Up on the third floor of the University of Maine’s Fogler Library, in their Special Collections, there lies a blue bound book that holds the recorded history of the University of Maine. Spanning from the years 1865 to 1965, the book holds accounts of this college’s first century of life. 

There are 12 chapters, some more riveting than others, that bring the reader on a journey through the beginning and growth of UMaine in the late 19th and early 20th century. A crew of devoted university individuals did research for the book, but it was David C. Smith who compiled the research into a narrative-like structure. It is easy to take the work put towards this book for granted. Still, the hard work and effort these individuals put towards this project has allowed UMaine history to live in a concise and cohesive place rather than jumbled around campus. 

The preface of the book touches on the difficulty of this process: “Collecting data took nearly three full years, as the files and manuscripts were in a terrible state. Many had been destroyed or lost and others were simply jumbled into cartons in the vault of the Alumni Hall. Still others were in various buildings, cellars and attics throughout the campus.”

The end product is miraculous. Not only does the finished book contain stories of the beginning of UMaine, but it also holds histories of student protests, riffs between UMaine and other colleges, successes and other stories that may have been lost from memory if not written in this blue-bound book. 

The first chapter, named “A Slow Start,” focuses on the establishment of the University of Maine. The book includes pictures of the early university. One of the photographs is peering at the university across the Stillwater River. The river is barren of the luxurious trees that line it today, and the field that now holds the Steam Plant Lot is empty. It is crazy to picture our campus with only three Victorian-style buildings, standing alone on a vast plot of land, with the trees of the University Forest standing far off in the distance. It’s foreign and bare; a reminder of what Marsh Island looked like before we came in and built a University.

The book is riddled with familiar names. From Fernald to Balentine, this book holds the stories and legacies of the (white) folks after whom we named our campus buildings. Chapter two goes in-depth into the going-ons at UMaine during the reign of our second president, Merritt Fernald. Most noteworthy is the introduction of women into the campus’s educational and social life. The first woman to attend the University of Maine was Louise H. Ramdell. She was a close friend of the Fernalds and lived with them during her studies. She enrolled in 1872 and successfully completed her studies in 1874. Between the entrance of Ramdell and the end of the century, 59 women attended UMaine. 

In chapter 3, named “Making a University,” early campus scandals were reminisced on. Introducing women to campus life resulted in new policies restricting evening walks and dormitory visits between genders. The book accounted for “unwanted pregnancies” for the new, stricter policies. At the same time, the school began to crack down on undergraduate hazing, which ran rampant on campus. An “all night hazing, without the razoo,” occurred in early October. It resulted in the suspension of students who were held responsible and the censorship of other students who aided in the scheme. These punishments resulted in a campus-wide student strike calling for the reinstatement of the guilty. By the end of November, the faculty had agreed to let the students back into school.

From “Depression and war” to “Beyond the campus,” and “Research and Publications” to “Life at Maine,” this book holds tales, legacies and stories lost among the constant transition of students at the University of Maine. This careful examination and compilation of the first century of UMaine is open for any student or community member to review at UMaine’s Special Collections, which is located on the third floor of Fogler Library. Special Collections is open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Amidst this almost snowless, drawn-out stick season many New Englanders are currently experiencing, Noah Kahan dropped a shimmer of light on his fans by releasing “Stick Season (Forever).” This new extended album is the third version of his 2022 LP “Stick Season.” 

The original release of “Stick Season” catapulted Kahan into the eyes and hearts of the mainstream public. Since then, he’s continued to build upon the 14-track album. This new and final two-hour-long compilation consists of the original “Stick Season” songs, eight bonus songs and eight collaborative songs, forming a collection of 30 songs to bid farewell to his “Stick Season” chapter. 

Along with the new compilation, Kahan released the new song “Forever” and two collaborative tracks with Brandi Carlile and Gregory Alan Isakov. 

Kahan’s lyrics leave little room for interpretation, providing listeners with relatable and nostalgic songs about love, relationships, self-growth and more. His songs “Stick Season” and “Northern Attitude” accomplish what the band “The Ghost of Paul Revere” attempted with their song “The Ballad of the 20th of Maine,” which is to unite a fanbase through their geographical location.  

Kahan’s new bonus track, “Forever,” tells a story of love lost but through a more optimistic lens. The song starts slow and the lyrics are reminiscent of a young love. His lyrics, “Now I’m glad I get forever to see where you went,” frame the loss of this love in a positive light. This song reflects the acceptance that you can grow with someone for a while, but eventually, you may need to let go to continue growing. 

“You’re Gonna Go Far” was originally released on Kahan’s 2023 follow-up album “Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever).”  In this new collaborative version, Carlile sings with Kahan about letting go of someone you love. The song reflects on leaving home, family or loved ones to go out on your own and grow. Carlile sings the second verse. Her comfortingly smooth voice emphasizes Kahan’s consoling and validating lyrics. They sing, “If you wanna go far, then you gotta go far,” reminding the listeners that sometimes what you yearn for is what you need to do. 

