On Nov 16, members of the Socialist/Marxist party and the University of Maine College Republicans held a debate in room 101 of Neville Hall. Stephanie Lawrence, secretary of the UMaine College Republicans mediated.

The debate focused on two questions: “Were the 20th century experiments in Socialism successful?” and “Is a Socialist revolution necessary or desirable today?” The format allowed each team a five minute openings, three three-minute rebuttals and five minute closers. Both teams also took questions at the end.

Rueben Dendinger, an English graduate student, began the Socialists’ five minute opener by discussing former Chilean President Salvador Allende as an example of a democratically elected Socialist. Dendinger claimed the United States tried to undermine his presidency because it threatened U.S. capitalist interests.

The U.S. government has admitted to investing money to undermine Allende’s campaigns, but it is uncertain whether they supported the coup that overthrew him. Dendinger said similar practices of interference in South America were common of the U.S. during the Cold War era.

Dendinger admitted that the estimates of people who died due to communism since 1917 are near 94 million, but that many have died from capitalism as well.

Dendinger also claimed that socialism in Cuba has helped further gender and racial equality. For these reasons, Dendinger said socialism has been both successful and unsuccessful, and today a socialist revolution is necessary.

Matt Miller, a political science student, opened for the College Republicans. Miller cited examples such as the Mao Zedong genocide of tens of millions of Chinese people, USSR abuses of Ukraine, Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party and Pol Pot’s genocide as examples of socialism’s failures.

“Socialism is the suicide of nations, history has shown,” Miller said.

Miller also claimed that the proletariat, who socialism claims to be a champion for, voted for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

In the Socialists’ first rebuttal Joe Perry, a physics student, responded to the notion of the Nazi party as a Socialist party with scepticism. Perry claimed that dictatorships, like that of the Nazi party, adopt the title “socialism” to persuade workers.

Dendinger used a portion of the rebuttal to claim that the Nazi party was bankrolled by U.S. business. Dendinger also stated that he believes wealthy people voted for Trump, but the proletariat supported Senator Bernie Sanders for President.

During the Republicans’ rebuttal Miller likened the politics of Sanders to those of Hitler, claiming that Hitler supported free education and healthcare.

“I think a Bernie Sanders supporter would get along with Adolf Hitler,” Miller said. “He was a big government guy.”

Sean Foley, a political science student for the College Republicans, focused on the Socialist team’s opener. Foley said Allende was a rare example of a democratically-elected socialist.

Foley and Miller called socialist literature outdated and unnecessary in today’s society and claimed that reading it has not led to successful socialism.

“Whenever anyone tells you not to read, that’s a red flag,” Dendinger responded.

Dendinger also addressed the “big government” parallel, which Miller drew between the Nazi party and socialism. Dendinger claimed that in real Socialism the workers have control, not the government.

The third rebuttals for both teams became partly repetitive, with both teams reinforcing points they made earlier in the debate. Miller and Connor Missett, a mechanical engineering student, described socialism as too rigid, relying on the same age-old texts, with less adaptability than capitalism. Dendinger and Perry cited Cuba’s high literacy and low homelessness and compared it to the U.S., where houses sit empty while people are homeless.

Foley focused on individual rights. He believes that Capitalism gives people control over which occupation they work, and allows social mobility.

“It [socialism] imposes itself in an imperialist way, which they try to push on us,” Foley said.

Foley went on to close for the group, stating that socialism has failed and why he believes so. Foley claimed that a class system and beneficial conditions for elites were present in socialist experiments of the 20th century.

Perry began the Socialists’ closer by listing off the republican team’s statements which he found detestable, including sympathizing with the ruling class during the Spanish Revolution, comparing Sanders to Hitler, and calling Trump a “great philosopher.”

After the debate, the crowd was invited to question both teams. Questions ranged from inquiries about the debater’s moral standings on wage inequality, to personal freedom concerns, to freedom of speech.

One spectator raised questions about Miller’s Claims that 20 million people were killed in Lenin’s “Gulag” or a system of forced labor camps. The spectator stated that only 14 million people lived in the Ukraine during this time, and that only one million were sentenced to death, claiming that he was citing “Official Sources.”

“I had 20 million in my head before I started researching for the debate,” Miller said, explaining that 20 million was a figure he had heard his whole life.

Miller said he would check the man’s source and reject the 20 million figure as anti-socialist propaganda if the source seemed official.

