Photos by Andrew Propp

Photography by Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento

Photography by Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento

The Veterans Day Parade through Portland, ME began at Longfellow Square. Approximately eight blocks of scattered candy and wind-blown leaflets later, the event culminated outside of City Hall where leaders of town and state offered speeches to the crowd. Some citizens brought sweater-clad pets, others brought protest signs, but Congress Street was lined for blocks with people in some way commemorating the holiday.

On December 1, the US Defense Department released a study on the effects of repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell." Doug Anderson looks back on an afternoon when a park in Portland became center stage for this national debate.

Vox pop by Doug Anderson

Justin Stoll and his brothers selling cookies on the side of Rt. 139 in Unity, Maine.  They plan to use the money to buy binoculars.

Photo by Maggie C. Melvin.

The view from the eastern shore of Stave Island on a calm fall afternoon.  Photos by Carolyn Barnwell.

Armed with recording gear and a smile, Sara Curtis ventured to Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine with one question in mind: What makes people swoon? As the weather gets chillier and the instinct to hibernate arrives, think about what makes you swoon. It might just warm you up a bit…

“On this exposed New England coast the most conspicuous animals of the high-tide zone are the rock or acorn barnacles, which are able to live in all but the most tumultuous surf.  The rockweeds here are so stunted by wave action that they offer no competition, and so the barnacles have taken over the upper shore, except for such space as the mussels have been able to hold.”

-Rachel Carson The Edge of the Sea

Bellydance, a dance form originating in the Middle East, has shimmied its way up to Maine, where Portland is the center of a welcoming community of dancers. Salt student Andrea Muraskin dropped in at an event called Raqs Borealis, which is held every two months at North Star Music Cafe in Portland's East End (note: The North Star Music Cafe has closed since the taping of this piece).

Contra-dance is "like taking a jag of happy pills." - Edie Konesni

Belfast, Maine -- Once monthly, contra-dancers flock from across the Northeast to The Belfast Flying Shoes dance series. Chrissy Fowler, who organizes the event, starts the evening as a caller alongside an impromptu All Comers Band. October's special guest, Elixir, adds an exciting twist to traditional contra-dance music with their full horn section.

Producer: Carolyn Barnwell
Photography: Noah Fowler