On the contrary, “Paul Revere” tells the story of stagnancy: staying in a place that physically remains the same but changes in terms of people, relationships and situations. Originally released on Kahan’s 2023 “Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever),” this new version includes Gregory Alan Isakov. They sing, “If I could leave, I would’ve already left.” In juxtaposition with the free-spirited “You’re Gonna Go Far (With Brandi Carlile),” this song tells the story of being stuck in a small town that is simultaneously staying the same and changing.

Kahan must be applauded for his devotion to building upon his 2022 “Stick Season” LP. His final, two-hour-long product reflects shared experiences many people, especially New Englanders, learn as they grow up. From feelings of stagnancy, bitterness, love and self-destructiveness to the overwhelming urge to flee, Kahan captures what it’s like to grow up in the 21st century in his new compilation.

This past Sunday, Feb. 4, musicians gathered for a night of close-up reaction shots, live performances, awkwardly forced dancing, jokes delivered by the 2024 Grammy host Trevor Noah, and, of course, awards. 

As Jay-Z mentioned in his televised acceptance speech for the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, music is inherently subjective and opinion-based, and The Recording Academy does not always get it “right.” He used examples of albums like DMX’s two 1998 albums, both ranked No. 1, but neither nominated for Best Album Grammy, let alone awarded one, to prove his point. 

The Grammy’s is a night of recognition for musicians, but as Jay-Z said to the crowd, “Some of you are gonna go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed, some of you may get robbed, and some of you don’t belong in your category.” 

On Sunday night, 94 awards were won in fields ranging from “Children’s, Comedy, Audio Books, Visual Media and Music Video/Film” to “Latin, Global, Reggae and  New Age, Ambient, or Chant,” “Gospel & Contemporary Christian Music,” “Jazz, Traditional Pop, Contemporary Instrumental & Musical Theater” and more. Only 10 of the 94 awards were televised, along with 21 live performances. 

Untelevised, but applicable to University of Maine students, Miguel Zenón and Luis Perdomo won Best Latin Jazz Album for “El Arte Del Bolero Vol. 2.” Both Zenón and Perdomo, on tenor saxophone and piano, respectively, will perform in UMaine’s very own Minsky Hall on April 19, 2024.

On that very same day, UMaine’s Swifties will be elated — Taylor Swift used her acceptance speech for the Best Pop Vocal Album “Midnights” to announce her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department”, for release on April 19, 2024. 

The Grammy’s live ceremony opened with Dua Lipa performing a medley composed of her new song, “Training Season,” “Dance the Night Away” and “Houdini.”

Sitting on the red-lit stage, a box of scaffolding was the centerpiece of Lipa’s performance as she walked, danced and crawled around her backup dancers, who were intricately climbing the metal structure. At one point, Lipa held onto the metal box while her crew of backup dancers lifted it up in the air, walking her around in a circle. 

Lipa was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media, which both ended up going to Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for their “Barbie” hit, “What Was I Made For.” The Eilish siblings performed the Grammy-winning song in a minimalistic style later that evening, highlighting their powerful range and talent. 

Another notable performance included Luke Combs, who was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance for his cover of Tracey Chapman’s “Fast Car.” However, this time, he was not alone. In the performance’s introduction video, Combs reminisced on listening to Chapman’s “Fast Car” as a child, shared his admiration for her and relished in the song’s iconic guitar intro. 

Afterward, the camera panned onto the Grammy stage to reveal the one and only Tracey Chapman. Almost 35 years after she first sang “Fast Car” on the Grammy Stage, Chapman’s voice transcended the crowd as she played the guitar with Combs at her side. 

The duet performance shocked Chapman’s fans, for she’s remained off-stage, maintaining a low profile for the past 15 years. 

“Fast Car” was not the only nostalgic performance of the night. Joni Mitchell, who won Best Folk Album for her album “Joni Mitchell at Newport (Live)” sang “Both Sides Now” accompanied by Brandi Carlile, Allison Russel, Bake Mills, Lucius and Jacob Collier. 

U2 even performed live from The Sphere in Las Vegas, which was unexpected but not surprising. Other performances by Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Burna Boy, Laufey, SZA, Jon Batiste, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, Annie Lennox and others throughout the night created a unique blend for the audience. 

To check out all of the 94 awards, nominees and winners, head over the The Grammy’s website: https://www.grammy.com/news/2024-grammys-nominations-full-winners-nominees-list

Many movie theaters nowadays lack character, but not Old Town’s “Black Bear Cinemas.” Most University of Maine students know Black Bear Cinemas for their “UMaine Wednesdays,” where students can get free admission to any movie upon a quick flash of their Maine Card, but behind the theater’s doors, there is much more passion, drive and intention put into their daily operations. 

