University of New England

Latest Articles

Truth to power

Going Green
It's the end of the world as we know it in author and environmental journalist Bill McKibben's latest book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (St. Martin's Griffin).
By DEIRDRE FULTON | January 18, 2012

Fraud isn't killing Maine's welfare system — conservative misunderstanding is

Barely hanging on
Last week in Ellsworth, Governor Paul LePage renewed his efforts to change Maine's welfare system, calling for increased restrictions on benefits for people seeking taxpayer support to get health coverage through the state's Medicaid program.
By JEFF INGLIS | November 16, 2011

Wanna get away?

Maine retreats offer a chance to recharge and reconnect — with yourself, your partner, or the spiritual world
Believe it or not, there are some people who seek to "get" something out of their vacations beyond a sunburn and a souvenir mug.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 15, 2011

Why parenthood is a bad model for government

Diagnosing democracy
Political theory has, for centuries, come down to an analogy of anatomy, or of family: the head of the government is the head of the body politic, or the head of the household.
By JEFF INGLIS | March 09, 2011

Scarcelli’s firm takes heat in Mississippi

Housing slump
Former gubernatorial and prospective US Senate candidate Rosa Scarcelli has had a lot of bad press of late, courtesy of her husband's role in creating an anonymous website that sought to smear another Blaine House candidate, Eliot Cutler. Now the company Scarcelli runs is being pilloried in southwestern Mississippi, apparently on account of the actions of her mother.
By COLIN WOODARD | February 09, 2011

By | January 01, 0001

Maine women take to the gridiron

Full Contact
Saturday will be a different kind of ladies’ night at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | April 08, 2010

Portland School Committee candidates

District 2 race, with two uncontested seats
While the District 1 and at-large races are uncontested (with a newcomer in the former and a one-term incumbent in the latter), we offer here those candidates’ answers, as well as those of the two candidates vying for the District 2 seat being vacated by Robert O’Brien.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | October 28, 2009

Lesbians unite

Reclaiming the state's history and image
For centuries, sundry artists have extolled Maine as a locale for all sort of idylls and creations. This weekend, a series of plays will limn our state's romanticism with seductive specificity: as a setting for imaginative and sensual women loving women.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | August 26, 2009

Road trip

A lesbian journey through Maine's history
There comes a time in a woman's life when she just has to leave her husband at home with his mistress, toss her suitcase in a roadster, and head Downeast for a little timeout with her new, butch girlfriend. In July 1933, that's exactly what first lady Eleanor Roosevelt did.
By CAROLYN GAGE | June 24, 2009

Whole in two

William Manning’s abstract continuum
It’s as if Bill Manning and his work are a small, coherent universe of its own that exists somewhere, and periodically others get to visit it for a while.
By KEN GREENLEAF | August 05, 2008

Running toward truth

A fast-paced spy thriller explores the ambiguities of wartime
The first wave of current-war fiction is washing up on American shores, and Alex Carr’s The Prince of Bagram Prison is a prime example.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | April 09, 2008

Portland hosts a gaggle of literary ladies this week

Chick lit
Looks like supporting women artists now shouldn’t be too hard — this week.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | March 26, 2008

Morality stories

Mary Bean embraces the ambiguity of real life
“Mary Bean” isn’t who she says she is — the trial that follows the factory girl’s death certainly illuminates that much.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 27, 2008

D.C. wannabes

Twelve people want to represent you in Washington; we explain who they are as the winnowing begins
Already some candidates have come and gone, but the field remains wide open as candidates prepare for the June 2008 primaries.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 26, 2007

Eraser heads

Overzealous deans at Emerson literally make students’ rights disappear
What happened to the student bill of rights?
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE AND JAMES F. TIERNEY | October 25, 2007

Living classics

Premieres by three contemporary composers
Contemporary music will be the centerpiece of the 14th annual Portland Chamber Music Festival.
By BEN MEIKLEJOHN | August 15, 2007

Piano play

Senior recital of yesterday, études of today
The history of musical étude is rooted in piano pedagogy.
By BEN MEIKLEJOHN | March 14, 2007

Making small bigger

Upsizing the Portland Chamber Music Festival
Chamber music originated in the 17th and 18th centuries for nobles and aristocrats, written by personal house composers.
By BEN MEIKLEJOHN | February 28, 2007

Smells like free spirit

Art and engagement in Autumn 2006
Encountering Charlie Hewitt’s work for the first time, at his Farnsworth Museum retrospective, was like meeting someone from the neighborhood where you grow up long after you’ve grown up.
By CHRIS THOMPSON | September 13, 2006

Watch the film of the play

Behind the scenes
Last September, when Cathy Plourde directed 13 teenage girls in Ugly Ducklings , Carolyn Gage’s acclaimed play about homophobia at a girls’ summer camp, the cast had an audience long before opening night.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | September 13, 2006

MECA slims down

Bodywork
To achieve its $15 million capital campaig goals, the Maine College of Art must first deal with declining enrollment and an administrative exodus.
By SARA DONNELLY | July 12, 2006

Crazy talk

Feeling much better, thank you
Part horror story, part psychological thriller, part radical feminist statement, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper has been adapted for the stage as a one-woman show.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | June 19, 2006

Letters to the Portland Editor, May 5, 2006

Readers fire back on Brian Duff's university-cafeteria story, and our Readers' Picks choice for Best Local Politician in "The Best"
By LETTERS TO THE PORTLAND EDITOR | May 03, 2006

Hall dining

Comparing Maine's college cafeterias
Since the college years are often a time when students discover the worst in American cuisine, I have ventured where few food critics have gone before — the college cafeteria.
By BRIAN DUFF | April 26, 2006

Standing up

Portland’s comedy scene explodes
Some see — or at least hope to see — Portland's comedy scene as being on the brink of national prominence, as there are now 15 local stages devoting time to comedy and an overflow of new comics to fill them.
By JEFF INGLIS | March 29, 2006

Maine-ufacturing consent

Noam Chomsky himself is filtered by the news
Typical of the exposure given 77-year-old MIT linguistics professor and philosopher Noam Chomsky by most American news media, he was blanked out by the Portland Press Herald , and there was no coverage by the Portland TV news shows or Maine Public Radio.
By LANCE TAPLEY | February 02, 2006

Beyond the frames

University of New England exhibits bring art to the south
The University of New England campus in Biddeford is a damn long slog out of Portland in this January weather, but that’s exactly why it’s so comforting to see young area artists and their forward-thinking ideas represented.
By IAN PAIGE | January 18, 2006