For Alice, the perfect dream job would be to live in England, wear high-fashion and design dresses for British fashion designers Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh.

“Actually,” she admitted, “I want to be the next Alexander McQueen.”

This shy, beautiful girl who wears oversized horn rimmed glasses and has to be coaxed into smiling for a photo (so we don’t see her braces), is one of the rad ones.

On a drizzly fall day after-school when other kids are sitting together over laptops in the cafeteria at CHRHS, Alice prefers to by herself in the basement art room, working on a painting she’s not even sure she likes.

“What do you think of it?” she asked, cocking her head.

I told her what I saw; that from what I’ve seen in her artwork, she keeps gravitating toward figurines. It’s as if she is playing with paper dolls, only she’s drawing them instead and dressing them in her own designs.

By herself, Alice moved from Chongqing, a big city in China, to the United States when she was 12 years old. Her parents wanted her to learn English and stay with host families to get an American education. She went to middle school in Skowhegan and changed host families to go to high school here at Camden Hills Regional High School. Every summer, she flies back home to visit her parents and younger brother. She misses them and communicates with them via Facetime and phone calls.

I know American teenage girls who’ve grown up with the same bunch of kids and who have dissolved into tears just fearing the transition from middle school to high school. Imagine being 12, with no friends and not knowing the language, navigating a social structure that doesn’t make a lot of sense to you and trying to fit in without your parents to come home to. There is a lot of steel beneath her fragile exterior, something she subconsciously echoes in her own artwork.

My fascination with Alice began with a shoe. At the Center for Maine Contemporary Art show last May, I came across this tortuous black ceramic high-heeled shoe, designed by Alice Wang. Lady Gaga, I thought. Turns out I wasn’t off the mark.

“I love Gaga,” she said. “When she first starting wearing costumes, people in world of fashion didn’t really get her style — it was awkward. But there was a point.  I think her designs are gorgeous, a combination of art and fashion. Alexander McQueen did these really cool high heeled shoes for [Lady Gaga’s video] Bad Romance,” she said. “So I wanted to make one in ceramic.”

Later, she sent me sketches she’d done on her own time, ethereal waifs draped in oceanic colors. These sketches became her unofficial portfolio this past summer when she sent them to the Rhode Island School of Design’s residential pre-college program. Along with 400 other high school students from around the world, Alice got accepted to the program. For six weeks, Alice lived in a dorm with other students (75 percent girls and 25 percent boys) and “worked and worked and worked” learning fashion design, fashion history and critical thinking in art and design. “It was really fun,” she said. But she said when she saw other students’ talents, she felt humbled. “In your own school you tend to think you’re dong pretty good, but when you see all of the work people around the world bring to it, you’re like a little ant.”

She told me she’s only been drawing since last year. Her own particular style is emerging. She loves to combine “harsh” geometric shapes with softer flowing shapes and mix them to create something new.

For RISD’s final project, each student had to come up with a design a model could wear on the runway. Alice designed a paper dress, spending some 80 hours on it trying to get it right. “I wanted to do something edgy and something that’s me,” she said in a soft low-toned voice. “I got inspiration from those 1700s dresses with the puffy corsets. The white part of the dress reminded me of bone, combined with what Elizabeth 1 of England would have worn.”

Asked how she felt seeing her own dress on the model as she walked down the runway, Alice hid her face. “God,” she whispered.  “I was a little nervous, because my idea was quite awkward from anyone else’s.” But she had a lot of people come up afterwards to ask her how she made it.

While her parents knew she went to the Rhode Island School of Design for the summer, Alice has not shown them any of her designs. She thinks they wouldn’t understand.  “They know what I draw and support me, but they don’t like it,” she said “They like clothes to be clothes and not like costumes.”

For now, Alice has her eye on the future. “I think I’ve spent so many years over here looking at trees and the ocean, I want something new.  When I’m here, I want to go back to China. When I’m there, I want to come back here.” When she goes to college, she plans to study fashion design either in England or the U.S., wherever she can get in.

She knows that if she pursues this career, she will have to have a tough skin. “It’s a little scary,” she admitted. “In the fashion world, it’s competitive. Either you’re really bitchy or really sweet, there’s nothing in between.” Asked how she’ll think she’ll be, she answered, “Probably the softer side.”

Those of us lucky enough to get a glimpse into the person she is, not to worry. Her talent will speak for itself.

Hail To The Rad Kids is a new feature highlighting teens with artistic or musical talent.  Another place to check out Alice's work along with other teens is Sound Off, a monthly feature sponsored by Five Town Communities That Care to publicly recognize the contributions that middle and high school teens are making in our community.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot

When Kate Shaffer of Black Dinah Chocolatiers posted this Instagrammed photo of her famous rum-glazed cider donuts on Facebook, the 30-plus reactions ranged from ravenous to almost angry.

-Really didn't need to see this.

-You're killing me!

-That is just cruel.

And yes it is, it is just cruel that she makes these donuts every year and unless you live on Isle au Haut, you are not going to taste them.

"There are riots if I don't make cider doughnuts at least once before we close the cafe in the fall," said Shaffer, by email. "Until next fall, you gotta make them yourself."

Luckily, she acquiesced to providing the exact recipe from her blog, blackdinah.wordpress.com and allowed us to repost her recipe her on PenBayPilot.The only ingredient missing from this recipe is the rum; but, we're sure you'll find a place for it.

According to Shaffer: "This latest version is much like last year’s (nothing like re-inventing the wheel), with just a few little changes. The changes, I think, warrant this second posting. The resulting pastry is dark and crunchy on the outside, and soft, buttery and apple-y fragrant on the inside. But if you can’t find boiled cider (read a great article on boiled cider here), and don’t have any apple sauce on hand, the recipe from last year will stand in as an almost-as-delicious substitute."

Apple Cider Doughnuts, redux

1 cup sugar (I use organic evaporated cane juice)

2 eggs

1/2 cup boiled cider

3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3-3/4 to 4 cups flour

Roughly 6 cups vegetable oil for frying (I use safflower oil)

About a cup of superfine sugar

Method:

With an electric beater, the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, or by hand, beat together 1 cup sugar and the eggs until the mixture is light in color.

In a medium size bowl (or a large measuring cup), mix together the boiled cider, apple sauce and the baking soda. Don’t let all that foaming and frothing worry you. That’s just the baking soda reacting to the acid in the apples. Beat this mixture into the sugar and eggs.

Next, stir in the melted butter, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and vanilla. Finally, add 3-3/4 cups of flour and mix just until the batter is combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

When you’re ready to fry the doughnuts, heat the oil in a large cast iron pot to 375 degrees. While the oil is heating, turn your chilled batter out onto a well-floured countertop and pat or roll the batter to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cut as many doughnuts as possible with a 2-inch doughnut cutter. Scrape the scraps together gently, re-roll and cut one more time.

When the oil has reached the correct temperature, fry the doughnuts, a few minutes on each side, until they turn a burnished golden brown. Remove them to a cookie sheet lined thickly with paper towels and allow to drain.

Mix about a cup of superfine sugar and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in a paper lunch bag. Before the fried doughnuts are completely cool, toss a few at a time into the bag, and shake to coat.

For the love of God, if anyone makes these donuts and sells them on the mainland, will you please, please tell us on Facebook so we can storm your shop?

BELFAST — Marshall Wharf Brewing Company and Three Tides bar and restaurant in Belfast are gearing up for their fifth Year of Beer and Pemaquid Mussels event Saturday, Oct. 13, and this year, foodies and craft beer freaks will be dry humping rainbows when they get a taste of the event’s special barrel-aged beers.

David Carlson, co-owner of Three Tides, said he and his team took a trip to Scotland this year to collaborate with a well-known Scottish distillery called Bowmore in order to barrel age their beers using bourbon and sherry casks or butts. They procured eight barrels from Bowmore Distillers and got them shipped back to Maine.

For the fifth Year of Beer and Pemaquid Mussels event, patrons can get a first public tasting of four of those barrel-aged beers — two different versions of the Old 59 and Cant Dog Double IPA. See Marshall Wharf website for descriptions of all the beers.

The other half of this event’s draw is the fresh locally harvested mussels from Pemaquid Mussel Company, and grown in Northport. More than 300 pounds will be reserved for this evening and served steamed in Chardonnay and garlic. The event will also will serve deep friend Belgian-style frites made from 300 pounds of organic potatoes from Aroostook County with a variety of sauces.