The cinema houses six theaters, showing both newly released films and movies that feel like a blast from the past. Previously named “Spotlight Cinemas,” Zachary Hussey and Charles Moody bought the theater this past summer. The change of ownership resulted in the theater we now know as “Black Bear Cinemas.” 

The owners’ goal for the theater can be summed up in one hyphenated word: community-based. This goal, or better yet, intention, is reflected in the theater’s name. 

“We want everyone to know that we’re a local, community theater, not a chain,” explained Hussey, adding that naming it “Black Bear Theater” was an obvious choice. 

The owners’ friendship has lasted through childhood. Both born and raised in Old Town, Moody and Hussey have been frequent customers of the cinema since they were kids. 

Hussey remembers going to midnight premieres at the theater in high school. “The line would be out the door and behind the building. Everyone from our high school would be there. It was a huge event.” said Hussey.

Hussey has other midnight premiere memories from his time working for the then Spotlight Cinemas” while he studied nursing at UMaine. At the time, he knew he wanted to own his own theater someday, so he decided to learn the ropes. Since then, he and Moody have been working as full-time nurses, saving money to buy their own theater one day. 

Their lifelong passion for the theater is evident in the way it is run. Decorated entryways, art contests, raffles, and more characterize this new and evolving cinema. 

Hussey and Moody want the movie-goers’ experience at “Black Bear Cinemas” to be specialized. “I feel like a lot of movie theaters are chain-like. You go in, they’re generic, it’s all the same. But movies are an art form. They’re artistic, and so should [be] the theater,” explained Hussey. 

This past summer, for the premiere of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” the theater took this philosophy to the next level by painting the entrance pink. Hussey explained that a week before the premiere, they decided to paint the entrance themselves for hours. “We wanted to put a personal aspect to the experience,” said Hussey. 

Following “Barbie,” they painted the entrance green for “Ninja Turtles” and, more recently, purple for “Wonka.” 

“I keep saying it’s going to be the last time we paint it. I think that is true now,” said Hussey. 

They have other plans for the theater’s entrance revolving around local artwork. The premise is simple: They host art contests based on new movies, pick a winner, buy their artwork and display it at the entrance with the artist’s name and contact information. 

“Local artists are so talented, and we want to help them get their work out there,” said Hussey. Their goal is to do four art contests a year, continuing to fill up the entrance wall with more local art year by year. 

The owner’s passion for their community-based theater does not end with painted walls and art contests. They’re bringing back large franchises to mobilize and unite the movie’s fandoms in the Orono/Bangor area. They started with “Harry Potter” in the fall, showing all eight movies, and they’ve now moved on to “The Lord of the Rings.” 

They are showing the extended versions of “Lord of the Rings,” and they’ve built a hobbit door through which movie-goers can enter the theater. On top of that, with the help of the theater’s general manager, Nathan Paris, they’ve collected goodies from the studios to raffle off to the real-devoted fans. 

For “Harry Potter,” if you had gone to see all eight movies and saved your ticket stubs, you were entered into a raffle to win a Harry Potter suitcase filled with various Harry

Potter memorabilia. For “The Lord of The Rings,” they plan to raffle off a wooden Lord of the Rings clock. It’s too late to win these raffles, but the owners plan to continue this new-found tradition. 

This is not where the owner’s passions or goals for the theater end. They want to continue adding to the space so it feels unique and artistic for movie-goers and uplifts their movie-loving community members. 

“Community is one of the biggest reasons we bought the theater. We feel that a theater that is not involved and giving back to the community just isn’t how it should be,” said Hussey. 

You can find which films the theater is showing and when on their website: blackbearcinemas.com.

Right off Central Street in downtown Bangor, above the now frozen but sometimes flowing Kenduskeag stream, sits the University of Maine’s Zillman Art Museum (ZAM). The museum’s free admission allows visitors to explore the works of visiting artists as well as the museum’s permanent in-house collection, exposing students and community members to an array of artistic styles, expressions and concepts.

On Jan. 19, 2024, ZAM opened its gallery doors to six new exhibits. Two were from the visiting artists Richard Wilson and Linda Packard, and the other four were thoughtfully curated by the museum’s staff from their permanent, in-house collection.

Just behind a large glass door on the first floor of the museum, Wilson’s exhibition “Storm Over the City” invites visitors to explore the human experience from a sometimes satirical and investigative lens. Wilson’s unique collection of work is vast, including graphite sketches, screenprints and acrylic paintings, all spanning over the 45 years of his artistic career.

You could spend hours in front of one of Wilson’s graphite drawings, peering into the detailed and biting insights into the human condition. “Dysfunctional Friends” will make you consider Wilson’s meticulous patience in his pieces. How much detail does a rock face deserve? The line and shading work of the rocks highlights the unusually eerie feeling of the piece’s main subjects: a collection of 12 friends, each in their individual caves with their own particularly questionable quirks. Wilson takes it up a notch with the graphite drawing “Success,” which portrays a women’s theatrical performance juxtaposed with an unsettling scene of forced labor.

