Exciting?: Usually Not Maine

I went to the University of Maine Augusta yesterday to see what kind of classes they offer. No grad classes at all at the Augusta campus. I might take Creative Writing II next semester. Classes are like $600 a semester. I think I still have some G.I. Bill money left.


Sometimes Maine is so boring I am happy to see the man at the corner of Chapel & Church Streets reading his manuscript, smoking a cigarette.


I record myself talking and play it back to myself in order to have a conversation in Maine. I am going crazy. It is comical.

Augusta Maine Report, 102907

1. Wal-mart provides me with monoculture. And a place to recycle plastic bags.


2. Lithgow Library provides me with worldly culture. I checked out a couple documentaries. It was the first time I had watch "Born Into Brothels." I would really like to teach a "Kids with Cameras" program. Maybe somewhere in the U.S. Like Maine.

Hallowell Maine, 102907

Hallowell Maine 102907 one.


Hallowell Maine 102907 two.


Hallowell Maine 102907 three.


Hallowell Maine 102907 four.

Day Off, Augusta Maine

1. Cooked rice.


2. Talked on Phone.
I was talking on the phone to my good friend Jabari. I was telling him about the unique lobsterman/agricultural/tree- and Wal-Mart-filled culture of Maine. Then I told Jabari about his own background. He has a great African-American background. He spent part of his childhood in Africa. He grew up in D.C. His parents live in Chicago. He now lives and goes to grad school in Manhattan. All places noted for their strong African-American Heritage (especially Africa). A perfect example of African-American culture.
I told him I am like the "Karate Kid" of culture. My mom, a single parent, drove us to Southern California to start a new life in the early 80s.
"But you never met Mr. Miyagi," Jabari said.
I took karate in the park. Is Miyagi that huge of a difference?

Augusta Maine Report, 102607

1. Development on Western Avenue Augusta Maine, 102607.


2. Uninspired to write or type anything. Uninspired to wash my dishes or continue unpacking my apartment.


3. plane.


4. bus.


5. pickup.

Jenn DePalma Goes Back to DC

Jenn ties her belongings in the back of my truck. I took her to the Portland Jetport. She texted me from Baltimore-Washington International Airport. It was raining there. Back to friendless. (For JENN!! Ha!)

Hiking in Acadia

Put the tent away in the morning.


Hiking.


Bee Hive Trail / Almost Rock Climbing. Wicked Awesome.


Maine is a vision to be inspired by. (Jeremy, I could have killed your girlfriend like 20 times.)


We drove to the top of Cadillac so we could see more in less time. Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the east coast between Canada and Brazil!


A cruise ship brought tourists to Acadia from NYC. Acadia is the second most visited National Park in the U.S.

Other Things of Acadia

Welcome: to Maine.


Maine Sidewalks.


In Acadia we also found conduit in the forest. A backhoe. And a manhole cover.


Camping: Does it trigger a genetic memory? A memory that is passed on through generations? Campfire. The genetic memory is reenforced by repeated imagery in the development of an adult.

To Acadia

There is an awesome bridge to cross on the way to Acadia.


We were trying to figure out the jobs people have in Maine.


Lots of lobstermen.


A lobster shack in Acadia Maine.


what do people do out here ?
they have horses and
go to church & are mailmen
& school teachers & work
at bank of america. they
cut & cut & cut hair.
the hair of maine men
who come walking out
of the woods every 5 months
to get a trim after smashing
food w/ bare hands. they
have bad backs, lots of
chiropractors, nurses,
they sell used books &
antiques. they work
at gas stations. (they make
lobster rolls & custom build spiral stairs)


Andree & Pepper: While we were looking for the quickest way to the water we met Andree & Pepper. Andree does surgury on mice at The Jackson Laboratory. Andree said the Jackson Lab employs 1,400 people here.


We stopped in Otter Cove to do a car commercial. Perfect landscape for car commercials.


Nautical Trash


Acadia's elements


Stormy Weather in Acadia.
this is maine new england
this isn't the new shire
of hamp. the new
shire of hamp doesn't
have brackish water


Eating ramen noodles at camp. Just to have something warm.

Jenn DePalma Visits from DC

My Friend Jenn came to visit me in Maine.


Jenn is a vegetarian so I brought her a carrot. She ate it while she pointed to Portland.


We took Route 1 back up the coast to Augusta instead of I-95


Bath Public Library: We stopped in Bath Maine to check our email at the public library.


Bath Iron Works: Went past BIW, ship builders. I had to explain to Jenn that this is real New England. I did it with a poem I made up.
Maine Explain Poem
This is the great northern territory
this is real new england
this is not upstate new york
this is new england
look at the way our moon reflects off
the brackish water
at night
we have brackish water
brackish
upstate new york
doesn't have
brackish water

Sunday Driving Camden Maine

Sunday Driving: Two Churches in Augusta Maine.


Sunday Drive in Maine: Here is a Sunday-Drive Digital Video, or SDDV. There were some areas between Augusta Maine and the coast that had pasted the peak of fall colors. The branches were bare; the leaves weren't there.


SDDV-2 Driving on Route 17 from Augusta Maine to Camden Maine between the leaves and churches.


SDDV-3 Driving past Mirror Lake Maine.