A spectator asked the communist team how they would keep freedom of speech alive, when their favorite example of socialism, Cuba, restricts public debates. Dendinger claimed that it was “almost by necessity” that Cuba limited free speech, but overall supported free speech.

“If the approach is bottom up, free speech is part of it from the beginning,” Dendinger said.

The first public meeting for planning the Educational and General budget for fiscal year 2019 was held in 137 Bennett Hall on Thursday, Nov 9. Decisions that have been finalized include increased tuition and fees, the state appropriation allocations and a university-shared services increase.

A video of the meeting and a copy of the slideshow can be found on the President’s website.

The budget is in its early stage so no numbers were presented, but President Susan Hunter, Provost Jeffrey Hecker and Chief Business Officer Claire Strickland spoke about some of the areas where funding will be earned and invested.

Last year the budget was the closest to being balanced in the last five years, with a roughly $760,000 deficit.

“We’re in good fiscal shape… there are absolutely no major problems,” Hunter said.

The budget will continue to be built through December based on input from deans, vice presidents and directors from various departments. The official numbers will be input into MaineStreet by January, according to the timeline shown at the meeting.

The budget is slated for review by the Finance, Facilities and Technology Committee sometime in January or February. The remainder of the UMaine board of trustees will review the budget in March.

The school relies heavily on the $83.8 million unrestricted state appropriation, which makes up 31.4 percent of the budget. According to Hunter, there is a nationwide trend of this unrestricted state appropriation shrinking, and that it used to make up roughly two-thirds of the budget.

Hunter thanked the auxiliary services department for earning the school $3.3 million in revenue from various enterprises. She also mentioned the athletics department, which earned the school $4.7 million; the Department of Industrial Cooperation, which made $2.1 million and the UMaine Cooperation Extension, which made $1.7 million.

Hecker took the stage to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for UMaine. He first began by discussing statistics such as the 3.1 percent increase in the number of credit hours being offered. Hecker also said there has been a 20.5 percent decline in in-state students and a 110 percent increase in out-of-state students.

Hecker also mentioned an expected 18 percent drop in high school graduates in Maine by 2032, a prospect that threatens the school’s recent push for enrollment.

“It’s nearly 60 percent of our budget, everything that we do here is dependent on and increasingly dependent on, you know, successful revenue driven by tuition and fees,” Hecker said.

This year UMaine welcomed its largest incoming class, missing the administration’s goal by just one student.

The UMaine Administration also plans to become more selective in accepting students to high demand fields. For now, the high demand fields are nursing and engineering. Hecker explained that this was an effort to improve UMaine’s retention.

“We’re looking at other high demand programs, I had a conversation with Dean Manev about business. We’re going to be exploring whether or not we want to start instituting, or inching up our acceptance criteria into business,” Hecker said.

In order to manage retention, the administration has phased out remediation programs such as the Onward Program, which helped students who have been out of high school for many years regain interest in pursuing college.

“It was not an easy decision to make. We took the resources… and we moved them into supporting students more broadly, and what we’ve done is then direct those students to the University of Maine Augusta…their mission is more aligned with those students’ needs,” Hecker said.

The administration also ended the Foundations program this year. This program accepted students slightly below the standard for attending UMaine and gave them support to succeed at UMaine.

After the budget presentation, President Hunter announced that a new budget system would be used for fiscal year 2020. The University of Maine System has required that UMaine universities must build their budget based on comparisons to peer institutions across the country.

In order to take on this challenge, UMaine hired a data company, Hanover, to create a tool comparing UMaine to other schools around the country based on 38 variables. A demonstration of the tool was given after the announcement.

On Thursday, Nov. 9 the Socialist and Marxist Studies Series held a lecture titled, “The Election of Trump: One Year Later,” in the Bangor room in the Memorial Union.

The lecturers were Doug Allen, a University of Maine professor of philosophy, Kimberly Hammill of the Bangor Racial and Economic Justice Coalition and Maia Dendinger, the statewide officer for the Socialist Party of Maine.

Hammill began by telling two stories of confrontation in Maine since the 2016 election. In one case, a fight broke out between a protester and a counter-protester. Hammill claimed that the aggressor was a white male wearing coded language or “dog whistles,” such as wearing the Confederate flag and identifying as a “rebel.”

Another incident occurred where a white man shouted racially charged statements at two Indian women in a parking lot.