Both versions of those beers have been blended in two different barrels that have been aged 12 years, so that the beer picks up a level of char from the wood of the barrel, as well as a flavor profile from the original spirit that has soaked into the wood.

“While other breweries also do barrel-aging, the ones we got will take the beer in a whole new direction,” said Carlson.

Marshall Wharf, one of Maine’s 20+ craft breweries, has created barrel-aged beers before using American bourbon casks. With the success from those batches, they explored the opportunity to collaborate with Bowman’s distillery.

“No one had ever done this before,” said Carlson. “Most distilleries are owned by large corporations and are inaccessible, but we had an opportunity to go to this really well-known distillery in Scotland and audition our beers. It happened to be something they were also interested in and it was good timing to connect with them.”

To see videos of the film crew that accompanied them to Scotland and the barrel-aged process check out their videos at Craft Beer Maine.

Marshall Wharf brews about 40 beers a year. Some are one-offs, such as a special birthday beer or an anniversary beer, according to the brewer’s whim.

“If a beer is capable of enduring we’ll save a keg from batches throughout the year and then they’ll all come out for our annual event,” said Carlson.

This year, they will be pouring 34 different Marshall Wharf beers under two heated tents split up around the Belfast waterfront property.

Here’s how it breaks down. A $30 admission fee gets 10 tasting tickets (of eight ounces each), a custom glass, and access to the evening’s entertainment, Maine's own band,Toughcats. Eight taps will be available for tasting only and based on availability.  For those interested in the barrel-aged beers, they will only be available as part of the tasting tickets and when it runs out, it’s gone. (Note: no more than 10 tickets will be sold to each patron.)

Alternatively, one can get in with just a $10 admission fee, which will allow people to purchase pints from the main bar and beer garden bar, featuring more than 25 different beers, with a range from $4 to $8, depending on the brew. This ticket price also gets patrons in to see Toughcats.

Besides beer, the other half of this event’s draw is the fresh locally harvested mussels from Pemaquid Mussel Company, and grown in Northport.  More than 300 pounds will be reserved for this evening and served steamed in Chardonnay and garlic. The event will also will serve deep friend Belgian-style frites made from 300 pounds of organic potatoes from Aroostook County with a variety of sauces.

“We’ll also offer Snappy red hot dogs, because we’re big fans of those,” said Carlson, adding that the baked beans will be soaked in their Wrecking Ball Baltic Porter beer (a 10 percent porter brewed with molasses). Have you wiped the drool off your screen yet?

Most of these offerings will be in the affordable $5 range.

 “It’s kind of a crazy free-for-all.” said Carlson. ”We served well over 600 people last year. This year, I’ve got emails from people in Canada, in New York state, saying they’re coming.”

Organizers of the event will be ensuring that private taxi shuttles will be available to run people throughout the Belfast area and to hotels so they don’t have to drive. All Aboard Trolley will also be hosting a trip from Rockland to Belfast.

Doors open at 5 p.m. with Toughcats starting around 7:30 p.m.  Admittance will end at 10:30 p.m. with the event running until 11 p.m. Tickets will only be available at the door.

(Editor's note: Video courtesy Marshall Wharf Brewing Company/Rob Draper ACS)

 Kay Stephens can be reached at kaystephens@penbaypilot.com

Just standing in front of a group of people to give a speech is enough to scare the bejesus out of anyone.  According to an oft-quoted 1977 study, Americans claim it’s their biggest fear.

Try standing up before a group of teenagers slouched on couches, biting their thumbnails, giving the “make this snappy, I’ve got people to text” bored look. How much more does that ratchet up the fear factor?

Bullying counselor, martial artist and licensed therapist Chuck C. Nguyen does it all the time. Whether he stands before a classroom of teens or before an entire auditorium, when he walks “on stage” he is just as poised and collected as he is standing before an opponent on a mat.

October marks National Anti-Bullying Awareness Month and Nguyen is intimately familiar with the subject. On stage, he tells a story about how he and his family had escaped war-torn Vietnam in 1980 on a rickety boat as they made their way to America. He was a small kid for his age. He didn’t have the right clothes. He didn’t know English very well and he had to walk in to a brand new school as the new kid. It’s easy to guess what happened next.

“I knew I was being stared at when all the locker doors stopped swinging. Every kid was looking at me, mouths open,” Nguyen said to a hushed audience. “I remember hearing footsteps behind me. This boy kept following me. Finally, I turned around and said ‘What?’ in broken English. He jumped back, took a deep breath. Everybody was watching and he said, ‘Man you’re ugly!’”

After this line, a burst of laughter follows. Nguyen allows a small smile. He knows what he’s doing; he has his audience hooked right in.

“You know that old story about sticks and stones might break your bones but names will never hurt?” Nguyen continued. “Well, it’s a lie. Because, while it may not break your bones, it’ll break your heart. I remember feeling so hurt. I became angry. I wanted to kill this kid," Nguyen said, letting the pause draw out. “And I knew five ways to do it.”

More laughter, but with a palpable undercurrent. The body language of the audience said all: eyes riveted, leaning forward, hanging on the next word. This man standing before them wasn’t just a bullying counselor. He'd told them he was also a martial artist. As a child, he trained in a variety of styles such as traditional Vietnamese Kung-Fu and Korean Taekwondo. If he said he had five ways to kill someone even at age nine, no one in the auditorium doubted him.

“Everybody was watching,” he said. “This was important because whatever happened next would determine how kids would view me for this point on. I took a step back and as my hand went back into a fist, I remember the last thing my grandfather told me before I left Vietnam. He’d told me, remember, the monks still exist today because they destroyed their enemy by making them their friends.”

Solemn faces on all of the teens, now.  They had all experienced this part of the story in their own lives before — or knew someone who had.

Growing up, Nguyen's grandfather had taught him about the Shaolin monks, who had created a system of self-defense to preserve their peaceful way of life.  Their system copied animal movements and forces in nature such as a tiger, an eagle, a snake, money and water.  It was the elusive and adaptable ways of water that the monks found were most effective. With the right amount of momentum and shift, water can be the most resilient, effective and powerful form of energy.

“I wanted to hurt this kid back, but something just came out of me and I look at this kid and I say, 'You think I’m ugly now, try this—' And at that moment, Nguyen parodies himself by throwing his hands up in the air and making the goofiest face he can. “That kid jumps back, confused. Then he starts smiling. Everybody starts laughing. Guess who became my best advocate for the rest of the year?” [To see more short videos of this story click here.]

Chuck Nguyen has an extraordinary effect when speaking to audiences, especially to teenagers. The exclusion, racism, and bullying he endured in his younger years could have molded an entirely different man, but Nguyen had the built-in gifts of training, skills, and an evolved spirit on his side. He has not only come through his experiences as a survivor, but has also used it to help people forge new paths of understanding and compassion in their responses to bullying.

The Power of Water is, in essence, a philosophy about the choices a target has after being emotionally injured by mistreatment. One can strike back with retaliation, but reacting blindly with violence tends to make one hardened like rock over time (like so many criminals Nguyen has worked with over the years). Or one can respond like water, moving with flexibility, creativity and with the desired outcome of peace in response to the conflict. This is what Nguyen teaches his students: being creative and peaceful yields better results than being violent, impatient, and intolerant.  

“It was the same strategy that I used to face the challenges of a new country, a new language, and ‘rocks’ who had no understanding of who I was, or what, I was about,” said Nguyen.

After earning his clinical degree in counseling, Nguyen worked at the Maine State Prison. While there, he developed and facilitated a program that utilized Yoga, Tai Chi, and Zen mindfulness for prisoners.  In 2005, Nguyen began his clinical intervention and prevention work in schools in Midcoast Maine. Nguyen has presented his program, Power of Water, throughout Maine schools and conferences such as the Maine Guidance Counselor Association Conference and Maine Alternative Education Conference.   In the summer, he travels to summer programs such as the Cardigan Lacrosse Camp in Canaan, New Hamphire to teach young men the importance of being peaceful and cooperative in athletics and sports.

As a husband and father of two little boys, Chuck divides his time as clinical social worker working with kids with emotional and developmental disabilities for RSU 40.

He has also contributed strategic advice to a recently published cyberbullying book in the Midcoast called Cyberslammed: Understand, Prevent, Combat and Transform The Most Common Cyberbullying Tactics. Nguyen’s experience provided the book with a resource so far no other bullying or cyberbullying book has offered. His timeless philosophies borrow from martial arts in how one may transform a traumatic cyberbullying experience. For each cyberbullying tactic listed in the book, he instructs how to practice facing off an opponent ethically and how to be like water—that is—how to choose resiliency and personal growth over loss of self or suicide in the aftermath of a horrible experience.