Two Views from Mount Megunticook Hi. I live in Maine, New England, United States of America.


MPSV (Me Panting Simulated Video) I hiked as fast as I could to get to the top. Unfortunately I made that obvious with the panting in my video. (Hey, I had my camera bag!)


At Mount Megunticook I met this girl Erika who is leaving New England in a couple days for New Mexico. She's been traveling around the country and the world with some kind of physician assistant program.
Before Maine, she was in Rwanda. I though it was dangerous over there?!
Erika is staying near Camden with friends. We went to Cappy's Chowder House to get beer and chowder.

Hospice Bluegrass

Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area presents: The 4th Annual Bluegrass Show:Saturday October 20th @ 7 p.m., The Williamson Arts & Technology Center, Fairfield, ME.
Featuring
The Adrians - Blistered Fingers
Intermission
The Katahdin Valley Boys - The Muellers


The Muellers They are a family. Mr. And Mrs. Mueller gave birth to an entire bluegrass band. Very strange; wicked awesome. They have the two youngest fiddlers I've ever seen; one is 9, their youngest son fiddler will celebrate his 6th birthday next Thursday. They sing too. But their youngest daughter seems to be the voice of the band for most of the songs. They were a great.


The Katahdin Valley Boys It was a toss up between The Katahdin Valley Boys and The Muellers. They both had cotton-ball heads fighting their feet from dancing them out of their seats.
It was a Hospice-like venue. Nice, but no beer, no standing, no dance floor. (Not that I'm a dancer, it's just nice to have the option.) Cheap homemade food from the concession, $10 admission.

Things I Learned Friday in Augusta Maine

1. 58 Winthrop Street This big apartment lodge on 58 Winthrop Street in Augusta Maine has 15 apartments. Mine only has 4.


2. Weather on Friday Friday was foggy or misty it was calender weather here in Augusta Maine. Beautiful and warm and foggy with church steeples everywhere. New New England. The leaves look like they're burning themselves off the trees.


3. Gas Station Art I'm selling out. Doing gas art now. Gas Fine Art. That's where the money is, gas. Gas Fine Art is smart. The next obvious thing.
(It's actually the new-old thing. Which started with the construction of U.S. Highways, and then freeways. And before that railway, Westward Expansion. European highway paintings. South American map murals on the sides of temples. Aztec calendars. Mounds.
Trying to figure out where you are, where your going, how you're going to get there. Who you are? Or Charlie Brown's question, "Why?!"
Or stay home and watch The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.)


4. I remembered There are no telephone poles in cities.

Augusta Maine Report, 101807: Colby Museum

1. Drove up I-95 I drove up to the Colby College Museum of Art before work today.


2. Miller-Library, wireless 'Street'& Colby card machine Colby College has a very New England feel. It might be because this is New England, USA.


3. NOONTIME ART TALK, 'High-
lights from the Lunder Collec-
tion,' 12:30 p.m., Colby College
Museum of Art; with Mirken Cu-
rator of Education Lauren Less-
ing; free lunch provided to the
first 40 attendees; 859-5608.


4. Alex Katz There is a wing filled with the work of Alex Katz. The museum has modern-style open galleries. And older parlour-style galleries; ironically in the recently added, Lunder, wing.


5. Alex Katz Wedding.


6. Colby College Museum of Art The entrance to the museum and the new Lunder Wing.


7. Drove down I-95 Drove back to Augusta Maine.


8. Tree: House The foliage in Augusta and in most of Central Maine is 50-75 percent peak, so they say.


9. Gas Station Decoration I thought the orange pumpkin garbage bags were a nice touch to the gas station's green washer fluid display.


10. Development on Western Avenue, Augusta Maine. (10/18/07)

The Events of Wednesday: Augusta Maine

1.Looked at Tree I looked at this tree for a couple minutes on Winthrop Street in Augusta Maine. I heard someone laugh while I was taking a picture. I looked over to a house. 'I can't imagine what you're doing,' a woman said.
'I'm taking a picture of the tree,' I said, and at the same time thinking she might not have an imagination.

2.Listened to Radio Wednesday, as nearly everyday, I listened to the radio (aka DXing). I listen to WCLZ 98.9, it might be the best station I've ever heard. And Fader Magazine has the best music podcasts; free.

Augusta Maine Report, 101607

1.Walk to Work I like the hours I work; late afternoon to late night. The hours allow me to have my own time during the day. (I can even go outside if I want.)
The hours don't synchronize well with events that I keep seeing in the newspaper though. Events that, most of them, I have to drive to get there.


2.Car of Arms I've been driving a lot. I'm waiting for a call for an office in Nottingham to tell me my coat of arms is now a 'car' of arms. My rampant lions with be replaced with a rampant Crown Vic & a rampant van.



Driving Culture Tim Hortons, a Canadian franchise of drive-thru coffee houses, is taking advantage of the driving culture by placing their 24-hour stores along I-95 throughout Maine. They also take advantage of the few walker by offering inside seating. They have chicken fajitas, and iced-coffee. They are close to work. I am hooked on their large iced coffee: 3 creams, 2 sugars.


Gas Station Are gas station attendants comparable to bank tellers? When will our gas trucks be led in armed convoys like the tankers in Iraq? Or have armed drivers, or someone riding shotgun?