“The women did not call the police because this happens to them all the time,” Hammill said.

Hammill went on to cite statistics showing that discriminatory and racially motivated attacks have increased, but expressed frustration that the data had not been measured in Maine.

“What stands out to me is that these men felt so emboldened,” Hammill said.

Dendinger spoke after Hammill, focusing mostly on the systemic issues that have led to discrimination today. According to Dendinger, these issues weren’t created by Trump, but by “an agenda that’s shared by the entire political and economic elite.”

However, Dendinger did agree with Hammill in the idea that white nationalists have been emboldened by the election of President Donald Trump.

Dendinger then went on to describe work being done by the Socialist Party of Maine; she said the party has been trying to run candidates in elections. Dendinger mentioned that she may be running for a public office in the near future.

Dendinger finished by saying that she hopes students will do more to challenge the political and economic institution rather than just protesting.

Allen spoke next and focused on spikes in violence since last November. He said that racially motivated violence is nothing new. Since the election, Allen has seen an “unprecedented level of violence… at least in my lifetime.”

Allen explained how during the 2016 election, he didn’t know if Trump or Hillary Clinton was the more violent candidate. He explained how Clinton was violent in her support of the Iraq war and big trade agreements, which Allen said imposed violence on workers around the world.

Allen addressed the United Nations on Oct. 2, the international day of peace. He claims the United States was not well represented that day.

“No one from the Trump administration bothered to attend,” Allen said.

Allen discussed his perceived theory of evolution from racism in coded language to overtly “violent” language. He blamed Trump and the anger felt by his base for violence in today’s society, but also denounced capitalism as a root of these issues.

Allen ended optimistically, claiming that more people have become engaged in resistance.

“People who have been sitting on the fence… now have been horrified and motivated,” Allen said.

Jeremiah Childs, a UMaine political science student, brought up the human rights violations of the USSR and Communist China. He believes that oppression stems from the government’s control of capitalism rather than capitalism itself.

“Socialism doesn’t seem like a fix,” Childs said. “Libertarianism seems more attractive.”

Dendinger argued that libertarianism doesn’t replace taxes which “address systemic evil.” She said that taxes and regulations have gone down, but it hasn’t worked.

“We’ve been waiting for that trickle down and it’s just not happening,” Dendinger said.

The Socialist and Marxist Studies Series will have one more lecture this semester on Thursday, Nov. 16: “Foundational Theories of Labor Activism in Maine.”

On Friday, Nov. 3 the University Credit Union(UCU) celebrated its 50th anniversary by having giveaways, raffles and food for its customers in Orono. The credit union, originating at the University of Maine Orono, serves students, alumni and faculty.

The bank’s celebrations included a contest for cash prizes from $100 to $1,967 last month and a raffle for an iPad mini this week. Dozens of people filed into the UCU’s Rangeley Road branch to enjoy the food and celebrations.

The University Credit Union opened in 1967 in the basement of Coburn Hall. At that time, it was called the University of Maine Employees Credit Union. In 1987, the UCU began serving alumni and Orono citizens.

On the day of the celebration, Renee Ouellette, the senior vice president of finance, expressed a sense of pride in serving the Orono and University of Maine communities.

“It’s great to be able to know that we’ve been here for the students, alumni and faculty… through all the different stages of their lives,” Ouellette said.

Ouellette also explained how the UCU is committed to technological advancements to bring convenience to its customers. She says these advancements aim to make banking easier for distant customers. They include mobile deposits and a remote teller machine in the student union that can connect customers to a teller through video chat.

The credit union spread to Maine Maritime Academy in 1979, and in 1990 merged with the University of Maine Student Credit Union. They eventually opened branches in Portland, Bangor, Gorham, Farmington and Presque Isle.

The credit union also now offers several financial literacy classes including “MoneyIsland” and “By the Slice.”

“By the Slice” is a class offered at UMaine, University of Maine Presque Isle and both University of Southern Maine campuses. The class teaches University of Maine System students how to manage their money efficiently and offers free pizza.

UMaine’s “By the Slice” class this year was held in the Memorial Union on Wednesday, Oct. 18, and another class will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at noon.

“MoneyIsland” is an online class for 8 to 14-year-old children, which plays interactively like a video game. Kids have the opportunity to win t-shirts and movie passes.

