Anywhere else I probably wouldn't have served on the planning board, become an EMT, started leading Pilates classes or opened a bakery.

“The merchant marines is more about asking than telling,” says Capt. Mike Flanagan.

Nancy Prisk, a long-time seasonal resident who has been living fulltime in Southport since 2007, saw the opportunity to secure public use of the house to serve social and educational needs. Last year Prisk formed Land for Southport’s Future as a nonprofit, and is working to raise the $849,000 the town hopes to earn from the sale.

In the Arctic, islanders are being forced to abandon the land where they’ve lived for generations, because eroding coastlines and rising sea levels have made their homes uninhabitable. As permafrost melts and the ice retreats, they are losing the fishing and hunting on which their livelihood depends.

An online and print survey of Maine's island residents on ticks has garnered more than 500 responses, but more data is being sought.

“[A] working island survives only if successive generations of families are able to create a vibrant family life on the island.”

Merasi are not permitted to eat with members of other castes, but here they shared a lunch table with me and a few students.

Every step I take on this island and in Maine is new and offers something original to learn...

“I would really rather feel bad in Maine than feel good any where else.”

—E.B. White