond the village walls.

KATIE DIAMOND
Local Organizer
2010 is ripe for interdisciplinary collaboration amongst artists in Portland, and throughout Maine. We're already seeing our communities step up in hard economic times and support each other through coalitions — now we just need to make the next step and creatively collaborate across Maine. Definitely shared space and exhibits. Collaborative work spaces/sessions. Shared ideas and resources. Jelly is starting it — I want some next-level stuff.

JON HINCK

JON HINCK
State Representative, District 118 (Portland)
New financing for weatherization to keep more Maine homes tight, warm, and comfortable (repayment made with property taxes out of energy savings); a smarter energy grid efficiently powered with more clean energy; fresh and local farmers' market every day of the week; that Maine kids impress upon their elders not to pass on a warming planet, military engagements, and debts; plenty of opportunities to hear great Maine acts like the Leftovers, Emilia Dahlin, Darien Brahms, Cambiata, Jason Spooner, and Bill McHenry.

DAVID MARSHALL

DAVID MARSHALL
City Councilor, District 2 (West End)
For our arts/music scene I hope to see the continued revitalization of the Arts District with the reopening of the State Theatre. For our city, I hope to see investments in energy efficiency, public transit, and housing.

NAT MAY

NAT MAY
Executive Director, SPACE Gallery
I would love to see more food growing in public spaces — edible decoratives, herbs, fruit trees, you name it. I'd also like to see more temporary public art installations.

RICH PETERSEN

RICH PETERSEN
President and CEO, Maine Medical Center
My wish is for every Mainer to have access to affordable, high-quality health care. There's no substitute for good health, and today's advances in medical knowledge and technology should be available to each and every person.

1 | 2 | next >

Street musicians at First Friday Art Walk, Portland, August 6
With the Tower/Building of Song on hiatus while its creators move apartments (again), the street-music scene on First Friday was quieter than in recent months. But that left more aural room for buskers along Congress Street.
Fall Art Preview: Rising to the challenge
Last weekend’s Block Party was a charming and invigorating celebration of Portland’s art community. The interactive evening, spearheaded by SPACE Gallery, set an ambitious standard for what’s to come on the art front rounding out this year.
Does Portland want an elected mayor?
The campaign to bring an elected mayor to Portland, a proposal championed by the city's charter commission as well as several arts and business groups, officially launched at a City Hall press conference on Tuesday.
Fall Film Preview: Underground big-screen shows
One of the happiest and most unexpected developments in local arts culture over the past year has been the subtle yet persistent proliferation of DIY and/or locally-oriented movie nights in the area.
Review: Be more Curious at SPACE Gallery
In a world of curiosities, it's tempting to shrug off the incomprehensible. This is where Kreh Mellick's and Kimberly Convery's approach becomes a problem.
Block Party celebrates, consumes the Arts District on Saturday
The first time SPACE Gallery closed off a chunk of Congress Street, in 2005, they filled it with sod grass and turned it into an urban lawn. The second, a year later, inflated plastic structures dotted the Arts District. This Saturday — in theme, in spirit, and in execution — they do it again by throwing a good old fashioned Block Party.
Born to rock
The last time Deer Tick were in Portland, at SPACE Gallery in November 2007, then-21-year-old frontman John McCauley decided to sing the national anthem. He sprung offstage and hit the floor belting the Tony Bennett standard "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" in a nasal voice soaked in equal parts whiskey, battery acid, and gravel.
Preaching to the hive
What’s the most effective way to make people care about the institutional problems with our industrial food economy?
Review: Middle East and Laura Marling at SPACE
At SPACE Gallery, May 11
Thesis defense
Encompassing a broad range of themes, media, and levels of participation, each set of works in this year’s Maine College of Art exhibition by nine thesis-level Master’s of Fine Arts students achieves its own world and requires a separate toolkit to process and unpack.
Grouper + Animal Hospital + Melaena Cadiz & Vince Nez + Planets Around the Sun
June 6 at SPACE Gallery
Less

Topics: This Just In , Science and Technology, Technology, Justin Alfond, More

| More

view all

[ 05/21 ] The Angels' Share @ Strand Theatre

[ 05/21 ] Blind Boys of Alabama @ Tupelo Music Hall

[ 05/21 ] To the Wonder @ Railroad Square Cinema

ARTICLES BY DEIRDRE FULTON

MAINE WOMEN’S FUND AWARDEES ARE BUILDING A NEW WORLD | May 16, 2013
On the surface, they have little in common: An unassuming entrepreneur in her late 50s, an accomplished 38-year-old photojournalist, and a trio of energetic teenagers. But these women do exhibit several shared traits. They are plucky and passionate, clever and unpretentious. They are Mainers. And all five will be honored next Thursday, May 23, at the Maine Women's Fund's annual Leadership Luncheon, which honors those who are making life better for women and girls in this state and beyond.

UNION BATTLES CONTINUE | May 16, 2013
An update on the state employees' union's dispute with the governor, plus union organizers' plans for medical-marijuana workers.

LET IT GROW | May 09, 2013
In addition to its ecological value, the abundant marine resource is also worth money — millions of pounds of rockweed are harvested every year.

LEGISLATURE WADES THROUGH HUNDREDS OF PROPOSALS | May 09, 2013
Want to know what your elected officials are mulling over? Here is a subjective selection of bills that piqued our interest.

LABORERS MAY HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE | May 03, 2013
Even as the organized-labor movement continues to falter on the national level, union leaders here in Maine are optimistic about a potential resurgence — or if not that, at least a stanching of the bleeding and an opportunity to prove that pro-union policies are best for local workers and communities.