UCU President Matt Walsh has worked for the credit union for 20 years and expressed his pride in a statement on the UCU website’s “Celebrating 50 Years” page. “At UCU we are proud of our heritage and our ability to provide unique products and services to the University’s students, employees and alumni and their families. Membership growth is always a good yardstick to measure against, especially in today’s competitive environment, and we are proud of our past growth,” Walsh said.

This article has been revised from the original version.

The Annual Maine Heritage Lecture was held on Monday, Oct 23. The lecturer, chosen by the Maine Heritage Committee, was Howard Segal, a University of Maine history professor who specializes in the history of technology and science.

Segal’s lecture was titled “Becoming Modern: The Transformation of the University of Maine, 1965-2015.” The lecture was focused on Segal’s recent article, “Re-Engineering the Land Grant University: the Kellogg Commission in Historical Context.”

According to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the Kellogg Commission was comprised of public and land-grant university presidents and chancellors. Twenty-five members of the Kellogg Commission, including UMaine’s President Peter Hoff, wrote six reports encouraging land-grant and public education universities to “return to the educational values and dedication of the past.”

According to Segal, the Kellogg Commission idealized the 1862 Morrill Act, which donated public lands to the states to be used as assets for the establishment of agricultural and mechanical professions. However, the history of the land-grant institutions is “not as simple or romantic as the Kellogg Commission made it sound,” Segal said.

According to Segal, faculty members were criticized for not being close enough to the student body. The Kellogg Commission encouraged deeper interaction between students and faculty members but left themselves out of this proposed interaction.

Segal also claimed that the Kellogg commission saw the Morrill Act as an “unprecedented wave of democracy in the United States,” but explained how Vermont Senator Justin Morrill, the bill’s sponsor, saw no role for women at land-grant universities.

Segal also mentioned the second Morrill act’s attempts to update the universities in the formerly Confederate states. According to “Colleges of Agriculture at the Land-Grant Institutions,” a report by the National Research Council, the second Morrill Act aimed to make sure potential students could not be rejected based on race. However, states had the option of maintaining segregated land-grant institutions. According to Segal, the non-white universities did not get the same federal funding as the white schools.

The lecture focused not just on the establishment of the land-grant universities. Segal also covered UMaine’s establishment as a land-grant institution and the struggles it had with other universities. According to Segal, influential Bowdoin Alumnus attempted to establish land-grant professorships at Bowdoin instead of UMaine. He also brought up an incidence in 1907 when UMaine sought permission to hand out unlimited bachelor’s degrees, and Bowdoin, Colby and Bates tried to block the effort. In the end, UMaine students lobbied the lawmakers in favor of UMaine’s proposal.

Segal then moved on to the establishment of the University of Maine System in 1968. Segal claimed that the president at the time feared that UMaine would lose autonomy and be marginalized in its role as the flagship university.

These fears may have been valid, according to Segal. He explained why having UMainee as a more elite campus is “not a crime.”

“Why is it ok to have different divisions of college athletes?” Segal asked while explaining the perceived hypocrisy in eliminating elitism from education.

Before the University of Maine System was established, the University of Maine had control of the Maine Law School and the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus. Segal cited the loss of these schools as a sign of UMaine being marginalized in its role as a flagship university.

Segal also mentioned that UMaine did not always follow the “returning to our roots” rhetoric of the Kellogg Commision. He cited Presidents Robert A. Kennedy and Susan Hunter’s focus on futuristic technology research and development such as the Advanced Structures and Composite Center and the Climate Change Institute. Segal sees these investments as a departure from the ideals of the Kellogg Commision.

Segal finished up with four principal challenges that UMaine faces: rejecting the idea that land-grant universities’ only purpose is to teach agricultural and mechanical professions, recognizing that there is no clear path to a successful land-grant institution and resisting the current “one-university” initiative which might lead to UMaine’s further loss of autonomy and elite status.

“We have nothing to apologize for and much to brag about,” Segal said.

After the lecture, Segal was presented with a framed copy of the invitation to the Maine Heritage Lecture. A second copy will remain in the Buchanan Alumni House.

On Thursday, Oct. 19, Manuel Abeiro and Modesto Horta visited Margaritas restaurant in Orono to demonstrate their process of making traditional Mexican masks. The visit was a stop on part of the artists’ New England Tour which stops at museums and public schools.