His screen prints are comparatively bizarre and thought-provoking. He explores human connections to land in his 1981 piece “25 Buddhas,” which depicts — you guessed it — 25 Buddhas meditating over a dark, blue cityscape with tall, snowy, looming mountains pasted over a bright, bare green and yellow landscape of rolling hills. The juxtaposition of the beautiful nature and meditating Buddhas with the chaos of contrasting landscapes not only catches the eye but leaves you wondering: Why?

His more recent screenprints evoke a darker and cynical feeling, which is of little surprise since they date to 2020. His works “Leaving Home” and “No Choice” echo the shared agony and anxieties felt during the COVID-19 lockdown. Wilson’s 2023 acrylic painting “Looking for the Garden” is one of his larger works. Most of the canvas is taken up by dark blue rippling water, with two bodies moments from passing as they swim across the seemingly endless water in two different directions. The painting peers into a moment absent of context. This lack of context, however, provides insight into the mysterious nature of a moment and the power context can have.

Packard’s exhibit “Poems I Meant to Write” includes various towering abstract paintings, each with its own comforting color scheme. Packard spent many years as a plein air landscape painter, an artist who set up shop with their easel and painted outside to paint the beautiful rocky coast or alpine scene in front of them. You can sense the impact of Packard’s plein air experience in her abstract work. On her website, she writes, regarding the style, “I continue to be drawn to the same organic shapes and marks, rich textures and earthy palette.”

Although abstract and self-proclaimed intentionless, Packard’s artwork reflects her exploration of oil paint as well as her expression of mood.

The displayed artwork transitions from abstract to minimalistic in the exhibition, with squares coming together to outline a square, circles, lines, trapezoids and optical art fill the walls of this exhibition.

“Frost and Bloom” was curated by ZAM’s 2023/2024 Curatorial Intern, Sarah Renée Ozlanski, who studies studio art and English at UMaine. This exhibition displays artwork from the museum’s permanent collection that communicates both the visual and the emotional contrast and transition between cold winters and inviting, bright springs. Ozlanski’s attention to detail when curating the exhibition is evident. She draws on small details like the number of paintings and color palettes of each to capture “the season in Maine that may feel like it lingers too long.”

When entering the second gallery of the exhibition, you can feel a stark change to vibrant pink, purple, green, red and orange paintings that invoke the same excitement and hopefulness felt across campus on the first warm day of spring. On the museum’s second floor, “The Marin Family Collection” displays a collection of work graciously donated to UMaine by the Marin Family and “Paintings from the Museum Collection,” which contains a wide variety of compelling, imaginative and realistic artworks.

On your way down the stairs and out of the museum, check out the museum’s “Spotlight Gallery,” which highlights the artistic works of high school students in the greater Bangor area.

To learn more about the Zillman Art Museum’s mission, exhibitions and hours of operation, visit their website: zam.umaine.edu.

Right off Central Street in downtown Bangor, above the now frozen but sometimes flowing Kenduskeag stream, sits the University of Maine’s Zillman Art Museum (ZAM). The museum’s free admission allows visitors to explore the works of visiting artists as well as the museum’s permanent in-house collection, exposing students and community members to an array of artistic styles, expressions and concepts.

On Jan. 19, 2024, ZAM opened its gallery doors to six new exhibits. Two were from the visiting artists Richard Wilson and Linda Packard, and the other four were thoughtfully curated by the museum’s staff from their permanent, in-house collection.

Just behind a large glass door on the first floor of the museum, Wilson’s exhibition “Storm Over the City” invites visitors to explore the human experience from a sometimes satirical and investigative lens. Wilson’s unique collection of work is vast, including graphite sketches, screenprints and acrylic paintings, all spanning over the 45 years of his artistic career.

You could spend hours in front of one of Wilson’s graphite drawings, peering into the detailed and biting insights into the human condition. “Dysfunctional Friends” will make you consider Wilson’s meticulous patience in his pieces. How much detail does a rock face deserve? The line and shading work of the rocks highlights the unusually eerie feeling of the piece’s main subjects: a collection of 12 friends, each in their individual caves with their own particularly questionable quirks. Wilson takes it up a notch with the graphite drawing “Success,” which portrays a women’s theatrical performance juxtaposed with an unsettling scene of forced labor.

His screen prints are comparatively bizarre and thought-provoking. He explores human connections to land in his 1981 piece “25 Buddhas,” which depicts — you guessed it — 25 Buddhas meditating over a dark, blue cityscape with tall, snowy, looming mountains pasted over a bright, bare green and yellow landscape of rolling hills. The juxtaposition of the beautiful nature and meditating Buddhas with the chaos of contrasting landscapes not only catches the eye but leaves you wondering: Why?