For a small handful of teenagers on the national front who have made the hard-line permanent choice in response to their bullies/cyberbullies, it’s too late.  For so many others facing the same traumas, the message is clear: there is a peaceful way to get beyond your suffering and you will be the stronger for it.

For more information about The Power of Water and Nguyen’s speaking schedule for his Peaceful Martial Art programs for adults and kids, visit Chuck at http://www.powerofh2o.com

Kay Stephens is the co-author of Cyberslammed. To reach her, email kaystephens@penbaypilot.com

Fatuous: complacently or inanely foolish : silly (a fatuous remark)

We're introducing a new series called Cheap Dates because the best memories come from creative ways to spend time together, right? So check it, here's a cheap date idea for you and a buddy or a honey all throughout October in Midcoast Maine.

The Camden Snow Bowl is hosting chairlift rides up the mountain every Sunday in October from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Seven bucks apiece for adults. (When we went it was only five-even better!) You cannot beat this for a deal, particularly when what you get is a spectacular view of the fall foliage from the top of Ragged Mountain, as well as a glimpse of the ocean. Ride up and ride down or hike down. Take a picnic. It's a gorgeous way to spend a couple of hours. And if you feel like it, post a photo on our Facebook page.

To reach Kay Stephens, email kaystephens@penbaypilot.com

The Belfast Creative Coalition will host its third Artist Networking Night this evening, Oct.4, to give artists, painters, photographers, craftsmen, musicians, writers and other creative types who live in the Midcoast a chance to network, talk shop and gather resources to help their art businesses grow. 

Held every other month, the last event at the end of August featured Jackie Battenfield, author of The Artist's Guide. The event was open to the state and more than 100 artists of every stripe showed up.

At the upcoming event, the theme will be “What’s Your Next Step?”  Kimberly Callas, Belfast Creative Coalition's spokesperson said, "Following up on Jackie Battenfield's talk, we're going to explore the concept of next steps for every artist, such as idenfiying your goals for your art." Artists will be encouraged to identify what they need to do next for their art business; for example, how to take new/better images, update or create a website, write a grant, or seek new opportunities.  Photographer Susan Guthrie will give a short talk on the benefits of being in and forming artists’ groups. 

"The night will be partly informative and allow time for it to just be a party so people can meet each other. There are so many artists around here and many of them don't know each other," said Callas. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Light in the Forest Photography, 107 Church St., Belfast (next to Left Bank Books.)

Participants are asked to take a dish to pass or a $5 suggested donation. Callas said participants don't have to just be from Waldo county to attend these special networking events; however, to be listed on the belfastcreativecoalition.org website, one must be an artist and live, work, or exhibit in Waldo County.

THOMASTON — Through a dense forest of damp, rotting leaves, she sprints, dodging bare branches, her red velvet cloak filthy with mud. At the dimmest part of the glade, she trips, lunging head first into the soft, spongy forest floor. Behind her, The Queen's Huntsman appears, holding a dagger.

"Snow White," he growls. "For your last moment on earth, what's your poison?"

She holds up a martini glass, takes a delicate sip. "At the Slipway, we call it, 'Snow White's Poison Appletini'."

The Slipway in Thomaston is a few weeks from closing for the season, but bartender Shane Davis has come up with a reason to people visit the restaurant before then.

After prepping his ingredients with a saucer of simple syrup and crushing graham crackers into another saucer, he went to work, cutting up 1/4 of an apple into chunks. he muddled the apple with 3-4 basil leaves, a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of raw or brown sugar and two dashes of bitters. After muddling, he added ice and five ounces of Maker's Mark bourbon with two ounces of Maine Root ginger beer. Giving the glass a good shake, he strained the cocktail into a martini glass that had been coated with simple syrup and rimmed with crushed graham cracker crust and served it with an apple slice. See our video to see how the cocktail is made.

The result is an earthy, textured taste, very fall. Sweet because of the ginger, tart because of the apple bits, but yet, the bourbon lets you know what's going on.

The Slipway will stay open until Oct. 21, so get it while you can.

To reach Kay Stephens, email kaystephens@penbaypilot.com.

Every year the no-no finger comes out for Banned Books across the country and what does that make you want to do? Read them of course.

Camden Public Library is celebrating this week with wanted posters and displays for banned or challenged books. Children's Librarian Amy Hand set up a special display all over the library of books that have been banned or challenged at some point over the years in a school or library. Behind her in the photo, the young adult books she cites for example include the Harry Potter series (because sorcery and magic makes people think bad thoughts) and all of the Twilight series (which I'd ban on literary merit alone, but that's another subject). To Kill a Mocking Bird, Of Mice and Men, and The Call of The Wild, are among the most common adult books that have been banned as well for a variety of reasons (offensive language; perceived socialism, etc.) Hand also mentions a children's book about two male penguins at a zoo (a true story) who adopted an abandoned penguin egg. After it hatched, they raised it together. And Tengo Makes Three, according to NYDailyNews.com, has been the most challenged children's book in recent years.

Really? Gay penguins. That's the assumption? Maybe they were just two middle class penguins whose personal income had eroded over the last decade (not that they were working any less) and to save on expenses, decided to raise a penguin kid together like Kate and Allie.

Hand said little piles of books are scattered in every section of the library with wanted posters that explain why the books have been challenged or banned "or anything else that has caught fire."

Banned Books Week extends from 9-30-12 to 10-7-12. Let us know what favorite banned or challenged book sits on your bookshelf and why.

For a list of the frequently challenged books of the 21st century, as compiled by the American Library Association, click here.

For a list of banned and challenged classics, as compiled by the ALA, click here.

To reach Kay Stephens, email kaystephens@penbaypilot.com.

Ladleah Dunn is a sailor and a damn good cook. More importantly, she aims not to take the foodie industry in Maine so seriously or make it too precious. Her culinary adventures stem largely from her own small farm in Lincolnville. What’s ridiculous is how easy she makes it look.

“Let’s make some clams tonight,” she proposed one afternoon by the beach.  All it took was wresting some ocean quahogs out of the seabed at low tide. [Note: while collecting quahogs from certain areas of Maine’s shoreline is legal, best to check the Maine Dept. of Marine Resources for red tide and other harvesting rules.]

“There are parts of the Maine coast where you can legally dig for clams and we were lucky enough to find some of these beautiful ones," said Dunn. “So, let’s do something with it.”

The ocean quahog is like The Incredible Hulk of clams; four or five of them suffice to make dinner for four. But first, it would take six hours of preparation. For Dunn, that's no big deal, especially with a bottle of wine and friends to pass the time.

As she set the live, rinsed quahogs on ice (where they hissed through bubbly ligament that attached to its hinged shell) occasionally, a “foot” stuck out to test its surroundings.

According to the Maine Sea Grant website, ocean quahogs (also called the large surf or hen clam) are among the longest-lived marine organisms in the world, capable of living longer than 200 years. Dunn eyed the ones we were making and estimated they were about 40 years old. “Before we get too sad about this,” she explained, “I’d rather harvest this myself and use all of its parts respectfully (including shells for compost), rather than buy chicken parts under cellophane, without knowing how the animal lived or died.”

The most amazing part of this elaborately simple meal is that it was created on a whim and nothing required going to the store. "Luckily we've created a little farm here where it is like its own grocery store; there is a large variety of herbs and vegetables, fruits, eggs, meats, etc. Then we get to use all that creativity that is usually only engaged when it's for a paycheck and we just get to do it for fun," she said, as she pulled up some onions from the ground. Next, she got an armload of applewood out of the wood pile and unwrapped some pork belly from a pig they’d raised and butchered several seasons ago.

“None of this is work to me,” she said. "We just cook because we love cooking and it's the kind of inspiration and passion that drives us to stay up really late cooking for someone else. For me it's an opportunity to feed that creativity." With friends and her husband assisting, she diced the onions, prepared an outdoor grill with applewood, and chopped up the pork belly. By this time, night had descended and the long droning zipper sound of crickets filled the woods. Once the wood had turned to coals, the quahogs were set on the grill. Eventually, they began to cook within their shells and open. Setting them aside, Dunn continued to sit by the grill and sautée the onions and pork belly, while inside the house, her husband chopped up quahog meat. We opened another bottle of wine.

Finally, near 9:30 p.m., the mixture of quahog, pork belly and onions were ladled back into half shells, topped with homemade flatbread croutons, chives and orange cherry tomatoes and thrown under the broiler. What came out was a savory, bacon-y dish punched with intense flavor.  That would be the entire course, just a stuffed half shell, but filling enough. Gone, of course, in under five minutes, the way good cooking disappears, but a meal never to forget.

 Follow Dunn’s blog, Sailor’s Rest Farm to see what else she’s got cookin’.

Skin isn't the only canvas for Justin Wheeler, a tattoo artist at Siren Song Tattoo in Rockland. Upper Playground, a leader in the contemporary art movement on the West Coast, recently invited him to submit four paintings to be part of an Oct. 4 show on urban art in Portland, Oregon.

"I'd say half the guys that are in the show are people I've been modeling my myself after, artistically," said Justin. "We keep in touch through social media. I questioned [the organizer] about it when I first saw the flyer for submissions and he said there was no room left. Then he got back to me a week later and said, 'I can't get your stupid paintings out of my mind.' Wheeler said, deadpan. [If  the tone doesn't translate, this is actually a compliment.] "I was like, 'thanks man' and that's how they got into the show." 

As much as he'd like to go out and be part of the show in Portland, Wheeler said he's got too much to do. He and his wife and co-owner of the shop, Alison Wheeler, will be moving the shop from Main Street by Dunkin' Donuts on Oct. 1 to a private studio above Black Parrot.

Follow Siren Song Tattoo to see photos of the artwork once the show wraps.

I don't usually go out of my way to watch a film about cows. I'd had a vague understanding beforehand that the story would be about Maine dairy farmers going through hard times. But every industry in this state goes through hard times. In Maine, that's just the way life should be  uh... is.

Little did I know that my consumer apathy was exactly what had contributed to the heavy strain and strife among a group of Mainers' lives I was about to see up on the big screen.

Here's the back story: Betting The Farm is the story of a group of Maine dairy farmers who, dropped by their national milk company, are suddenly confronted with the real possibility of losing their farms. Banding together, the farmers launch their own milk company called MOOMilk (Maine's Own Organic Milk).  Farmers Vaughn Chase, Richard Lary, and Aaron Bell, along with their families, struggle to make ends meet as they get the company off the ground. But faced with slow sales and mounting bills, can the farmers hang together long enough for the gamble to pay off? Or will they be left worse off than before?

Here's the front story: I, and a number of my colleagues, had also recently gotten dropped by the original newspaper Village Soup, when it went dark last March. As a freelancer, I am used to it. It's happened a few times in my career. Like all industries in Maine, there is no guarantee of stability. But you don't whine about it. As Valerie Plame, a former CIA Operations Officer once said: "Life isn't fair. But somehow we always think it should be and are deeply disappointed when things don't pan out as hoped." It isn't fair, but don't let that be your excuse not to stop trying. Instead, use it as a starting point to make something better of your life.

So right away, the film's got me on this level.  They just got the old "Welcome to Pink Slipville. Population, You" announcement. Independent contractors, small business owners, construction workers, painters, builders, fishermen in Maine — we've all seen this story, too, particlarly in the last 10 years. Now... what are these farmers going to do about it?

This stoic group of Maine dairy farmers, led by the optimistic and ever-smiling CEO and Chairman, Bill Eldridge, start off with a plan to band together and forge their own path as an independent collective. They'll sell their milk to the Maine people. This is the American Dream!

So right away, the film's got me on this level. They just got the old 'Welcome to Pink Slipville. Population, You' announcement. Freelancers, construction workers, painters, builders, fishermen in Maine — we've all seen this story, too, particlarly in the last 10 years.

But if it were that easy, we'd all be happy, clueless millionaires. It's not that easy to get a company off the ground, especially if you've never done it before. That's why there is a built-in lesson to every setback, every conflict and every crushing blow. The dairy farmers have mounting bills, yet, they're still up at four every morning, milking cows, delivering on their product. Yet, the demand for so much product is still not there. And now we start to see the real human side to this story. The husband and wife, who've worked so well together like a well-oiled machine all these years, can't stop fighting. The old friends who've worked alongside one another for years are battling across a conference table over the parity of effort versus promised income. This American Dream starts to look like tattered streamers in the rain the day after the fair left town. The Bangor Hydro Electric disconnection notice sits on a corner of a kitchen table like a curled-up admission of shame. Good families who've always worked hard are having to appeal to the pity of creditors on the phone... and you can see it kills them. As it would kill anyone who is proud, who is works hard and who is loathe to rely on charity. Life is not fair.

Suddenly, it dawns on me. I am one of the reason these good people are hurting. Once again Camden International Film Festival does it. They bring a documentary to my town, entice me to watch a subject I'm not normally inclined to watch and plunge me into a world of people I'm connected to only by hundreds of miles away. I'm so frugal in the grocery store, always price-checking to keep that grocery bill low on a freelancer's salary. And here's this MOOMilk, that's been sitting there the whole time, while I reach for the less expensive brand. Every time I've made that choice, I've made that husband and wife fight; I've participated in the disconnection notice and I've sold out my own people.

So that's it then. Whatever it costs. MOOMilk will be in my grocery cart from now on. That is the power of documentary film. For even though life isn't fair, I'm still a sucker for The American Dream.

 Watch the trailer to see a glimpse of the documentary.

There are so many films and events going on this weekend, stay tuned for more on-the-fly coverage and post your own photos and comments to facebook.com/penbaypilot

To contact Kay Stephens, kaystephens@penbaypilot.com

For Camden Cash Mob’s first after-party at Fromviandoux Restauranton 20 Washington Street, bartender Mac McGaw designed the after-party’s signature cocktail. Cash is green and so naturally, the cocktail had to be green.

“And we also wanted something that was decidedly French, as well as refreshing,” he said.

The result was the Fromviandoux Flash. Start with two ounces of vodka, a half-ounce of Lillet Blanc, an ounce of cucumber juice, a half-ounce of lemon juice, and a half-ounce of simple syrup. Shake it over ice and strain into a tall glass.  Top with a little bit of Crème Yvette and a little bit of extra cucumber juice. Top with a couple sprigs of mint. McGaw said he chose the Lillet Blanc (a French aperitif wine with almost a medicinal tang) as one of the primary ingredients because it added a nice spice and the cucumber puree because it was in seasonal at the time. See our video to see how it’s properly made.

The result, when done, looks like upside down Bomb Pop (remember those from ice cream trucks?) At the first sip, the refreshing taste of pureed cucumber comes through first. If a York Peppermint Patty can make you feel like you’re sluicing down a wintry mountain on skies, then the Fromviandoux Flash feels like you’re kicking back on an inflatable tire in the middle of a cool, northern Maine river, breezing down at a delightful clip on a sunny day.

On the night that the cash mobbers came in, McGaw said he sold about 45 of these cocktails. He’d gone through so many, he said had to mix up another batch of the cocktail. They drank it all. “It was a good crowd,” he said. “They seemed to be enjoying themselves quite thoroughly.”

Asked if it will now remain on the menu, McGaw said, “Actually, it was just sort of a one-off. It fulfilled its purpose.”

And like a green flash it was gone…

It’s got to be really exciting, but a little weird, to see your first short film up on The Strand screen sitting next to the guy who is the subject of your documentary.  Oh and the guy is a filmmaker himself. No pressure there.

Seth Brown had had little sleep the morning we met. He’d been up late editing his short film, Deus Ex Machina scheduled to screen on Sunday, Sept. 30, at 12 p.m. at The Strand Theater in Rockland as part of Camden International Film Festival’s “Shorts Plus” series.

'This film is my cobbled together motorcycle.'

Brown, 25, is a refreshing departure from the hipster filmmaker. He’s a Maine boy, born and raised. Plaid shirt and jeans kind of kid.  When he speaks about his experiences, he’s humbled by what he doesn’t know. No matter how far he’s come, he’s still eager to learn. In one sentence, he described what this film has to offer. “It’s about an ex-filmmaker who builds an incredibly beautiful, but dangerous machine.”

The “ex-filmmaker,” is his mentor and Camden resident, Jack Churchill, who worked in the film industry for 40 years in New York. The “machine” is a steampunk BMW motorcycle that Churchill built last year and has ridden, though not as fast as its 90 m.p.h, limit. “I’m more afraid of this one than any other motorcycle I have,” Churchill said.  

Churchill’s retirement from film doesn’t mean he has left the industry altogether. A  film teacher at Camden Hills Regional High School for the last nine years, he first encountered Brown as a student in one of his classes.

“In class, usually what you get is a group of boys who want to film themselves and their friends doing jumps on skis or snowboards,” said Churchill. “They don’t prep it, they just cut it together and put some rap music or some dub step and call it good. And that was originally Seth’s motivation. But every year we see students with enormous potential and Seth was one of the first ones we looked at. And it’s not just potential –it’s passion. As a teacher, what you’ve got to do is get their interest in snowboarding to translate into interesting film. If you learn the craft, then anyone will be interested in seeing it because the product is so good.”

After studying film at Emerson College in Boston, Brown could have gone to New York or Los Angeles, where most aspiring filmmakers are encouraged to go. Instead, he chose to come back to Maine and make his own opportunities happen. Last year with two of his friends, Tyler Dunham and Corey MacLean, Brown dreamt up the idea of renovating an old school bus and taking it across the country as part of a social media/film experiment while doing good deeds for community service along the way.  Largely funded by individual donations while they drove to California, that phase of their lives was called Love, The Bus.

Brown said, “Every time I’d come back from college, Jack would help me with my film projects as an advisor. He helped us so much on the pitch video for Love, The Bus, always telling me, ‘fix this or fix that.’ The day he looked at it and had no critique for it, I was like, ‘Yes!’  I wouldn’t be where I am now without his help and advice.”

The concept behind Deus Ex Machina all started with a steampunk motorcycle that Churchill built. It took the better part of six months, and nearly 30 hours a week to build it…just because he’d seen a similar one at The Owls Head Transportation Museum the previous year and thought he could make one just as good. [See accompanying video of how it was made.] Now almost done [to be truly “done” Churchill said, he’d leave it out in the rain for another six months and let it rust up pretty nice] it rests under the spotlights at The Transportation Museum, its oxy acetylene torch welder handlebars and old leather horse saddle purposefully chapped and rugged. It is one smart-ass bike with way too much attitude. To a gear head (and fans of Mad Max movies) this bike is fascinating. And perhaps the story of building it is equally interesting to those who like to tinker around, spending their afternoons looking at old cars at The Transportation Museum. But to a harried stay-at-home mom of three toddlers, or a chess enthusiast with heliophobia, how interesting is it going to be? Would they really go out of their way to go out of their way to watch a 14-minute film about it?

That is, in fact, the struggle of every young documentary filmmaker--to pull a universal story out of specialized subject matter and entice the viewer to stick with it until the end.

That was Brown’s challenge from the beginning. In the last year, Brown has focused his efforts on more documentary projects while supporting himself as a part-time filmmaker for corporate videos.  All he had to do is see the machine Churchill was building to know this would be his next film project.  He had no idea what he’d so with the film once it was made—he just had to make it. “As usual, I learned so much more working around him, like using a crane for the first time,” said Brown.

Churchill added, “Seth and I have always had this mentor-mentee relationship, but in the filming of it, you can imagine how this went. He’d set up a shot and I’d say, ‘this shot would be much cooler if he pulled back the telephoto lens to show the silhouette.’ “

Brown jumped in. “One day he was ratting on me for using a 50 mm lens and I liked that lens. I kept debating with him about it. Finally, I said, I’m going to use the 50. This is my film. Back off.”

Churchill smiled.

“This is why I haven’t shown him the film, because I know he’ll have critique,” continued Brown. “It is about him, but it is my story about his story. This film is my cobbled together motorcycle.”

Churchill added, “The beauty of the experience for us is that what Seth went through creatively making this film was the same thing I went through creatively making the bike.”

Maybe it was because he was now fully awake and had warmed to his subject, Brown paused for a moment to really extract the meaning of what the two of them had just accomplished together. “What started out as a film about the construction of the bike, turned into a theme of what it means to build. Anyone who has ever constructed something, the creative process, the ups and downs, in order to see the final product through will recognize themselves in this film.”

Sounds as though Brown has found his universal story.

To check out CIFF’s short film schedule visit: camdenfilmfest.festivalgenius.com/2012/schedule/week

Though it was a drizzly day, that didn’t stop more than 150 people from heading out to the Camden Snow Bowl on Saturday, Sept. 22. The inaugural “Rocktoberfest” was rock concert to benefit Hope Elephants, a unique rehabilitation and educational facility for retired elephants located in Hope, Maine.

Out on the lawn, gourmet food trucks included 2 Smokin’ Guys, who served pulled pork and ribs, Big Bob’s Big Dogs, whose specialty was the half pound hotdog, and Taco Libre, a Midcoast vendor whose Mexican fare is fresh as it is authentic. Inside the Snow Bowl, Hope Orchards provided hot cider and Elephant Tracks (a.k.a. Elephant Ears) and Mainely Bartenders served up beer and wine.

Local musicians played constantly from 4 to 10 p.m headlined by Creatures of Habit, featuring guitarist Gary Clancy. Other guests included Josieda Lord, Tom Ulichny and Resa Randolph as more than 60 danced out under the covered back deck.

“All the teens were up on the hill side watching us dance and laughing,” said Jim Laurita, founder of Hope Elephants and one of the organizers behind the event. Laurita and Asian elephants Rosie (43) and her companion Opal (41) were the subjects of the article “Hope for Rosie” in Yankee Magazine’s September/October issue.

“It was a great first effort,” said Laurita. “We’ll definitely be back next year.”

The fundraiser took in more than $4,000, which is all earmarked for the operating expenses, the barn that will house the elephants and the costs of transporting the elephants to Maine.

It might be surprising to many who only know of Laurita as a veterinarian in Hope that in his youth, he was once an elephant trainer, treating and caring for elephants in India, at the Bronx Zoo, the Wildlife Safari in Oregon and at Cornell’s veterinary school.  His connection to Rosie goes back more than 30 years to when he worked for the circus which Rosie and Opal called home for most of their lives. 

“I have pictures of them when I’m taller than them,” he said.

Right now ,both elephants reside in Oklahoma where they have been retired from work at the circus and are kept at the circus’s winter quarters. Rosie and Opal have both sustained past injuries and suffer from nerve damage. Jim and his brother, Tom Laurita, have both been working steadily since February 2011 to find a way to bring elephants to Maine and give them superior care. With the community’s help with fundraising, the dream has turned into a reality. A heated barn with a double-steel fence and paddock will be their new home surrounded by serene acres. With the new barn’s state-of-the-art equipment, medicine and nutritional support, the elephants will receive high-end physical therapy to ease their suffering.  They will receive daily therapeutic ultrasound treatment, hydrotherapy, and low-impact exercise on the world’s first elephant water treadmill.

Laurita said the response to the Yankee article and the community anticipation to the arrival of the elephants has been wonderful.

“It’s difficult to explain in just a sentence what we’re doing," he said. "The goals of elephant rehabilitation and our over-arching goal of conservation is to help the species achieve sustainability, so I think that article really explained the nitty gritty of what we’re doing. It’s great to have a national magazine really get it."

According to Laurita, it’s only a matter of weeks when Rosie and Opal will arrive at their new home in Hope.

“As you can imagine, something like this is very complicated.” said Laurita.  “I’m going to go down to Oklahoma and come back with them, so I’m going to be very excited as we approach the Maine border.”

After a period of adjustment where the elephants will acclimate to their new home, their daily feeding and bathing schedule and human caretakers, Hope Elephants will open the doors to the public for educational presentations.

“Once we’re up and running, kids will be able to have this amazing educational experience that they can’t get anywhere else,” he said.

For more information about Rosie and Opal stay glued to the organization’s website and Facebook page. Honk for the elephants if you see a big truck with Oklahoma plates coming up Route 105!

Here’s Kierra, 15, with her side-swept bangs, backpack and flashing a metallic grin; she’s one of the rad ones. Why? Cause she unafraid to throw herself out there, whether it’s photographing weird stuff or camping out by Lily Lupine and Fern singing and playing ukulele.

“I like street art a lot,” she says of one of her photos that captured a graffiti depiction of Frank the Bunny from the movie, Donnie Darko, on a utility box behind The Cutting Edge.

“I was hanging out back here with my friends to go look at the water and I turned around and there it was," she said. "Donnie Darko is one of my favorite movies, so I think this is one of the cooler [examples] of graffiti in town.”

She took her film SLR camera, one of 10 old-school and digital cameras she has acquired.

'Some people ask me if I’m going back to England,' she says, (as if she’s stuck here and can’t get a fare back).

“So I zoomed in on it and I just wanted an angular shot.”

We snapped a shot of her with the graffiti behind her, but then a swarm of bees made it clear we weren’t welcome as Kierra hightailed it.

“I have a bee phobia!” she said, running ahead. “When I was little I sat on one.” As we segway onto the topic of fears, she admits, “Another one of my big fears is everyone is going to think I’m a tourist.”

What?

It makes a little more sense as she whips out her ukulele.

“A lot of people come up to me and ask me directions when I’m in the middle of playing,” she explains. “It’s a little annoying, but sometimes they’ll wait until I’ve finished playing.”

She goes on: “I can’t read music, so the fact that it has four strings makes it so I can play it a lot better,” she says.

She started only four months ago, unbelievably, because when she plays, she owns that instrument, her voice lilting somewhere between Edie Brickell and Carly Rae Jepsen. Now, busking on the street for fun, she averages about $50 in tips in about two hours of sitting and playing. Not too shabby.

The hand drawn sign propped in front of her when she plays says: Saving Money For England.

“Some people ask me if I’m going back to England,” she says, (as if she’s stuck here and can’t get a fare back). “And I’m like ‘No, no going to England…hopefully, not coming from…back to England, I don’t know,” she says dissolving into high-pitched giggles.  Slight confusion aside, she’s got a plan.

The ukulele tips, along with her paycheck and tips working at Zoot Coffee are all pooled into a fund to spend her junior year in England. She plans to take several general courses over there to supplement her U.S. coursework, but mostly, she just wants to travel.

“My dad’s English, so where I’d be going is right near where he was living when he was younger," she says. "He traveled everywhere and has been all around the world. I don’t know, I just need a new environment for a little while.”

When she talks, that dissolving-into-high-pitched giggles thing happens frequently, especially when she’s talking about things that might seem unabashedly innocent. Going through another one of her photos, she shows one she took at Planet Toys in Rockland.

“This one was done with one of my toy cameras with a fish eye lens," she says. "It's kind of dark, so you can't see it that well. There were toys everywhere like a big pile of them and I thought it looked really cool, like this emporium of happiness and childlike wonder.”

As she finishes that sentence, it sounds as though she is laughing through helium. It’s wicked cute and she doesn’t even know she’s doing it.

Keep with us for more on The Hail To The Rad Kids series, featuring teens in the Midcoast who you’re just going to want to get to know.

For International Book Week, the game goes like this:

Grab the closest book to you, turn to page 52, post the fifth sentence. Don't mention the title.

I posted these rules on a number of local bookstore Facebook pages including The Pen Bay Pilot's and got a lot of random sentences. Now it's time to make sense of those sentences and form a story within a story. I'm going to take three random sentences at a time from various locals and come up with a fictitious book title and a description of what it's about.

CAMDEN – The Camden International Film Festival is about to hit the town in a little over a week and one of the coolest parts of its website is an interactive feature known as Festival Genius. For those of you who are interested in seeing what’s playing before the schedule comes out, this Festival Genius givesa rundown of the 2012 CIFF films, allowing you to see thumbnail photos, one-liner descriptions of each film and even preview clips. With a savvy understanding of social media, CIFF knows that people will see certain films based on what their friends are also planning to see. Here, prescreening buzz is gold. Therefore, Festival Genius allows you to see the most anticipated short films by their highest rated category, how many people are viewing information on a film and how many have added it to their calendar.

Like a shopping cart, you can make your own list of films to see through the “My Festival” button. The “add to your calendar” feature is easily accessed by linking through your Facebook account or by signing up. You can then print your own customized schedule, or even share each individual film with a friend.

Check out this Genius feature and let us know at The Pen Bay Pilot's Facebook page, which film you are really looking forward to and why (1-2 sentences). We may feature you in a story.

Stay tuned for live coverage from The Pen Bay Pilot during Camden International Film Festival Weekend!

For more on the Camden International Film Festival visit: camdenfilmfest.org

To access the Festival Genius feature visit: camdenfilmfest.festivalgenius.com/2012/schedule/week

We've been itching all summer to write about the gourmet food trucks that have hit Midcoast Maine, but had to wait until the Penobscot Bay Pilot launched! Food trucks (and carts) may be all too familiar in other parts of the United States, but they've become a recent novelty here, where each of the following has their own style, flavor and territory. There is still time to sample the fare of all three of these foodie hubs on wheels before they close for the fall.  Something about two people working hard side by side with a passion for good food is worth the trip. No wait... they'll come to you — that's right!

Good ‘n’ You

Owners: Sarah Waldron and Seth Whited

Territory: Belfast, next to the public parking lot behind Rollies Bar and Grill on Main Street.

Food: Mexican, Middle Eastern, Tex-Mex, Vegetarian

Open til: End of September, early October. Reopening in May

Contact: facebook.com/GoodNYouStreetFood

Seth, who is from Unity, and Sarah, who is originally from Virginia, both live in the Belfast area and have worked in restaurants and bartended for a number of years. They were on vacation together in Jamaica when they began brainstorming what they wanted to do next with their careers. Thoughts turned naturally to he Jamaican Grill, a food truck that operated in the Midcoast, and which served authentic Jamaican fare. A dream was born.

It so happened when they came back that the Jamaican Grill was up for sale. They bought the truck in June 2011, and spent the next year working on it, rehabilitating old equipment, repainting, removing the old rear doors and building a service window, which it never had.  Next: the name.

“Mainers always ask ‘How are ya?'” Sarah said. And the response is usually ‘Good, 'n' you?’  One word almost. We wanted the business to have something to do with the place we live.”

With support from the local community and the intent to offer healthy, locally-sourced street food, they’ve had a successful summer. They offer an eclectic array of cuisine, but their best sellers are simmered pulled pork tacos in handmade corn tortillas; falafel, a traditional Middle Eastern sandwich; and crispy tostadas. Their tostadas might be topped with garlic mashed potatoes, sautéed broccoli, bacon and cheese, or pesto, fresh tomato, goat cheese and a balsamic reduction, to name a few.  

Every day they put out a specials board featuring many gluten-free items, including fried green tomatoes, Jalapeno poppers filled with some novel stuffings, such as cheese, pineapple and spicy chilis, or pepperoni pizza. The pair have also started to offer a variety of soups now that autumn is on the way. They had a long productive summer, but will close down around October, due in part to the fact that the truck's utilities are not winterized; but more importantly, Sarah said: “Because all of our produce is local and I don’t want to change that. For example cilantro is such a huge part of my menu that I won’t be able to get it locally past a certain season."

She said next year they plan to be open a little longer, from May to November. See their Facebook page for hours and locations.

Taco Libre Truck

Owners: Jessica Neves Graham and Becky Neves

Territory: Camden, Rockport, Rockland and Hope (Summer 2012)

Food: Traditional Mexican-inspired

Open til: Season has ended, but they are still doing private parties and special events

Contact: facebook.com/TacoLibreTruck

Jessica and Becky are sisters who have both cooked and worked in catering for a number of years in the Midcoast. They had already decided they were going to venture out together and create the kind of Mexican food they so craved, but could rarely find in the Midcoast, when the idea of taking the show on the road, so to speak, occurred while searching Craigslist last year.

“Finding the food truck was serendipitous,” said Jessica, who originally thought they might open a physical location. “We just stumbled upon it.”

Once purchased, the food truck’s repairs took a number of months. Simultaneously while giving it a facelift , the sisters  worked on the branding. They christened the truck and the business “Taco Libre,” which was inspired by the Jack Black movie, Nacho Libre.

“Libre means to ‘liberate’,” said Jessica. “We fell in love with the idea of a taco liberation in the Midcoast by taking our truck out and delivering tacos all over.”

Jessica and Becky grew up in Washington, D.C., and moved to Maine in 1988 with their family. After both leaving again for high school, college and various travels, they both eventually moved back to settle down in the Midcoast. They took their knowledge of social media branding and experience with New York and San Francisco street food to create a niche that is still very new to the Midcoast.

Taco Libre’s menu consists mostly of tacos, burritos and sides with fresh, locally-sourced ingredients and homemade salsas. Jessica said that people have liked everything on the menu evenly.

“I think the biggest success is that people have tried things they might have never tried before like the vegetarian taco,” she said.

A review from the food blog FromAway.com describes this particular dish in more detail: “The surprise standout was the taco verdura, a mash of potato and seasonal vegetables. Spiked with a ton of cumin, the overall effect was that of a giant Indian samosa, in taco form.”

Now mostly closed for the season with the exception of private parties and special events, (for example, the upcoming Rocktoberfest in Hope on Sept. 22, in which they will be serving food 4 – 10 p.m. at the Snow Bowl), the sisters plan to reopen in the spring and adding another day to the schedule. See their Facebook page for contact information.