Abeiro and Modesto have been making masks since they were children, and now both have over two decades of experience. Abeiro and Modesto were first taught the art of mask making in Tócuaro, a village in Michoacán, Mexico. The village sits on Lago de Pátzcuaro, or Lake Pátzcuaro, which is surrounded by other similar craft villages. They were originally taught the skill by Modesto’s father, Juan Modesto.

“Last year, we got to meet one of the professors over there [UMaine] at the Anthropology department and we went down to the vault and actually saw one of their father’s masks down there,” Modesto said.

The artists carved, chiseled and sanded away at the masks, which had been mere hunks of wood six hours earlier. Some masks can take anywhere from three days to a month, according to Abeiro and Modesto’s Translator, Pat Piccano.

The artists begin with a pick axe-like tool with a flat curved point. As the wood block shrinks, so do the tools. Most of the beginning work was done prior to the demonstration, which was held in a small corner of the restaurant to allow the use of the larger tools.

Smaller blades make more precise carvings, and facial expressions begin to appear. Abeiro and Modesto’s knife strokes are meticulous and decisive as they switched between a chipping tool, a sharp blade and a sanding tool.

Different masks have different meanings depending on the symbols on them. Influences from ancient indigenous cultures in South America, as well as Spain and other countries have led to new symbols being incorporated into the masks.

“Like the devil came from Europe,” Piccano said, pointing to a formidable demon like mask, “But then the Mexicans put the snake on. The snake is an indigenous symbol for good luck.”

Next to the demonstration was a table where the artists were selling full-sized and miniature masks, as well as jewelry. The finished carvings were painted with vibrant colors and intricate designs.

Piccano explained that for Abiero and Modesto, the New England tour is both a means to making money, and a way of sharing their heritage.

“In a practical sense it’s a way for them to open up more market for them to sell their work, but also so that the new generations don’t lose this. If they didn’t come up here, we wouldn’t know about it. So it can continue,” Piccano said.

The Hirundo Wildlife Refuge is developing a new interactive trail specifically for those with difficulty accessing typical trails. University of Maine Construction Engineering students began the “Trail of the Senses” project on Sept. 8.

The trail is designed so that wheelchairs and strollers can access the trail without having to worry about uneven terrain. The trail also features a rope for the visually impaired to guide them along the trail. The rope will have blocks at intervals so people using it will be able to tell when to stop.

“Our goal was to provide opportunities here with the universal access trail for folks who might be wheelchair-bound, or with a walker, or even couples who have to push a stroller,” Dr. Larry Beauregard, Hirundo Wildlife Refuge Trustee, told WABI.

The construction engineering students are currently working on the second of three building phases, a trail around a pond. It is unlikely that the trail will be completed before winter.

The Trail of the Senses still needs additional funding to cover the costs of construction. According to Jake Parlapiano, a marketing intern for Hirundo Wildlife Refuge, the University of Maine Green Team has helped raise funds for the trail by hosting a bake sale. Parlapiano also said there would be a crowdfunding site up soon.

Parlapiano also mentioned that the refuge often holds other fundraising events such as cookouts and raffles.

The new trail will add to the seven miles of walking trails in Hirundo Wildlife Refuge. The park spans over 2,400 acres of land and runs parallel to Pushaw Stream. Visitors can borrow kayaks for free and paddle them down the stream.

Parlapiano has hopes that the Trail of the Senses will allow access to the woods for people who have not previously had access.

“They’re going to end up putting in braille signs so people can read and participate in the activities and it encourages you to smell certain things and touch and use more than just sight… I just hope more students can just go down there and hang out… it’s a really nice place it’s 2,500 acres of just open protected land so there’s no hunting or fishing and you’re free to hike as much of it as you want, and I hope more and more people can go,” Parlapiano said.

Olivier Larouche founded the Hirundo Wildlife Refuge in 1965 by expanding his family’s three-acre camp. The word Hirundo is Latin for swallow. It was likely named this after the scores of sparrows who took up residence in the nest boxes Larouche built throughout the refuge.

Over the years, the Larouche family funded research and allowed the University of Maine to use the refuge as a living laboratory. In the 1970s, Robert Mackay and David Sangertook created University of Maine Archeology field schools to excavate a site adjacent to the Pushaw Stream. The excavation helped show the landscape of the area over thousands of years. Archeologists found projectile points, tools and fishing weights from inhabitants from between 250 and 450 years ago.

