DRAGONST. GEORGETHE

A bi-weekly publication of Dragon’s Breath Communications, LLC

For the past seven years Kevin Curtin has divided his time between teaching English to students at the University of Maine Augusta and building stone walls for local clients. On the surface, these two occupations seem worlds apart. But to Curtin both are about what he calls “the music of language.”

“The English language has a certain rhythm, a certain cadence when it’s expressed well and not full of a lot of latinate words—you begin to hear the sound of the writing in your head. Shake-speare, for all his mellifluousness, has a lot of rock solid stones in his prose. These monosyllabic words set the rhythm. It’s the same thing with certain stones in a wall that set a pattern. I like to see a wall that I can read, where I can see harmony or a play of shapes that produces dynamism.”

Curtin got started “walling” by excavating rocks from his wife’s herb beds behind their Hart’s Neck house near Blueberry Cove Camp, which they purchased in 1997. He then turned his attention to rescuing the tumbled stone wall that bounded their property along Hart’s Neck Road.

“I learned a lot from working on that wall—and from reading some good books. The Granite Kiss by Kenneth Gardner was a very practical guide to all the aspects of wall building.”

His neighbors, impressed with the results of Curtin’s early la-bors, began asking him for help mending the walls at their prop-erties. Since then word-of-mouth recommendations have made walling as important as his academic work when it comes to earn-ing a living. “It’s now a perfect balance in terms of finding two

Volume 4 Issue 18

Thursday, November 3, 2016

When a love of language is the driving force behind a Waller’s art

Continued on page 2

things that I love that pay enough to make a living when you put them together,” Curtin says with evident satisfaction.

Much of Curtin’s walling work involves “bringing up” old walls, grubbing rocks from the ruins of an original structure and reset-ting them. He points to a wall across the road from his house that he worked on this past summer. “My job was to rebuild the gaps in the wall,” he explains. “That was an easy wall because it had a lot of great stone—broad, wide bases, good faces, some level surfaces—stones that have a presence.”

The key to a rugged, stable wall, he says, is both good drainage and a well-packed interior. “Most of the work with stonework is prep work—you need a solid base of crushed stone and you want to make sure that the base stones are not tipping.”

Curtin’s personal preferences also play a big role in the choices he makes as he builds up his walls. “For me it’s an aesthetic thing. When I look at walls I like to see negative space. The magic of rustic

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“For me it’s an aesthetic thing. When I look at walls I like to see negative space. The magic of rustic walls is light catching them at different angles and different times of day—the light contrasting with the dark gives the wall drama.”

PHOTO: Julie Wortman

Kevin Curtin

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The St. George DRAGONPage 2 November 3, 2016

walls is light catching them at different angles and different times of day—the light contrasting with the dark gives the wall drama. I look at Irish walls, for example, and I think that’s all very good, but it is very flinty, small rock. And then I look at walls down in Ken-tucky or Pennsylvania where the rocks break really straight and I think anyone could build one of these walls, they’re Lego walls. But what I like with New England walls is that there are certain en-demic shapes—because there’s a lot of granitic stuff here, a rounder stone, stone of different shapes, rocks that are pockmarked. For me the fascination is putting rocks in a wall that have a presence, not just the individual beauty of the rock but how it’s laid in with the other rocks. I like to see stones well laid naturally. When you read a wall you can really see if someone laid the stones in a balanced way.”

One thing that Curtin shies away from is building a wall where the rocks fit together very tightly. “There’s a temptation to cut the rock to get tighter and tighter fits, but the tighter a wall gets it moves me less and less. It is not as dramatic. When it gets to a cer-tain tightness to me it becomes a wall of affluence more suited to an urban or suburban setting. It’s just a different philosophy. I don’t like there to be spaces where stones can shift, but I do like negative space, which can mean larger cracks.”

Related to this way of thinking is Curtin’s low-tech approach—on his website he tells prospective clients that, “showing up to build with a few tools, you’ll hear no noise, drama or work gangs—just me.” His preference, he says, is for finding the right rock for the purpose at hand. “I think you’re supposed to look at the hole in a wall and what it might call for and then look at your pile of rock and remember the shape that you need. It takes time to get it. In-stead of taking a rock and making it fit in the wall by sawing it, you look at what the wall needs and find that rock.”

