Dear Friends,
I’m excited about my new summer read, x + y: A Mathematician's Manifesto for Rethinking Gender by Dr. Eugenia Cheng. At first, it was because I’m a mathematician at heart and by education, and it seemed like a nice scholarly escape from the escalating climate and virus catastrophes eating away at my hopefulness from earlier in the summer.
I have only read the preface so far, and I’m now excited about the possibility of it being much more than a rejuvenating escape.
Dr. Cheng writes that she is starting this book in the beginning of the global pandemic and has no idea what the world will be like when the book reaches our hands. She goes on to say, “...one thing that this worldwide crisis has grimly illuminated is a sharp opposition between those who think as individuals and those who think as a community. We see individuals deciding how much risk of infection they are going to take, as if this decision is their own private one, affecting them alone.”
The author believes that we need “individuals acting on behalf of the community, to reduce the risk to the community and protect our collective health. This contrast between individualistic thinking and community-minded thinking is the major theme throughout this book.”
This calls to me in such a fundamental way and community-minded thinking is exactly the way MaineShare member groups approach the biggest issues of our day.
In this month’s newsletter, we share some great opportunities to get outside and support some wonderful community-minded organizations who are combining education, conservation, and supports for better living to help us all create a better normal.
I hope you have a great summer read & take advantage of some of the great opportunities below.
Gratefully yours,
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Brenda Peluso (she/her/hers), Interim Director
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Hardy G*rls Healthy Wom*n (HGHW) is excited to restart their in-person programming with a FREE Waterville-area summer camp for girls and gender-expansive youth. Camp Brilliance is focused on art, activism, coalition building, and celebrating youth brilliance. Over the course of the week, camp attendees will develop a social action project, learn about ways to make a positive change in their community, and get messy making art. Camp Brilliance will be led by HGHW staff, members of their G*rls Advisory Board, and trained adult volunteers.
Camp Brilliance will take place August 16-20th from 9am to 3pm each day.
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Sign Up for Bike Maine’s New Mountain Biking and Urban Riding Classes, or Women’s Ride Summer Series |
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These on-bike courses are aimed at adults and teens at the beginner or intermediate levels looking to get more confident on their bikes.
BCM also has two Women’s Ride Summer Series dates this month—on the evenings of August 11 and August 25—for ladies looking to get more comfortable with group rides.
Like most of the BCM’s programming, these classes and rides are FREE and being offered in an effort to get more people biking. However, spots are limited, so use the links above to register ahead of time.
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Outdoor Fun for the Whole Family
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The Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center is a great place to explore Maine’s largest salt marsh by foot, canoe, or kayak. The center provides a variety of naturalist-guided and self-guided tours, as well as exhibits, a nature trail, canoe/kayak rentals, and a Maine Audubon Nature Store.
Scarborough Marsh provides critical habitat for a broad array of wildlife, particularly birds. Waterfowl, egrets, herons, Glossy Ibis and many species of shorebirds depend on this rich ecosystem for food, a place to rest during migration, and nesting habitat. The marsh is also an excellent spot to find a number of grassland songbirds not commonly found in other parts of Maine, as well as various birds of prey that hunt in the marsh throughout the year. Muskrat, mink, otter, and deer also frequent the wetland.
Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center is open daily 9:30 am to 5:30 pm through September. Reservations are recommended for canoe/kayak rentals.
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Turning Challenges Into Opportunities -
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If you are considering giving your career, your new business, or your personal budget a boost, New Ventures Maine (NVME) is offering online courses and coaching this summer and fall that can help. NVME provides tools and support to help you find a new job or career, further your education, start a business, or manage your money.
Upcoming workshops include:
Job Search: three one-hour interactive workshops to build your toolkit for career planning, resume development, and interviewing. Tuesday classes meet August 3 to August 17, 2021.
Make the Most of Your Money: three one-hour interactive classes on budgeting, reducing your debt and improving your credit, and building savings. Thursday classes meet August 5 to 19, 2021.
Venturing Forth: Business Planning for Entrepreneurs: a 60-hour course in business planning will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from September to December. Create your business plan through in-depth exploration of your customer, competition, marketing, taxes, financing, legal aspects, and more. An application, orientation attendance, and interview are required to join this class.
Upcoming workshops and classes are listed on the NVME website, or call toll-free in Maine: 800-442-2092.
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Disability Rights Maine (DRME) manages two programs related to telecommunications that help connect people to the community: The Telephone Equipment Program (TEP) and Maine Relay Services.
TEP is for qualifying individuals who experience barriers when using a standard telephone - including hearing loss, vision loss, mobility and speech disabilities. For more information and to access the application, click here.
Maine Relay is a free service which allows those with hearing and/or speech disabilities to access telecommunications services. The service allows users to communicate by phone through specially trained relay operators, or captioners. Additional telecommunication relay services available include Relay Conference Captioning (RCC), Sprint IP Relay, and Sprint WebCapTel are available for Mainers.
For more information or assistance applying, please contact Debra Bare-Rogers at DRogers@drme.org.
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Camping Meetup with Sierra Club Maine: Aug 9-13th
Sierra Club Maine's outings program is ramping back up and they want to spend time in nature with you! Their first offering is a mid-week camping meetup at Mt. Blue State Park, Aug 9-13th. Sierra Club is excited for some adventure and in-person socializing! Feel free to come for a night, or all four.
Register here, and please include your plans in the comments field.
For any questions, please email Maine.Chapter@sierraclub.org.
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This is just a small sampling of the critical work MaineShare members do to build a better Maine. Please join us in supporting and learning from the great work of ALL our member groups.
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