“Are you checking my math?” asks Maine Coast Semester teacher Liz Burroughs, turning from a whiteboard, where she’s solving a calculus problem, to face her students. Yes, they say, they are. Sun is pouring through the Ellis Room windows, creating a halo around the students in the back row. Satisfied, the soft-spoken, strong-minded Burroughs turns…
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Of Elves and Economics
The snow-dusted forests of Chewonki Neck are especially quiet this week, but the classrooms of the Elementary School at Chewonki are bright and busy, like an elven workshop, with students crafting beautiful items to present at the Holiday Craft Fair and online auction on December 11. “If you hear about children making crafts, you might…
Happy Thanksgiving from Everyone at Chewonki
We hope you have a wonderful holiday. This week, some Chewonki folk shared their thoughts about what they are thankful for:
Which Hazel?
As the days grow short and the cold settles in, the witch hazel tree presents sprays of pale gold blossoms to brighten the path outside the Center for Environmental Education. Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is a Maine native. Ruffed grouse enjoy its seeds and deer nibble its twigs and leaves. Witch hazel bark, leaves, and…
Semester 61 Fall Art Show
C’est élégant. C’est élastique. C’est fantastique.
C’est élégant. C’est élastique. C’est fantastique. C’est la langue française! And it pours from Esther Kary, Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki teacher of French. Standing before the class, her hands are in motion; her eyebrows arch over flashing dark eyes; she shrugs, coaxes, purses her lips; her voice rises and falls. In every way she…
Sawing Off the Limb on Which It Perches
In the American Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Biodiversity, there is a sign bearing the words of biologist Paul Ehrlich: “IN PUSHING OTHER SPECIES TO EXTINCTION, HUMANITY IS BUSY SAWING OFF THE LIMB ON WHICH IT PERCHES.” Writer Elizabeth Kolbert references this sign in her book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. Copies of…
Holiday Craft Fair & Online Auction
11th Annual Chewonki Holiday Craft Fair Vendor Hall, Online Auction & Hayrides Tuesday, December 11, 2018 Join us to celebrate and support the midcoast crafting community with a host of local goods and goodies including fiber arts, wood carving, beeswax candles, and skin care products, sweet treats, paper goods, and other fun holiday gifts. More than 15…
A Rock Star of the Written Word
Maine Coast Semester 61 students and their teachers from the Literature and the Land class had the honor of hearing the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States, Tracy K. Smith, give a reading in Lewiston last week. It turned out to be even more than they expected. Smith, who became Poet Laureate in 2017,…
In the Hoofprints of Giants
We are sad to announce that Sal, our beloved American Belgian chestnut mare, passed away last Friday, on a brilliant blue-and-gold October day. At the time of her death, she was attended by her long-time veterinarian and the farmers who worked with her – and loved her – every day. Sal was 22 years old….