His more recent screenprints evoke a darker and cynical feeling, which is of little surprise since they date to 2020. His works “Leaving Home” and “No Choice” echo the shared agony and anxieties felt during the COVID-19 lockdown. Wilson’s 2023 acrylic painting “Looking for the Garden” is one of his larger works. Most of the canvas is taken up by dark blue rippling water, with two bodies moments from passing as they swim across the seemingly endless water in two different directions. The painting peers into a moment absent of context. This lack of context, however, provides insight into the mysterious nature of a moment and the power context can have.

Packard’s exhibit “Poems I Meant to Write” includes various towering abstract paintings, each with its own comforting color scheme. Packard spent many years as a plein air landscape painter, an artist who set up shop with their easel and painted outside to paint the beautiful rocky coast or alpine scene in front of them. You can sense the impact of Packard’s plein air experience in her abstract work. On her website, she writes, regarding the style, “I continue to be drawn to the same organic shapes and marks, rich textures and earthy palette.”

Although abstract and self-proclaimed intentionless, Packard’s artwork reflects her exploration of oil paint as well as her expression of mood.

The displayed artwork transitions from abstract to minimalistic in the exhibition, with squares coming together to outline a square, circles, lines, trapezoids and optical art fill the walls of this exhibition.

“Frost and Bloom” was curated by ZAM’s 2023/2024 Curatorial Intern, Sarah Renée Ozlanski, who studies studio art and English at UMaine. This exhibition displays artwork from the museum’s permanent collection that communicates both the visual and the emotional contrast and transition between cold winters and inviting, bright springs. Ozlanski’s attention to detail when curating the exhibition is evident. She draws on small details like the number of paintings and color palettes of each to capture “the season in Maine that may feel like it lingers too long.”

When entering the second gallery of the exhibition, you can feel a stark change to vibrant pink, purple, green, red and orange paintings that invoke the same excitement and hopefulness felt across campus on the first warm day of spring. On the museum’s second floor, “The Marin Family Collection” displays a collection of work graciously donated to UMaine by the Marin Family and “Paintings from the Museum Collection,” which contains a wide variety of compelling, imaginative and realistic artworks.

On your way down the stairs and out of the museum, check out the museum’s “Spotlight Gallery,” which highlights the artistic works of high school students in the greater Bangor area.

To learn more about the Zillman Art Museum’s mission, exhibitions and hours of operation, visit their website: zam.umaine.edu.

From busking on the streets of Berlin, Germany, to touring sold-out venues in Europe, Australia, Japan and North America, Alice Phoebe Lou has made a place for her independent personal songs in the music industry. You might have listened to her 2020 single, “Witches,” which quickly rose to popularity with its groovy and cosmic nature. 

This past summer, Lou dazzled her fans with her sixth studio album, “Shelter.” As one of her first narrative albums, “Shelter” brings the listener on a journey of heartbreak and self-growth. The album, in its entirety, is only thirty minutes, but it is addictive. 

In every one of Lou’s songs, she lets herself shine through. Having never signed to a major label, she ensured that she could make each song her own, singing and playing her guitar however she wanted. Her music transcends a box, pulling inspiration from jazz, soul, rock, funk, folk and electronica, uniquely mixing together in Lou’s own special way. 

Watching Lou perform live, you can really see her personality glow. Videos of her performing along the Warschauer Brücke, a bridge in Germany well-known for the vivacious art and music scene on either side, can be found on YouTube. She seamlessly switches between singing, talking and laughing with the audience, all while maintaining a steady beat through her inventive guitar riffs and licks. The videos display Lou’s distinct character as well as her ability to put on a succinct and impressive performance.

Lou doesn’t come to New England too often. As you wait for her return, spend some time listening to her album, “Live at the Funkhaus.” Recorded in 2019 and released in May 2020, this album displays songs off her second studio album, “Paper Castles,” capturing the essence of Lou’s live performances remarkably well. 

The album begins with a seven-minute-long rendition of “Something Holy.” The song brings the listener along as Lou uncovers the euphoria of love. The story is evident in her lyrics, but the feelings associated with being truly seen by another person are communicated through the change in pace, the inclusion and exclusion of instruments and her tone and articulation. You can feel the excitement as Lou’s voice quite literally vibrates. Lou sings, “Thank you for showing me that I’m not alone,” over and over until whistlers, hollers and claps from her fans bring the song to an end. 

The fourth track, “My Outside,” captures the liberation that comes with learning not to care how others perceive you. Especially for young girls, the importance of how you look and act is ingrained in your mind. Detaching from those imposed thoughts and ideas is difficult. Throughout the song, Lou sings, “I stopped caring too much about my outside” and “didn’t wanna be told what makes a woman look right.” The lyrics are accompanied by upbeat and playful saxophone licks, igniting an ecstatic bug that moves freely throughout the song with the drums, guitar and lyrics.

