“Downtown, Up River: Bangor in the 1970s,” my debut publication with Islandport Press, is now available wherever books are sold. Featuring hundreds of archival photos from the late 1960s until the early 1980s, the book details how Bangor, Maine changed in the years of urban renewal, big-box stores and nationwide social upheaval — transforming the landscape of a small Maine city.
I write Hard Telling Not Knowing, a weekly column about Maine history and culture, published each Tuesday in the Bangor Daily News. I also co-write a weekly newsletter, The B-Side, about news, events and life in the greater Bangor area, which goes out every Friday morning, and BDN Back Then, a weekly deep dive into Maine history through the pages of the BDN archive.
Recent work
A Maine cult leader sailed the world as his followers died of scurvy (January 2024, Bangor Daily News)
Are Mainers prudes when it comes to sex - or have we lightened up? (October 2023, Bangor Daily News)
Many Americans don’t think Maine is actually a state (August 2023, Bangor Daily News)
This ‘horrible’ parade is a nearly forgotten New England tradition (May 2023, Bangor Daily News)
How a Depression-era ‘Hooverville’ turned into UMaine’s hippie paradise (April 2023, Bangor Daily News)
Why fewer people these days have Maine accents (November 2022, Bangor Daily News)
Stephen King’s new novel ‘Fairy Tale’ is his best work in more than a decade (September 2022, Bangor Daily News)
How Pat’s Pizza developed its unique regional pizza style (September 2022, Bangor Daily News
This retired eastern Maine UPS driver is trying his hand at standup comedy (June 2022, Bangor Daily News)
A plucky Maine girl tried to unite the U.S. and Russia before nuclear bombs consumed the world (March 2022, Bangor Daily News)
Maine’s 1st openly trans person elected to office wants to keep Passamaquoddy culture ‘front and center’ (September 2020, Bangor Daily News)