Echoes No. 88 hits newsstands
Biathletes who train at the Maine Winter Sports Center in Aroostook County achieve international recognition, but skiing is only part of their learning experience. The spring edition of Echoes magazine honors the 10th anniversary of MWSC with an article on the evolution of the center and personal accounts of the kinds of life lessons that enrich the experiences of young athletes. MWSC nurtures local skiers as well as those from around the nation and Echoes showcases two of them: Grace Boutot of Fort Kent and Russell Currier of Stockholm.
Released March 24th, Echoes No. 88 also features the World Acadian Congress that will draw thousands of Francophones to the St. John Valley in 2014. In “Hosting the World,” Maine WAC leaders describe how people from northern Maine, northwestern New Brunswick and southeastern Quebec collaborated to produce the winning application to host the congress – the first to span an international border. Maine delegation members Jason Parent of Presque Isle, Lise Pelletier and Louise Martin of Fort Kent share enthusiasm for the event’s potential to heighten awareness of Acadian culture on both sides of the St. John River.
The Valley is also represented in two life stories by natives of Lille. In the second in a series of articles, Roger Parent of South Bend, Ind., relates the moral, spiritual and intellectual gifts he received from his parents growing up in Lille.
“From my mother I learned to treasure my French Acadian culture and language,” Parent writes in his memoir. He credits his father for affecting his life daily with his “honesty, integrity, his quest for perfection, his ability to see the whole at the outset of a complicated project and always giving more that what was asked.”
Another Lille native turns an anecdote from childhood into a short essay on responsibility. “I knew exactly what I should be doing, but I panicked,” recalls Lillian Rourke of Manchester, of the day she watched her little brother’s arm slide between the rollers of the wringer washer.
Presque Isle judge Julian Turner is remembered in an article by his childhood friend, the Rev. Robert Haldane of Malden, Mass., and Jack Pasqual of San Antonio, Texas, recreates the sights, sounds and smells of the Northern Maine Fair back when his father operated a hot dog stand called “John’s Busy Bee.”
With a front cover photo titled “Newbud” by Kathy Lena of Orono, and moose peering out of the back cover photo by Stephen Leighton of Fort Fairfield, Echoes 88 balances stories from the past with those present-day examples of the quality of community found in rural places like northern Maine. Comments by musician Travis Cyr of Van Buren echo those of John Dombek, formerly of Houlton, as they describe the joys of playing in a band.
Jenny Radsma details how she learned the art of crossing the U.S.-Canada border after moving to Fort Kent from Alberta. Anyone who has attended high school reunion will appreciate the reflections of Bruce Valley in an essay titled “Reunion.”
Glenna Johnson Smith remembers the mysteries surrounding meetings of the Masons and the Grange when she was a child, in her regular column “Old County Woman.” And in a new column titled “From the Cabin,” Lucy Leaf of Surry takes readers on her journey toward sustainable living, beginning with a summary of what she has learned about efficient wood-burning stoves.
Published quarterly in Caribou and printed at PrintWorks in Presque Isle, Echoes is dedicated to rediscovering community, suggesting that knowledge of rural experiences can help us live in modern society. The 48-page journal is available on northern Maine newsstands and by subscription. Additional information is available at echoesofmaine.com.
