Down East Snubs Westbrook

In its June issue, Down East magazine has an article entitled, "Choosing Maine: Town-by-Town Tour of Maine." Though it is more accurately a county-by-county tour of Maine, eh, so far, so good. That is, until I scanned down to Cumberland County.

Expecting at least a mention of how Westbrook don't stink no more, I was a little surprised the city garnered little more than a mention as part of the cluster that constitutes Maine's "most populous county." Hell, even Standish got a little shout out as a town to investigate if one is planning a move to Maine.

Ah, the irony of an ultra-provincial blogger criticizing an ultra-provincial mag for not being, well, provincial enough.

- John C.L. Morgan

Wanted: Skilled Mainers

Andrew Vietze has an article in this month's Down East magazine which lists the seven skills every Mainer should have:

1. Dry a flooded basement
2. Get a car out of the mud
3. Cut down a tree (my wife quibbles with this one and says that every Mainer should instead know how to plant a tree)
4. Deal with a power outage
5. Cook a lobster
6. Thaw a pipe
7. Build a fire

Considering this seemingly unrelenting winter, it's odd that scraping ice or shoveling snow isn't on this list. Oh, well. Add any skill(s) you think Vietze has omitted to the Comments section, or forever hold your piece (or is it peace?).

- John C.L. Morgan

P.S. As an aside, I recommend you get your cold claws on Vietze's piece "Becoming Teddy Roosevelt" about the twenty-sixth president's defining relationship with Maine guide Bill Sewall. Alas, it is not available for digital consumption, but a field guide to Maine's Roosevelt landmarks can be found here.