“My Outside,” is followed by the more somber “Skin Crawl.” According to a profile written on Lou by the New York City based magazine Document, she wrote the song after she was drugged by a stranger. Scared but not paralyzed, this experience increased Lou’s awareness of men’s habits and actions towards herself. The pace and structure of “Skin Crawl” reflect the disgust and anger prevalent in the lyrics. She sings, “Don’t put me on a shelf. I’m not here for your amusement, your enjoyment.” 

Through her music, Lou explores her own struggles and pains of growing up as a woman. By doing this, she validates the experiences of her female listeners, uplifting their confidence. 

Lou’s personality radiates in “Intro. Paper Castles.” During this instrumental break she introduces the next song and expresses her pride and gratitude for her band and fans. At the end of her monologue, she says, in her unique and silly manner, “I got proudness coming out of my eyeballs.” Although this track lacks a song recorded on any of Lou’s six studio albums, it is a well-positioned surprise and insight into her stage presence. 

Another notable song off the album is “She.” A beautiful guitar introduces the song before the beat drops, and you feel the fast-paced energy behind the newfound freedom of the woman depicted in the song. Lou vibrates her words, moving pitches in an unusual way, all while staying in tune.

Lou’s “Live at the Funkhaus” album is a captivating, single-sense showcase of the young artist’s talent as a singer, songwriter and performer. Her vulnerability is uplifting, leaving the listener inspired. 

If you have not yet discovered the magic of Alice Phoebe Lou’s live performances, this album is a perfect place to start.

The Maine Outing Club is celebrating its one-hundredth year. Since 1923, students have gathered together in some shape or form to make memories outdoors. The club today functions as any does, but it sits upon a vast amount of rich, unforgettable history that not only resides in alumni’s minds but also within six boxes stored in the University of Maine’s special collections. 

Today, a typical Maine Outing Club, or MOC meeting, begins at 7 p.m. on Wednesday evenings in room 100 of Nutting Hall. An intimate crowd of reminiscing voices fills the lecture hall as the officers flip through a compilation of photos from the past weekend’s trip.

“I see our mission as providing inexperienced college kids with the opportunity to get their feet in the mud and to be safe and learn how to be safe outdoors,” said MOC president and studio art student, Sophie Fitz. 

Many MOC officers are Wilderness First Responders. This group of students is able to curate trips for any regular college student who is interested in getting outside but may not be comfortable planning their own trip or going at it alone.

To become a member, all you need to do is attend a meeting, pay club dues ($25) and attend a trip. With this income, the club can provide incoming and established students with the opportunity to explore the outdoors. 

This fall, the club hosted six trips: The Appalachian Trail work trip, Katahdin, Debsconeag Ice Caves, Clifton climbing, Take Pride in Acadia Day and the cabin work trip. 

The AT work trip is a long-standing MOC tradition. In 1949, the club accepted responsibility for 16.9 miles of the AT, from Moxie Pond to Blanchard. Although the length of trail the club is responsible for has decreased significantly, they still take an annual trip out to their remote lean-to in the woods to keep the trail clear of blowdowns and to make sure the shelters and privy are in good condition. 

Getting to their section of the AT requires a serene hour or so long canoe paddle, usually lit by the stars, across Moxie Bald Pond. Once they arrive, they set up their tents and head to bed to rest up for a big day of work. 

Along with the club’s volunteer chair, Christopher Dorian and Benjamin Deering, both MOC alumni, play a large role in coordinating the AT work trip. They show up with a plan and the necessary equipment to execute such a plan.

“Lots of the time, we’re moving big, heavy rocks or gravel. Just making the trail more trekable,” said Fitz. 

Katahdin is the largest peak in Maine, located in Baxter State Park. Records show that MOC has been doing this trek on and off since the club was formed. According to Fitz, this year, the club provided two trail options for the trip: Hunt trail, which is a 10.9-mile out-and-back trail, and a loop trail consisting of Saddle, Knife’s Edge and Helon Taylor trails. Usually, the club camps out on the golden road the night before the big hike. 

The Debsconeag Ice Caves are also in Baxter State Park. To the officer’s knowledge, this year was the first year the club hosted this trip. They offered two options for club members: an overnight trip or a day trip. They brought the club canoes and spent a beautiful day exploring a cool cave structure in the Maine woods. 

“They were huge rocks in the middle of the trail, with a ton of runs. Way more crawl spaces than I thought,” explained Fitz. 

According to Fitz, they charged $15 for members to attend this trip. They spent another sunny day outside with AMG guides learning how to belay, tie knots and other climbing safety.

The Maine Outing Club is also well-known for their ski cabin, which is located near Sugarloaf Ski Mountain in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. The cabin was built in 1958 after the club leased some land from the Scott Paper Company. For over 60 years now, the cabin has stood tall, providing students with a place to stay after a long day of skiing. 

According to Fitz, it works similarly to a lodging service, where club members pay cabin dues in exchange for a free cabin during the ski season. This makes getting out and skiing more accessible for the average college student. Cabin dues are $70 a year, but if you attend the cabin work trip, they’re $40. 