At this, Curtin returns to his love of language to amplify his meaning. “Rockwork is so much like writing—you have to let a

‘Waller’s art’ From page 1

draft cool and then, when you come back to it, you can see more clearly the changes that are needed to make it so much better. It is a process, a process of stepping back from the minute to looking at the big picture, back and forth all the time. It never gets boring.” After a reflective pause, he adds, “When you set a stone into a wall and it just clicks into place—like a mot juste in writing—if you’re not thrilled by that, it is time to quit.”

To find out more about Curtin’s stone wall business, which he calls Stone Boat Walls, go to stoneboatwalls.com. “Stone Boat” is a reference to a Robert Frost poem called “A Star in a Stone Boat.” Says Curtin, “It is a whimsical meditation on perhaps how stars might occasionally make it into walls, through the inadvertent of-fices of some Waller, who one day perhaps loaded this intersteller import into a wall somewhere—‘He moved it roughly with an iron bar,/ He loaded an old stone-boat with the star’/.”—JW

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PHOTO: Kevin Curtin

A wall in process

The St. George DRAGON Page 3November 3, 2016

Left to right, Sonja Schmanska, Josie Mathiau, Alison England, Sadie Davis, Ashby Bartke, Hunter Hoppe, Drew Minery, Josh McPhail

The St. George Municipal School Unit (MSU) is thriving in our second year as an in-dependent school district. We are working to become a certified Expeditionary Learning school (more info at eleducation.org); have established strong partnerships with commu-nity organizations that enrich our students’ education; and have a talented staff dedicated to all of our students in grades K-12.

As we move forward as an independent district, we are working to wrap up the re-maining obligations from the Withdrawal Agreement with RSU 13. At a Special District Budget Meeting on October 19, community members voted unanimously to expend up to $190,503.74 from the School District’s fund balance to pay RSU 13 the remaining obliga-tions under Section 18 of the Withdrawal Agreement.

This payment will come entirely from the School District’s fund balance (i.e., money left over from last year’s budget) and will have no effect on the current assessment, tax rate, or school budget. This is a legal obligation that the Town accepted when it voted to withdraw from RSU 13 and create the MSU.

As required by State statute, on Election Day—November 8—there will be a referendum question asking for voter authorization to pay this legal obligation (again, it will have no effect on the current assessment, tax rate, or school budget). On behalf of the entire School Board, I would like to ask all St. George residents to vote yes on this referendum question so we can move forward as an independent school district focused on our students, this community, and the future.

—Michael Felton, Superintendent / Special Education Director, St. George Municipal School Unit (For more information on the special school budget referendum contact Felton at m.felton@stgeorgemsu.org, 207-372-6312.)

Special school budget referendum

The St. George School Middle Level Team (Sonja Schmanska, Alison England, Josh McPhail, and Ashby Bartke) have been awarded the 2016 Exemplary Practice Award by the Maine Association for Middle Level Education (MAMLE). This award recognizes mid-dle level educators who have designed and implemented powerful programs that engage and challenge their students.  On October 20, at MAMLE’s annual conference, the Middle Level Team accepted the Exemplary Practice Award.  They were joined by St. George high school students Sadie Davis (Medomak Valley High School), Josie Mathiau (Lincoln Acad-emy), Hunter Hoppe (Camden Hills Regional High School), and Drew Minery (Camden Hills Regional High School).  Before accepting the award, the Middle Level Team and students co-presented at a conference session focused on last year’s Alewife Project.

Teaching team receives award

PHOTO: Courtesy St. George School

The St. George DRAGONPage 4 November 3, 2016

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LORI ALEXANDER207.837.0804

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Peggy Crockett 542-3105peggycrockett@gmail.com

Specializing in properties on the St. George peninsula

Port Clyde Christian Church is featur-ing two popular movies in November, ap-proved for all ages—Woodlawn (Friday, November 11 at 6pm) and Jungle Book (Friday, November 25 at 6pm). Refresh-ments (organic popcorn/cocoa/homemade candies) will be provided. The church is lo-cated at 861 Port Clyde Road.

