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Street harassment: Why do men do it, and what can alleviate it?

“Hey girl, what's your name?” you hear a gravely voice call out. The voice comes from a middle aged man pushing 50, who passes through the small alleyway where the building’s tenants keep their trash bins — a dark narrow space, regrettably adjacent to the entrance of your downtown apartment. You can tell he’s staring at you. While you offer a polite, yet timid smile, keeping your stare straight and firm, you hope he gets the... Read more

24-09-2016 Hits:168 Features Katelyn Malloy

The Phoenix Potpourri

Meetings continue for Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Sunday was National Public Lands Day, but dialogue continues about the newly created and controversial Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Officials have held three of the four scheduled listening sessions to hear directly from citizens about their "hopes, ideas and questions" for the new monument, according to the National Park Service. Baxter State Park posted on Facebook, "Our new neighbor Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is... Read more

11-07-2016 Hits:60 The Phoenix Potpourri David Carkhuff

Ben's story
For this week’s column, I’ve turned to one of my favorite Portlanders (and favorite people in general) to share his story of recovery from substance abuse and homelessness. My younger brother, Ben, has struggled with alcoholism since we were teenagers, and…
When you feel so at home in Am…
Here’s this week’s episode of The Port City Chronicle, the continuing serial novel of Gretchen, a 46-year-old criminal defense lawyer, and her family and friends, seeking love and happiness in Portland the hard way: “You can cross,” Tim said, pointing…
Green creep: When wilderness o…
The term “Green Streets” suggests a healthy Wonka-esque utopia of lush boulevards where children and cyclists may pluck ripe fruit from a carbon neutral and bee friendly landscape. The more common reality, however, evokes a dystopian cinematic terrain, perhaps Planet…

Occupy at five: Followers gather in Lincoln Park to remember…

Back in the heady days of Occupy Wall Street, a band of believers set up camp in Portland’s Lincoln Park. By the winter of 2011, police had broken up the camp. Followers continued to organize via Facebook and in smaller groups, but never again would OccupyMaine regain the prominence of its occupation days. John Branson, an attorney who represented OccupyMaine in its losing battle with the city in its bid to winter in the public park, met... Read more

19-09-2016 Hits:83 News David Carkhuff

Turnaround on TIFs: Mayor's tighter contracting st…
Once berated for receiving donations from developers and beneficiaries of a popular tax incentive, Mayor Ethan Strimling opened the door to a broader discussion of contracting standards in Portland that are likely to meet with resistance from developers. Last Wednesday, the…
LePage, Longley and the 'whacko clause': Special s…
A governor whose erratic behavior turned heads. A Maine Legislature struggling to remedy the situation. Flash back to the 1970s, when Gov. James Longley spurred headlines and set the stage for a constitutional amendment relevant in the LePage era. At a town…
A love letter to black college students
Dear Black and African college students in Maine, Your excellence is inspiring and I’m cheering you on. My social media feeds are full of students expressing their readiness to meet the challenge, rallying against the cost of books, gushing about amazing…

Sensual rebels: Portland Players production raises the heat …

The saga of Bonnie and Clyde, the iconic lovers who held up stores and banks through the American Depression, is both a cautionary and a romanticized tale. And odd as it may sound for a story that ends in a gruesome shootout, that story has also become a Broadway musical. Portland Players present a striking, energetic and beautifully sung production of Bonnie and Clyde, the Musical, starring the fiery duo of Joanna Clarke and Joel... Read more