The cabin work trip happens a week or two before the opening day of Sugarloaf. According to Fitz, the day’s main goal is to prepare the cabin for the incoming winter. Work on this trip usually consists of stacking or chopping wood, cleaning, collecting kindling and other small maintenance. At the end of the day, there is a large Thanksgiving feast for all who helped with the work trip. 

“It just feels like a big family dinner,” said Fitz. 

Kassandra Bruskotter is a third-year biology student and an active member of MOC. “The general energy of the group is very peaceful and like-minded. Everyone here has an innate respect for the outdoors, which I don’t find too often in other people in my generation,” said Bruskotter.

Harold Stanley Pike IV is a first-year undeclared student experiencing his first semester as a member of MOC. “Everybody is really friendly and nice. The trips are fun, and it’s been an overall good experience,” he said. 

MOC not only offers trips to its members but also has a gear rental service. Anything you need for a two to three-day trip in the woods, MOC has got its members’ backs. All overseen by the club’s gear chair and electrical engineering student, Ryan Shetzline, canoes, tents, daypacks, sleeping bags, camp stoves and sleeping bags are just some of the gear available for members of the outing club to rent. 

The Maine Outing Club’s history is a lot to sort through, but club historian and secretary Katie Richie has been hard at work the past two semesters piecing it all together. This past week, she hosted an Archive Raid on the third floor of the Fogler Library in the Special Collections room, where members sorted through the club’s six boxes of history, selecting pictures for a slideshow that will play at the club’s formal. 

The formal is called “100 Year Barn Bash” and will be held on Dec. 2 from 8:30p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Morgan Hill in Hermon, Maine. According to Fitz, the officers wanted to do something more special for the club’s centennial. The student band, Sizzle, will play before the officers take over with a well-thought-out playlist.

The Maine Outing Club invites you to celebrate 100 years of enabling students to get outdoors. Tickets for the 100-Year Barn bash are $15 in advance and can be purchased through their Instagram @maineoutingclub.

Jess Cleary-Reuning is a former MOC member.

This summer, tucked away in a wall of Carnegie Hall at the University of Maine, researchers at the VEMI Lab recovered nine life-sized paintings and a five-panel mural. Dating back to the 1960s, the colorful and abstract paintings depict people, towns and harbors. 

Upon entering the old Hollowell granite building of Carnegie Hall, a navy blue wall with large yellow letters reading “VEMI” stands tall. No one would guess that behind the wall of contrasting colors is a hollow storage space sealed shut by three screws. Not even the people at VEMI Lab, who had inhabited the building for almost 10 years, knew until they unscrewed the wall for electrical power this summer. According to Corey, they wanted to mount a TV on the opposite side of the “VEMI” wall, facing the inside of the building. 

RJ, the lab manager at VEMI Lab, was the first to peer into the space. 

According to Richard Corey, the director of VEMI Lab, the first words that left RJ’s mouth were, “Nope, Rick, this is all you.” 

As they began to pull the paintings out of the wall, Corey called George Kinghorn, the Senior Executive Director of Cultural Engagement and Arts Initiatives at the UMaine. Kinghorn oversees the Collins Center for the Arts, the Hudson Museum and the Zillman Art Museum. According to Corey, Kinghorn instructed the folks at VEMI Lab not to touch anything and to wait for them to come by to retrieve the paintings. People from Zillman Art Museum drove over a van and conducted, according to Corey, “the white glove treatment,” and took the artwork away. 

Corey said that Sarah Belisle, the registrar at the Zillman Art Museum, found three of the nine paintings in ZAM’s online database. Written as a note for the three paintings was “Carnegie Hall: In a wall.” 

The paintings are those of Richard Derby Tucker, a New York-born and Maine-based artist who lived from 1903 to 1979. He was known for his mod still-life paintings and was a founding member of the Maine Coast Artists in Rockport, Maine. 

The fact that paintings were found in a wall of Carnegie may seem surprising at first, but given the building’s extensive history, it’s to be expected.

“On occasion, you travel through this place, and you find weird things,” said Corey. 

As one of UMaine’s spookiest structures, Carnegie Hall stands out among the abundant brick buildings on campus. The hall was built in 1906 as a gift from the state legislature after they recognized UMaine as a public university. The eponymous Andrew Carnegie donated $50,000 to the Maine State Legislature to construct the new library. Carnegie was an industrialist who, between the years 1893 and 1919, donated $60 million to build 1,689 public libraries in the United States and the United Kingdom. 

It was an impressive library, with a glass dome as the ceiling above a flemished oak-finished rotunda. According to the UMaine website, the building had a stack room with iron stacks and glass floors. 

It was replaced by the well-known Fogler Library in 1947. The stack room was renovated as the Music and Arts Department moved into the building. In 1967, the rotunda was filled in, the dome was removed, and the oak finish was painted over or removed. 