In 1983, Larouche and his wife June Larouche deeded the Hirundo Wildlife refuge to the University of Maine.

L.L. Bean visited the University of Maine as part of their Bean Outsider marketing campaign this past week. The bean boot sat parked on the end of the mall near Fogler library along with a custom boot lacing station, a trailer modified into a mobile shoe store, a boot throwing game and more.

The event is part of L.L. Bean’s annual college tour, during which they travel to schools within close proximity to their stores.

“Maine is a great venue to go to school in because there’s so much going on outside,” L.L. Bean experiential marketing specialist, Ben Sandy, said. He explained that the goal of their new Bean Outsider is “trying to encourage people to go outside and be an outsider.”

Students had the opportunity to play cornhole, shop for shoes or play “boot toss” for prizes. The marketing employees running the campaign also sold custom-colored shoelaces of the customer’s choosing.

Many students also participated in the #beanoutsider photo contest by dressing up in L.L. Bean apparel, posing in front of the L.L. Bean bootmobile and posting the images to Instagram using the hashtags #beanoutsider and #LLBeancontest. The six winners of the contest will each receive a $100 L.L. Bean gift card.

The event also offered students the opportunity to enter in a raffle for a $300 L.L. Bean gift card.

L.L. Bean was founded by Leon Leonwood Bean of Greenwood, Maine with the invention of his “Maine Hunting Shoe.” Bean was born in 1872. He grew up in Greenwood and South Paris, Maine before setting up his business in Freeport. By the age of 13, he was already a successful hunter and outdoorsman.

By sending advertisements to lists of registered hunters, Bean began a mail order program through which he sold his boots.

The first version of the boot was sold in 1911, but many customers returned them after the boot’s rubber fell off or cracked. After refunding the customer’s’ money, and making some modifications to the boot to reduce wear on the rubber sole, Bean began sales again.

The Maine hunting boot would eventually become the iconic Bean boots of today. Bean set up shop in the basement of his brother’s dry goods store and by 1917, had enough money to open the first official L.L. Bean store in Freeport, Maine.

L.L. Bean became more than just a shoe company and began to sell tools, clothes, home goods and camping, hunting and fishing gear.

Eleanor Roosevelt once visited the Freeport store and Bean gave her a trout knife as a gift for the president.

The store continued on successfully through the Great Depression, and in 1951 the Freeport, Maine store opened 24 hours a day. Bean took the locks off the doors, claiming there was no longer any need for them.

Opening the store 24 hours a day was apparently inspired by the hunters who would stop by in the late hours of the night and ring the doorbell until a clerk answered the door.

In 1960, the L.L. Bean fishing outlet produced its first of many pieces of tackle: a hand-tied fly fishing lure.

Leon Leonwood passed away in 1967 at the age of 94. He passed the position of president on to his grandson Leon Gordon. The Freeport, Maine store closed for the first time since opening 24 hours a day on the day of Bean’s funeral: Feb. 5, 1967.

In 1979, L.L. Bean began offering their Outdoor Discovery Schools which teaches participants everything from kayaking to fly fishing to archery. The schools have now instructed over 150,000 people in outdoor activities.

L.L. Bean now has over 40 stores spread across 18 states. The first U.S. store outside of Maine was opened in McLean, Va. in 2000.

In 2012, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary with the creation of the bootmobile, the iconic boot-shaped vehicle which can often be seen driving up and down highway 295.

Today, L.L. Bean continues its dedication to the outdoors by encouraging people to get outside through its Outdoor Discovery Schools, its contests and initiatives such as the Bean Outsider campaign, and their 100 percent money back guarantees.

“We’re here to bring our product and our way of life to kids,” Sandy said.

Andres Muschietti’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “IT” came out on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The film soared high above box office expectations and clinched the No. 1 spot as the highest grossing film currently in theaters. “IT” earned $11.4 million on Tuesday, making it one of the highest one-day-grossing R-rated horror movies ever.

The horror movie is birthed from King’s 1986 novel. The book was adapted into a mini-series in 1990. Now “IT” has evolved once again into the 2017 feature-length film remake.

The story tells of seven teenagers who battle with a demon-possessed clown that lures children into the storm drains to kill them.

King was pleasantly surprised by what Muschietti did with his novel.

“I had hopes, but I was not prepared for how good it really was,” King said in a video interview on YouTube. “They moved the time frame to the ’80s… to me, that isn’t the important thing. The important thing is they kept the core idea: that Pennywise gets to these kids by finding out what they’re afraid of and being that thing.”

King has not been shy in the past about critiquing movie adaptations of his books. In an interview with the Paris Review King critiqued Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of “The Shining.”

“No sense of emotional investment in the family whatsoever on his part… I felt that the treatment of Shelley Duvall as Wendy — I mean, talk about insulting to women. She’s basically a scream machine,” King said.

In the interview, King also mentions what he thinks gives the new movie a successful fear factor. “…it’s something that audiences are going to relate to and they’re going to like the characters… if you like the characters then you care and then the scares generally work,” King said.

In the weeks before “IT” was released, red balloons began showing up tied to storm drain grates around the country, especially in King’s hometown of Bangor, Maine. The tributes to Pennywise gained much media attention, including one case when a red balloon mysteriously showed up in the Bangor Police Department next to “The Duck of Justice”, which is their unofficial mascot.

King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947. He attended the University of Maine from 1966 to 1970, and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in English. While at the University of Maine, King wrote “Steve’s Garbage Truck” for the Maine Campus, held a seat in student senate and actively opposed the Vietnam War. King met his wife, Tabitha King, in UMaine’s own Fogler Library. They have been married for 48 years.

Over the years, the Kings have given scholarships to local students and donations to the school through The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation.

In recent years, King has remained socially and politically active. He has used his Twitter account increasingly to make political statements, support equality and poke fun at president Donald Trump.

King’s online taunts, such as “Re Trump: There ain’t no cure for dumb.” have prompted Trump to block the author on Twitter. King responded by tweeting:

“Donald Trump blocked me on Twitter. I am hereby blocking him from seeing IT or MR. MERCEDES. No clowns for you, Donald. Go float yourself.”

It’s no secret that Maine is a destination for craft brew enthusiasts and brewers alike. The industry contributed $228 million to the state’s economy last year, and with new breweries opening every year, the boom is unlikely to stop.

According to a University of Maine economic impact statement by Andrew Crawley and Sarah Welch, 16 new breweries opened in Maine last year. For craft beer enthusiasts, this equates to a new, unexplored frontier.

With three microbreweries: Orono Brewing Company (OBC), Black Bear Brewing Company and Marsh Island Brewing, Orono can offer a taste of Maine without ever leaving the town.

OBCs Bangor Barrel Project is slated to release new limited-edition barrel aged beers. Using barrels to age the beer gives the brewer the ability to add unique flavors.

OBC’s Head Brewer, Asa Marsh-Sachs, likes the creativity the barrels give him.

“I can get a bunch of different flavors in a bunch of different barrels,” Marsh-Sachs said. “It’s more to work with.”

This summer, OBC released the Ta-da Golden Sour, one of their barrel aged beers created at their experimental brewery in Bangor. A combination of oak, Brett, Lacto, Pedio, the Ta-da is part of OBC’s Bangor Barrel Project.

You can’t get the Ta-da at the tasting room anymore, but at the upcoming Greater Bangor Beer Week, OBC will be pouring from a keg of Ta-da along with their newest barrel aged beer called Lola Sour Wheat.

The Lola Sour Wheat is being brewed with chamomile, coriander and orange peels.

Marsh-Sachs’ passion for this method of brewing is apparent when he discusses the barrel aging process.

“It’s been a totally different style of brewing… with the barrel project, you’re able to take one flavor and combine it with another. Your toolbox is expanding so much,” Marsh-Sachs said.

Still to come from the barrel project is a Hazelnut Brown Ale. According to Marsh-Sachs, this is one of the best-rated beers in the country, and he expects the barrel to add a raspberry jam-like flavor.

OBC also recently collaborated with Medusa Brewing Company to create the Laser Moose IPA, a double IPA with “Hawaiian Punch flavors… Juicy, fruity, and ripe red fruit character.” With 7.6 percent alcohol by volume, this beer packed a punch.

OBC will also be expanding into a new property off Island Ave. The former rock crushing facility will become OBC’s new canning plant. The new plant should increase OBC’s canning capabilities from 40 cases of beer in six hours to 30 cases in one hour.

Both Marsh-Sachs and Tasting Room Manager Justin Stoderberg expressed gratitude toward the brewing scene they are a part of.

“We really do bond together… Maine’s just unique like that,” Marsh-Sachs said.