Matt and Reena's Italian street food cart

Owners: Matt Maniscalco and Reena Nemirovsky

Territory: Rockland and Damaricotta farmer’s markets

Food: Italian, seafood, vegetarian

Open til: end of October; re-opening again in April.

Contact: facebook.com Matt-and-Reenas-Italian-street-food-cart

Matt and Reena were working at restaurants and living in New York City when they had an epiphany to make a total life overhaul, move to Maine and start a food cart business.

“We just wanted to go somewhere on the ocean and start something not a whole lot of people were already doing,” said Matt.

Unlike the other self-contained two food trucks in this article, Matt and Reena’s rig is a covered food cart that they trail behind their car. They have been active this summer at the Maine, Boats, Homes & Harbors weekend show, the Friday Art Walk nights in Rockland and at the farmer’s markets. They offer Italian street food, the kind you’re going to get in Italy, like panelle, which is a Sicilian chickpea savory fritter served on a bulkie roll. They also make farinata, a thin savory pancake which rolls up with roasted tomatoes and cheese or caramelized onions and arugula.  They buy locally-sourced ingredients as much as they can from farmer’s markets such as basil for pesto from the Rockland farmer’s market, and cheese from Appleton Creamery.

Maniscalco said: “I learned to cook Italian from my mama. My mom always made polenta with the roasted tomatoes and caramelized onions. I went to culinary school, the C.I.A. in New York, and even though I learned all the fancy French stuff, my heart was in the rustic street food of Italy. Inexpensive, made with a lot of soul — that kind of food.” ”

He said it was challenging in the beginning of the summer to get people to try something new like panelle, but that a number of people in the area who have traveled extensively, began to flock to the cart. Suddenly, they had a following. For the winter, they will take a trip to Italy to get some new ideas. Next year they’re going to try to find a more permanent spot, and are aiming for Rockland, which is where they’ve found the most customers.  See their Facebook page for hours and locations.

If you’re old enough to remember MTV videos with the kind of breakdancing moves like the Rubber Band and head spins on top of an old flattened out cardboard box on the street, then yes, you can consider yourself old-school.

Those sweet dance moves may have disappeared from the over-produced slick music videos of today, but they’re very much alive and taught to younger generations, thanks to the men and women who have dedicated themselves to the art form.

In late August, Kea Tesseyman, owner of Kinetic Energy Alive, one of the hippest dance studios in the Midcoast, brought a crew of up from Boston — legends and pros in the art of popping, krumping, waacking and breaking (so tempted to throw in an arthritic old person joke here, but won’t) to teach a half-day series of dance workshops at her brand new studio in the Knox Mill, behind 40 Paper in Camden.

For four hours, guest instructors, who prefer to go by their dance names, included Shallow, who taught the popping class; Stackz, who taught krumping; Yo-Yo, who taught waacking; and Chickey, who taught breaking. To see a mini video of how each of these styles are performed, as well as a bit of their historical origins, check out each video.

The studio floor scorched with breakdancing moves as students learned the six-step move, the back one-handed walk over and various freezes.

For Tesseyman, the studio's opening took her full-circle. It all started 2003, when her son was a year old and Tesseyman was working three jobs. She knew she needed at least one night a week off to do what she loved. So, with her mother’s help, she’d get in her car at 9 p.m. and drive to Portland to train with dance instructor Bruce Tracey, a.k.a. “Peeter Parkker," for an 11 p.m. breaking session. “The first lesson was tough and no one made it easy,” she said.  “I needed something different, though I hadn't quite found my niche.”

The following year, Tracey introduced her to dance legends named Megatron and Shallow in Boston.  

“I walked through the doors of this run-down but still vibrant studio in Cambridge, Mass.,” she said. “And this enormous and loud, but wonderful, kind man [named Megatron] says: ‘Yo — what's up girl!? Welcome to the family.’ ”

With her new dance “family,” she said she learned to train, warm up, work on foundation, freestyle and compete in house “battles” [a term for a dance-off between two dancers exhibiting their skills]. The dedication and the long commute eventually paid off, enhancing her skill set, focus, range of technique and stamina. The support and encouragement she got from the Boston dance crew immeasurably helped her.

“The more I learned the truth of this dance world that embraced me — a single mom, white girl from Maine with ‘too much energy’ and a dream others called silly, the more I understood what we are all fighting for, and how what we battle for on the dance floor is no different than what we battle for in our lives,” she said.

As Tesseyman’s passion for street dance took hold, she became aware of how completely foreign it was to most of Maine’s dance studios.

“I became so miserable with how I was supposed to conform and not grow — or grow, but only a certain way,” she said. “Though I had great experiences at the different studios I’d worked with, I needed to move on and grow a different way."

Megatron taught her to embrace the fear.

“Instead of letting it own me, I made the decision to start Kinetic Energy Alive knowing very well I could fail, but also that I could succeed,” she said.

For the dance studio’s opening workshop, she said she was proud to “bring up the very people who have inspired me, taught, trained, and danced alongside me, pushed, helped and loved me — just for me.”

Her aim is to be the conduit for street dance and funk styles more common to urban settings and expose the skills and culture to Maine kids and adults.

More than 20 students of all ages crammed into the studio for Kinetic Energy Alive’s August 18 Dance Workshop. From the instructors' perspective, the overall vibe was: “whatever is going on in the music is what you display in your movement.” None of the instructors were looking for precise copying of their moves; they wanted the kids and adults to learn the basics and make each of the styles their own.

Shallow, a student of hip hop styles for 30 years, taught the finer points of popping for the first workshop, which required precise hand, arms, neck and hip movements, something the majority of the class picked up on right away. Next, Stackz relayed the art of krumping in his workshop, which draws from an internal energy. Dancers almost seemed to inhabit a character as they stomped and carved the air with their arms. Yo-Yo, the workshop’s only female instructor, inhabited her waacking workshop with more of a flowing, feminine energy, stemming from the dance’s androgynous roots from the disco era. Finally, Chickey, who runs his own dance workshops in Lowell, Mass., kicked off the breaking workshop with the classic toprock move, asking everyone to create their own variation.  The studio floor scorched with breaking moves as students learned the six-step move, the back one-handed walk over and various freezes.

Vicki Wellner, a current Kinetic Energy Alive student who participated in three of the four workshops, said she liked the technical aspects of the popping class the most.

“I learned some of the mechanics of it, then put some style to it,” she said. “All of the instructors obviously had talent, experience and skill. I love to dance, but that doesn’t mean I’m automatically a skilled dancer. I wanted to be able to enjoy it and learn without judgment and embarrassment. I was a little worried about feeling ridiculous, but they never made us feel that way. They were warm and sharing. I appreciated that they taught us a few things and added some foundation to the dance before asking us to add style on top.”

“It’s all about humility and respect,” Tesseyman told her students. “You treat the dance and the dancers with respect, you’ll get it back in return.”

The workshop ended up with a cypher in which students and instructors formed a circle and each person got a chance to perform in the center for a few moments.  [See our “Cypher” short video to see how it all turned out.]

Kinetic Energy Alive starts a new season of dance classes, including lyrical/contemporary, exercise and interpretive fusions on Sept. 10 and will run a 25-week season to end with a Company Show, in March 2013. For more details about classes visit kineticenergyalive.com

It's not often you get to see a lineup of fierce, sassy, hip-shaking confident drag queens in our fair towns. It's rarer still that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered teens in the Midcoast get such visible support in the form of an all-ages, all-gender, all-orientations community event.

Dreamed up and organized by Julia McClure, owner of Sweets and Meats in Rockland, the inaugural Drag Show’s performers came as far as New York, New Hampshire and Maine. They drove all night specifically to perform at The Pearl in Rockland on Aug. 19 as a fundraiser for the teens of the Rockland group Out! As I Want To Be. Sponsored by Rheal Day Spa, Limerock Inn, The Pearl, Tradewinds, and Michael Good, the show started with an outside auction in the afternoon, leading up to dinner and a show. As the gurls strut down the pier prior to the show, the message was loud and clear to the teens: "We are HERE for you."

Out! As I Want To Be OUT! (outmaine.org) is an organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered, and queer young people, ages 14 to 22, and their friends, from Midcoast Maine and its offshore islands. It seeks to provide affirmation of young people in their quest for identity and support for young people who may feel isolated and alienated as they struggle to understand and accept their sexuality.

'Get your act together girl, we're going to Rockland.'

While teens under 18 were not permitted to attend the show, that didn't matter to some of the younger kids.

"I love Out!," said Valerie, a 15 year-old. "I can't go in, but I got a ride just to be here because I love that this is happening. I think this is about awesome drag queens entertaining the crowd, just getting them riled up and bringing the party. Giving a good time, giving a good show. This is fun! It shows that we're a fun organization, that we are accepting of people."

Another OUT! teen member, Tyler, who donated his artwork to the auction said: "I donated my art because I love Out! As I Want To Be. It's a fabulous place for people to go and feel comfortable to be themselves. While drawing, I feel comfortable doing what I'm good at, so I figured I'd donate this [Adam Lambert] piece to them. It was actually for school project last year. I had to draw my idol, and well, he is my idol."

Unlike Valerie, Tyler had seen two drag shows in his life and was looking forward to seeing the show.

"I'm just expecting the raunchiest fun," he said, laughing.

The Drag Show featured four hilarious acts hosted by performer Isis Vermouth, who does shows mostly in Albany, N.Y. This wasn't some wink-and-a-nod 1950s song and dance act by the incomparable Edie, another drag performer who has entertained the Midcoast in recent years. No, this was Rated R, honeys. When one act featured a performer sashaying about with a blow-up plastic penis hat and another act simulated an onstage birth with a plastic baby doll as part of the comedy, this was clearly a show for people who weren’t easily offended.

Despite the shock value, the show felt inclusive and played well to a packed audience.  Valencia! from Manchester, N.H., holding a martini after her act, said: "I am a drag super-stahhhhh... in my own little community. Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest inspired my act."

Asked how Maine's audience stacked up to her previous acts in New Hampshire, she said: "Actually, tonight's audience was really great. I'm surprised that they dug what I did. I thought the crowd was going to be like 'awwww what the...' but it was great."

Joey Star, the only Mainer of the drag queen performers, said: "I met a couple of the other performers who are here tonight. We all stay in touch by email or Facebook. And at 2:30 a.m. last night, they called me and said, 'Get your act together girl, we're going to Rockland.' So in 20 minutes, I packed my bags, my wigs, my outfits and at 3 a.m., they picked me up. So here we are."

Originally from Portland, Joey said she had never actually been to Rockland before.

"It's very peaceful, very homey," she said. "I've also performed in Bangor, but I love doing things in Maine, because I feel that Maine doesn't get enough LGBT exposure."

Like Valencia!, Joey was pleased with the audience's response at The Pearl.

"This event was amazing," she said. "The audience was responsive and engaged. I like to inspire people. The people I reach are very important to me. I would be nothing without them."

Asked how the show affected the teens they were here to support, she said: "I understand what they're going through. I was 16 once. Overweight. I dropped out of high school because I was being bullied. I know it's a struggle. I wanted to be here tonight, because I want them to be confident in who they are. I know who I am. I'm very confident who I am. I'm Joey Star; I'm a drag queen, makeup artist, singer, song writer. You can say whatever you want about me."

To teenagers struggling with identity, drag queens are like warriors in bustiers. They are grown ups who’ve suffered the same slings and arrows and weathered the same emotional injuries, but now, they are wearing their wigs, heels and jeggings in public with a fierce sense of self. Too often, LGBT kids are the ones who are the most bullied, harassed, picked on and misunderstood, particularly in small towns. So for a LGBT teen, who daily has to find the courage to go to school or to even walk around alone, there nothing more inspiring to see a drag show performer elicit cheers and smiles from an audience. The drag performer is the one in control here. If there is going to be a gender-bending perception from the audience, the drag performer is going to “own” it, not be at the mercy of it. This is one show the kids will never forget.

McClure and Out! As I Want To Be are talking about potentially bringing back the Drag Show in the spring. Stay tuned and get your dollar bills ready.

Cash Mob: A gathering similar to a flash mob organized through social media, where a group meets near a small business and spends about $20 each. The location is kept a secret until the last minute, although clues are given out in advance and the business is usually surprised. The atmosphere is usually very silly and fun. –Urban Dictionary

This summer, cash mobs organized by various groups have been springing up all over the Midcoast.

Nancy Dell didn’t know she was spearheading a trend when she first organized what she termed a Gratitude Party at one of her favorite Midcoast bookstores, hello hello books.

“One night, I woke up with a clear and simple idea of how to show my appreciation to our local businesses for staying open year-round and enhancing our lives here on the Midcoast,” said Dell.

Last March, she gathered a bunch of her friends, each with the intent to spend $20 in 20 minutes — and departing from the flash mob model — politely inquired first if they could all go to the store together and buy a boatload of books.

Dell’s Gratitude Party netted hello hello more than $300 in sales that night. Owner Lacy Simons was naturally thrilled. “Not only was Nancy kind enough to dream it up and organize it, she was savvy enough to know that a heads-up would probably be a great help to me, organizationally, since the shop is small, and at that point, I was still my only employee,” said Simons.

Apart from loose private groups like Dell's, established cash mob organizations are now growing all over Maine. The first Camden cash mob was started in July, followed by another one in Rockland.

The first Cash Mob Rockland developed out of a community initiative organized by ourmidcoast.com founder Gordon Orme, who is dedicated to showcasing and promoting locally-owned independent businesses. "Cash mobs have spread across the country in recent months, as an effective and fun way to help concentrate shopping and spending within the local community, versus buying from national chains that siphon dollars out of the local economy and have no vested interest in the communities where they do business," said Orme. "More and more people are realizing the necessity, even the urgency, in supporting our community-based businesses, keeping as many of our dollars re-circulating locally, nurturing our local economy and helping to create worthwhile jobs.”

With up to nearly 75 members, Cash Mob Rockland implemented an online voting process through cashmob.com enabling the community to choose which downtown Rockland business would be "mobbed." Once again, hello hello books found itself the recipient, having received the majority of online votes. Although Simons was alerted the day before the event, none of the participants knew exactly where they'd be going when they gathered on August 30.  "We didn't publish the results of the online voting, so it was a surprise, although most people had a pretty good idea," said Orme. For their first outing, Orme said approximately 35 people mobbed the book store in under an hour.

“Seeing the door open and all these people come in at once was pretty fantastic,” said Simons.  “It was hectic, for sure. Some folks wanted recommendations; some knew exactly what they wanted; some wandered and stumbled upon things they didn't know they were looking for -- all of which is par for the course in a bookstore, but not usually in a clump with everyone checking out at the same time!” As far as sales went, she said, "It was our best day of business this year!”

Earlier in August, Cash Mob Camden chose the Owl & Turtle Bookshop for their inaugural event. Established by Brian S. Hodges, development director for the town of Camden,  Cash Mob Camden has grown to 240 people and counting.  Thirty-five people showed up to their inaugural outing with up to $20 each.

"We picked Owl & Turtle because they'd just moved from a very visible location in Camden to a less visible one [downtown] for economic reasons and they had been a longstanding part of the community," said Hodges. "It was well-received, a nice little beehive of activity in there." 

Like Dell and Orme, Hodges chose to let the bookshop owners know ahead of time what they were planning in order to be sensitive to their support staff. However, adhering to the spontaneity of the cash mob model, Hodges also didn't tell the participants where they'd be going. As for the $20 minimum, Hodges said that anyone can participate in a cash mob, even if with a few dollars.

"We encourage $20, but certainly the greater good is to get the mas population coming in with whatever they have," he said.

Afterwards, Cash Mob Camden spread the wealth and goodwill at an after-party at Fromviandoux, a new restaurant in Zaddik's old location on Washington Street with a specialty cocktail for the mobbers. Also getting into the collaborative spirit, Camden Cone the ice cream store next to Owl & Turtle Bookshop's new location, offered the mobbers another incentive: free toppings on any ice cream they purchased.

"We had such great energy from this one, we're looking at mid- to late-September for the next one," said Hodges.

Keeping with the after-party formula, Cash Mob Rockland also held an after-mob celebration at Rock City Cafe, where owner, Suzanne Ward, created a specially-priced "Mob Mojito" as well as other snacks. Cash Mob Rockland announced their next "mobbing" will happen on Thursday, September 27. In addition to their Cash Mob 10% Bonus, they will be having a drawing at the after-mob celebration for prizes, thanks to the enthusiastic support of local businesses.

To follow Cash Mob Camden visit: facebook.com/CashMobCamden

To follow Cash Mob Rockland visit: facebook.com/CashMob.ourMidCoast?ref=ts