The building still stands out today, but internally, it’s lost much of its original character. At one point, the walls were carpeted to accommodate the art gallery, now known as the Zillman Art Museum, that once inhabited the hall. There are big art sinks around the building, which were put in when the art department used the hall as a studio space. As of this past spring, a custom-built autonomous vehicle simulator sits in the hall. According to Corey, it is used to research human interactions with fully autonomous transportation systems. 

The recent discovery of Tucker’s paintings on a wall of Carnegie Hall provides a glimpse into the building’s history. Once a grand library, Carnegie has transformed over the decades into an eclectic home for everything from art studios to autonomous vehicle research. Like the building that housed it, the art has gone on an unexpected journey. Standing out on this campus of bricks, Carnegie Hall remains a monument to the university’s dynamic past, present, and future.

You don’t need to attend a football game to check all 50 items off the University of Maine’s “50 Things to Do Before You Graduate” bucket list. Number four is “Tailgate at the Homecoming Football game,” but you don’t need to step a single foot into the Alfond Stadium to achieve this. 

This lack of hype towards the football games from the university is reflected in student attendance. Not many students are attending the football games – at least not on a regular basis. 

Patty Andersen, a fourth-year education student, has never attended a UMaine football game. 

“I don’t like football,” she explained. “I’ve become pretty disenchanted with the university, which doesn’t make me want to go to the games anymore.” 

Sam Robinson, a second-year civil and environmental engineer, found himself at his first one two Saturdays ago on Sept. 30, when the Black Bears took on the Stoney Brook Seahawks. 

Robinson prefers outdoor recreational sports like climbing, biking and swimming, yet he found himself at Alfond Stadium upon request of his parents that Saturday night.

“I think football games are a little too long, not exciting, and I don’t know other students who go,” said Robinson. 

However, he was pleasantly surprised by his experience. Although Robinson sat in the general section, far away from the students, he still felt the comradery and school spirit in the stands. 

Gabe D’Angelo, a fourth-year kinesiology student, estimates that he attends around a fifth of the home football games. 

“The student section gets rowdy, and it’s fun, good energy,” D’Angelo said. “But, sometimes the energy isn’t there.” 

It seems like the hype for UMaine football is dwindling, even though it’s the first big sport of the year. You’d think that students would be stoked to be back on campus, supporting their team, but this isn’t always the case. 

Two months into the semester, the atmosphere shifts as students get ready to get rowdy for the UMaine hockey team. 

“The hockey games are very chaotic,” said Robinson, who is stoked to enter the Alfond arena more this year.

Students bring wild bundles of school spirit to UMaine hockey games. “The Naked 5” is a group of five students known for taking their shirts off at hockey games and running around the Alfond arena with the letters “M,” “A,” “I,” “N” and ‘E” painted on their stomachs. “The Naked 5” tradition has existed since 1993. 

Of course, this chaotic energy radiates through the student body, enticing more students to attend and motivating the players to make their fans happy with a win. 

Even UMaine’s bucket list urges students to attend the hockey games. Listing, “Sit in the student section at a UMaine vs. UNH men’s ice hockey game” as number 13 on their list. 

The UMaine football team does not receive this level of support from the student body. 

Ethan Crawford is a second-year student in UMaine’s five-year athletic training program. This fall, he sits on the sidelines with the football team as a part of their medical staff. 

Crawford explains that higher attendance rates at football games play an important role in the players’  morale. More students means more motivation for the players to perform well. 

“The players love it and need it. They love playing at home. They love their fans,” Crawford said.

Although he does not sit in the student section, he has traveled down to Florida International University and the College of William and Mary with the football team. 

At Florida International University, the student section was a wave of their school colors. 

“It was probably motivating for their players to see so much support from their fellow students,” said Crawford. 

At the College of William & Mary, the student section was sold out. 

“You can tell that it’s a school tradition to go to football games and go wild,” he said. 

According to Crawford, the UMaine student section at football games isn’t too bad. However, he notices many students sitting in the general section and wishes they would fill out the student section more. 

“If there were a way to entice students to gather in the student section, like a white-out or blackout game, maybe there’d be a better turnout,” said Crawford. 

Although the student section at the football game doesn’t feel as cohesive and uniting as at the hockey games, the students that attend do their best to be loud and to cheer on the players – and it works.

According to Crawford, after the Stoney Brook game ended, the players ran to the band, which sits on the edge of the student section, and jumped around and cheered with them. 

“It was electric in the stadium,” said Crawford. “The same kind of loudness you feel at a concert that just makes you happy.” 

Football games can be fun, and it is important for the student body to support their teams. 

There are two more home football games this semester: one on Oct. 28 against the University of Albany and the other on Nov. 4 against Hampton University. Show up and get rowdy. 

If you feel especially motivated to support our football boys, their final game of the season is only three hours away against our biggest rival, the University of New Hampshire. Carpool with some buddies and show your support on Nov. 18 as they battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket.