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WORLD WAR 1 CLASS WITH LOU SALOME

How World War I and Its Aftermath Created the Modern Middle East with Lou Salome on Wednesday, April 10, 17 & 24, 12-2 PM

First and foremost, there is a series of secret, duplicitous, and contradictory agreements that couldn’t be untangled and create lasting distrust. Imperialists (Britain and France) groped for more as old empires (namely, Ottoman) died. Add to that international intrigue (The League of Nations mandates — to the victors belong the spoils) conflicting with the promised but denied self-determination of some peoples, all mixed in with American isolationism. In the ashes of this explosive mix were many Arab peoples whom the West incredibly robbed of the opportunity to create their democracies. All of this is from a time when oil was barely mentioned. Online registration is required; please visit https://south-coast-senior-college.coursestorm.com or call South Coast Senior College at 274-3105.

 

The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport. For further information, please call 967-2778 or visit our website at www.graveslibrary.org.

MAINE ARTIST WADE ZAHARES – SEPTEMBER 14 @ 2:00 PM

THE PATSY BRAY MAHONEY LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS

We are so excited to invite the very talented Maine Artist Wade Zahares to Graves Library on Saturday, September 14 at 2 PM.

Wade works exclusively in pastels; he is drawn to the intimacy of the chalk and the ease with which he can blend colors. The magic happens in his studio, a converted shed just off his main house. The studio, equipped with 15-foot ceilings and a house gutter to catch all the pastel dust, is set on 5 1/2 acres of farmland in Lyman, Maine, just a few miles from the Kennebunk farm on which he grew up. When Wade needs a break, he goes for a drive to soak up the New England landscape—his biggest inspiration—or tends to his flowers, gardens, and fruit trees. Then he returns to his studio, refreshed and ready to make more magic.

Wade will be here to talk about his work and his passion and demonstrate how he goes about his craft.

Light refreshments will be provided by the Graves Library Snack Team. Please call the Library for more information on this event and the rest of the series (967-2778).

Parking is available along Maine Street, the North Street Fire Station Parking Lot, and Consolidated School (Route 9).

The Graves Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, Maine. Please enter through the white door in the Parking Lot.

JOURNALIST SHANNON MULLEN AND GUEST GOVERNOR JANET MILLS – NOVEMBER 5 – 2:00 PM

We hope you will join us on Sunday, November 5 at  2:00 p.m. for a very special event.  Journalist Shannon Mullen will be here (with a special appearance by Governor Janet Mills) to talk about her book  In Other Words, Leadership:  How a Young Mother’s Weekly Letters to Her Governor Helped Both Women Brave the First Pandemic Year.

 

This trip to the “Vacationland” of Maine — where the state motto is I Lead — offers an inspiring tale of civility and purpose, of doing the right thing and not just surviving, but prevailing.

The first woman to serve as Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, had been in office a year when COVID-19 reached the United States. The recently-widowed 72-year-old wrote in her journal there is “no playbook for a pandemic” as she imposed unprecedented restrictions on her state.

When early support for the governor’s response curdled to rampant opposition, a young mother named Ashirah Knapp sent a letter of support from a remote homestead in the woods of Maine. Ashirah’s handwritten dispatch detailed how the public health emergency was upending her family’s life and livelihood, and she promised to keep writing “every week until we are through this time” to remind the governor how many Mainers supported her despite the disruption.

Ashirah’s letters, with their simple wisdom and striking penmanship, stood out in a flood of correspondence Governor Mills was receiving that ranged in tone from appreciative to furious. They helped keep her grounded as she made wrenching, often unpopular choices.

Shannon A. Mullen weaves from these two women’s letters and the governor’s journal, which were never intended for publication, an intimate and compelling true story that is a celebration of civility and compassion in the face of rancor and of resolve in the face of adversity.

Copies of the book will be for sale.  Light refreshments will be served.  Doors open at 1:30.    Parking available at the Village Fire Station (North Street) and Consolidated School (Route 9).  Please call (207) 967-2778 for more information.

Governor Janet Mills:

Janet Trafton Mills is the 75th Governor of Maine and the first woman elected to that office. She was sworn in for her second consecutive term in January 2023 after winning re-election, having earned more votes than any previous Maine governor. She was also the first governor since 1970 to be elected with a majority of the vote, in her case for both terms. Under her leadership during the global COVID-19 pandemic Maine had one of the highest vaccination rates and lowest death rates in the US, as well as one of the strongest economic recoveries among the states. Governor Mills previously served as Maine’s first female Attorney General and its first woman district attorney, as well as in the state’s House of Representatives. She is step-mother to her late husband’s five daughters and a grandmother of five.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Shannon Mullen:

Shannon A. Mullen is a journalist, author, screenwriter and film producer, playwright and podcast host. She grew up in the White Mountains and Lakes Region of New Hampshire and studied pre-veterinary medicine at UNH after misinterpreting her love of storytelling, inspired by James Herriot’s books, as an inclination toward animal husbandry. She then earned a graduate degree in broadcast journalism at Boston University. Shannon went on to report for national programs on public radio for two decades, including Marketplace, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Her print journalism has been published by The New Yorker, The Boston Globe and Boston Magazine, among other outlets. She is also developing multiple projects for the screen and stage through her production company Broad Reach.

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