the goddess tour
Bravo to Acorn Productions! They have pulled off another great presentation of Maine playwriting. This year’s Maine Playwright Festival included seven short plays and two full-length plays. I was in the front row for The Goddess Tour, ready to applaud my island neighbor and good friend, Peg Astarita, who played Boo, one of six women gathered at an Irish inn on the Burren of County Clare. Peg is a goddess in her own right, creator of divine figures such as the one above. Thanks, Kathie Schneider, for this photo. Also in the cast was fellow islander, Stephanie Eliot, who played half of a...
Read Moreviva la victoriana
I’m always up for a spectacle and when I heard from Tracy Quimby at Victoria Mansion that a performance artist would be dressing from corset to cape, I had to be there. As part of the NEA’s Big Read initiative, Victoria Mansion had chosen The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. All kinds of book discussions, film screenings, and lectures are happening around this book. I met up with two Victoriana fans in the front row of the PMA auditorium: Lex Golubow, a former student and recent MECA grad. She came dressed in her best Victorian outfit and ready to get a good look. Lex often...
Read Moresweet zeitgeist
I enjoyed a sweet return to the House of Ninja this week, otherwise known as the Illustration department at Maine College of Art. The Illustration and the Graphic Design departments now share studio space, allowing for an energetic cross-pollination of disciplines. For the first time, both departments hosted an Open Studio. I’m not really sure how much mixing goes on, but it was a full house of curious and curiouser. Megan Walker and Mary Blaxland stood at the door exercising their considerable satiric skills in caricature, probably drawing me as the Faculty Beasty. I spied a new face,...
Read Moreblizzard blues
Some people loathe winter. I am not one of them. I love it. Every new snow fall is cause for celebration. Yes, there is shoveling and scraping ice, slogging through snowbanks and shivering in bitter winds. But the rewards! A snow day is a gift from above, a chance to get out. Hey, I grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, thanks to parents who met in Aspen and wanted to settle near ski areas in New England. Here are the happy ski bums, circa 1955. I enjoyed a childhood of skiing every spare moment. Family portraits from this chapter would be the line of skis, from small to tall, in...
Read Morebrilliant new day
This has been a heady week. I’m still feeling light as a feather and enjoying the blindingly bright mornings. It felt like January 20 would never come. Even my sixth grade daughter was excited to be watching the inauguration of President Obama at school. She voted in a mock election prior to November 4, and the school elected Obama in a landslide. This was a good sign. In the cosmic game of tag, youth is IT. All we can do is watch them outrun us, and be glad for the forward movement of the universe. Having children in the White House again brings an important dimension to the...
Read Moreho ho it’s over
Ahhhh. Twelve days of Christmas. Done. In the blink of an eye. Does time seem sped up to anybody? Seriously, this holiday season was a blur of activity. Around here it begins with cards and calendars. My apologies if yours hasn’t arrived yet. Here it is meanwhile. And my daughter crafted this on a snow day from school. And Marty did his part with a design for the follow-up correspondence. We had a plentiful haul of gifts, despite our vows to get simple, buy less. I annually dread the obligatory shopping. Not that I mind buying gifts. I prefer birthdays, when I can think about one...
Read MoreVisit JamieHogan.com