27-09-16 Hits:174 Theater Megan Grumbling

8 Days: Waking Windows, the Indie Biz Awards, Okto…
THURSDAY, Sept. 29 MECA’s Artist Lecture | The Maine College of Art welcomes David Johansen and Mara Hennessey as speakers in the next edition of their “visiting artist lecture series.” You probably know Johansen as a member of the proto-punk…
Flight of fancy: Boeing, Boeing brings sexual farc…
It’s the swinging sixties in Paris, and Parisian bachelor Bernard (Christopher Holt) and he believes he has contrived the Platonic ideal of marriage for his time and place: three simultaneous fiancées, none aware of the other, all airline hostesses and…
Hippies, Hell's Angels and mayhem: Selvin captures…
When the Rolling Stones toured America in 1969 for the first time in three years, they found a more psychedelic landscape, but also a more violent one. Not only had a lot changed since 1966, a lot…

Biddeford's tipping point? Custom Deluxe delivers without ad…

Ever since analysts identified Biddeford real estate as a hot investment, thoughtful Mainers have considered the choice between life in Portland and a more raw existence 15 miles south. The contrast is much as Rousseau described in his Second Discourse: “The source of all differences is that the more simple man lives within himself, while social man lives outside himself, and only knows how to live in the opinion of... Read more

27-09-2016 Hits:69 Food + Drink Brian Duff

Bite Sized Food News
Now that summer is officially behind us, it seems that the season of new restaurants opening has begun. A new “old fashioned” cocktail bar plans to make Portland home, Binga’s Winga’s will be opening a new location in Windham, and…
Pumpkin beers that don’t suck
Happy almost-fall, loyal reader. Apples are ripening, school has begun, and pumpkin-themed beers are metastasizing all over the shelves of your local liquor store. They may look like innocent beers, loyal reader, but ghastly, swollen orange spheroids cackle in silent…
Fall window for a favorite Mex…
Last Thursday I was delighted to find gorgeous poblano peppers at Andrew’s Farm stand at the Yarmouth Farmers’ Market. Shining with earthly energy, they reminded me something that a Mexican chef once taught me: September through November is the best…

Audio overflow: Waking Windows takes over Portland venues

Waking Windows takes over Congress Street this Saturday, Oct. 1. The all-day audio arts festival hits nine venues with music, comedy and a lit crawl, and runs from noon to the waking hours. The literary (pub) crawl was curated by Nat Baldwin, a writer and bassist for Dirty Projectors. Wife and husband scribes Noy Holland and Sam Michel will read from their works, as will Portland’s poet laureate Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, multi-genre writer Megan Grumbling, and... Read more

27-09-2016 Hits:88 Music Tim Gillis

Band on the run: When SeepeopleS improvised a reco…
Anyone who knows Will Bradford would say he seems like a longtime local here in Portland with his band SeepeopleS. While Portland has played a part in his and his band’s life in the last dozen years, he’s a musical…
More fan to love!
I’ve aired this concern before in public, but I’m not sure it landed as well as I would have liked. It’s a concern many others share with me, I know. To be honest, it touches on life today and who…
Scott Sorry: Sorry, but not sorry
Being at the right place at the right time… Somethings just have a way of working out... While I do believe these cliché statements can be true in cases, I also believe there has to be something already in place…

Let me tell you "Y"

Since your childhood, has there ever been a time in your life when you haven’t been aware of the YMCA, that gym that every sizable town had where you might be able to go play ping-pong or shoot hoops after school? Well, they haven’t gone anywhere, and in the interest of continuing their mission to promote health and well-being for American men, women and children, southern Maine branches are presenting... Read more

25-09-2016 Hits:17 Kids Gabe Gregoire

The tale of Ales for Tails
Shipyard. Banded Horn. Funky Bow. You’re milling about, running into people you know, trying to decide which brewery’s beer you want to taste next. You just won at cornhole, so you and your trusty canine are walking tall, and hey…
Revisiting the days of yore at…
Did you know that back in medieval times, last names were something brand new? It was only after settlements started to have more than a few families living close to each other that more than one person would happen to…
You and your small dog are not…
They’ve been called ankle-biters. Yap dogs. Even overgrown rats. But those of us who know, are acutely aware of just how much personality, vigor and ferocious loyalty small dogs really have. Their bond with their human parent, once established, is…