All posts by RJ Heller
Eastport, an ever-evolving city of brick, light and shadow
A friend of mine visiting Downeast for the first time mentioned shortly after arriving that he noticed a drastic change in the air and in the light. Paraphrasing, he commented, “The air is tinged with the scent of salt, and the light is brighter. Everything here seems so different, even the shadows appear out of […]
Machias concert series celebrates 50 years
“I can’t live one day without hearing music, playing it, studying it, or thinking about it,” Leonard Bernstein once said. And if Susan Aceto is successful, neither will the Machias Bay area live without music. This year marks the first time Aceto is at the helm of Machias Bay Chamber Concerts (MBCC) as president of […]
A warm hand of greeting to our friends in the “Great White North”
Sea Change …Book Review
For sailors out there, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy’s newest book, Sea Change: A Man, A Boat, A Journey Home, provides a gripping adventure even a landlubber would appreciate. With the swagger of a sea story, a monumental task pursued, hardships faced with subtle glints of humor thrown in for measure, the book tackles the reality boats bring […]
Sharing a distant horizon with a German submariner
His words were whispered. Caressed by the waves, words tumbled and folded upon themselves. With each word spoken, I imagine a memory came back to him, a lost orphan searching for home on the crest of a wave. I slowly moved closer, listening, hoping he would repeat the words. The rock-bound coast of Maine is […]
Machias reenactors look to create a home for history
When Maine Game Warden Joe McBrine first donned an historical costume to step back in time and relive the early days of Machias, he did not know that something much bigger was planted that day. Today, McBrine knows a seed has taken root and that there is a good chance something wonderful could happen for […]
Finding my story in a Maine night sky
A Winter Apprentice …Book Review
There There …Book Review
“The quote is important to Dene. This there there. He hadn’t read Gertrude Stein beyond the quote. But for Native people in this country, all over Americas, it’s been developed over, buried ancestral land, glass and concrete and wire and steel, unreturnable covered memory. There is no there there.” In the beginning it was the […]