Woodlawn (licensed to the church from Provident Films) is a moving and inspira-tional film in which a gifted high school football player must learn to boldly em-brace his talent and his faith as he battles racial tensions on and off the field. The film is based on a true story from the early 1970s in Birmingham, Alabama. The Woodlawn Colonels football team is a microcosm of the problems at the school and in the city, which erupts in cross burnings and riots. Coach Tandy Gerelds (Nic Bishop), a disci-plinarian, is at a loss to solve these unprec-edented challenges. But when an outsider, Hank (Sean Astin), convinces Coach Ge-relds to let him speak to the team, some-thing truly remarkable begins to happen that affects the school and the community in ways no one could have imagined.

In Jungle Book (Walt Disney Pictures, 2016, licensed to the Church through

CVLI), after a threat from the tiger Sher Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named, Mowgli, embarks on a journey of self discovery with the aid of the panther, Bagheera, and the free-spirited bear, Baloo.

Both film screenings are free and open to the public.  FMI call 372-8292 or go to www.portclydechurch.org  or Facebook Port Clyde Christian Church.

—Angela Anderson

November movie nights at Port Clyde Christian Church

The St. George DRAGON Page 5November 3, 2016

The St. George Dragon is published by Dragon’s Breath Communications, LLC. Our mission is to promote the good things about St. George: its natural beauty, its heritage, its hard-working and creative people, its cul-tural and recreational life, its commu-nity organizations, its attractive and often unique local enterprises. Our advertisers are local businesses and groups devoted to creating a pros-perous and vital St. George. We hope you will support them!

The St. George Dragon is distributed to local retail outlets and businesses on Thursdays. The deadline for ad-vertising and copy is on Monday 10 days prior to publication date.

Submit story ideas and photos to:Julie@StGeorgeDragon.com

Julie Wortman, Editor 207 691-3234

Advertising and business office:Betsy@StGeorgeDragon.comBetsy Welch, 207 975-5072

© 2016 Dragon’s Breath Communications LLCP.O. Box 1, Tenants Harbor, ME 04860

Whose plate expresses a desire for peace and quiet after a busy summer season?—Betsy Welch

Who’s behind the wheel? Email your answer to betsy@stgeorgedragon.com. The first reader to respond correctly wins a free business-size ad in the print edition of The Dragon.

Cassi Evans knew Tara Elwell’s plate TARABLE in the October 20 issue.

St. George VANITZNov 11 Senior Shopping Trip Call 372-6363 for infoNov 11 Movie: Woodlawn at Port Clyde Christian Church, 6pmNov 15 Senior Pot Luck Luncheon 11:30 Town Office Nov 25- YULETIDE in St. George, 26 A shopping experienceNov 25 Movie: Jungle Book at Port Clyde Christian Church, 6pm Dec 3 35th Annual St. George Grange Christmas Fair, Wiley’s Corner 9am-3pm PUBLIC Supper, 5-7pm

Upcoming EventsTuesdays

10:00am Story time for toddlers3:00pm Regular Bridge Game

Wednesdays10:00 Qi Gong

Thursdays12:00pm Free Tech Help

Fridays 1pm Mah Jong Game

First Tuesdays10:15am JML Book Club

Second Tuesdays10:00am Men’s Discussion Group

Third Tuesdays10:30am Prostate Support Group

Fourth Fridays10:00am Mystery Book Club

Jackson Memorial Library71 Main St. Tenants Harbor

At the libraryOngoing programs,

all are welcome!

PHOTO: Steve Cartwright

Where in St. George...?

Do you know where this is? Email your answer to betsy@stgeorgedragon.com. The first correct answer wins a free busi-ness card-sized ad in The Dragon.

John Bly knew the engraved poem at the Fishermen’s Memorial at Marshall Point featured in the October 20 issue.

www.stgeorgebusinessalliance.com

Promoting commerce and the arts, supporting the community’s valuable non-profit organizations and making the town an attractive destination for tourists and future neighbors.

The St. George DRAGONPage 6 November 3, 2016

Stationery, Brochures, Newsletters,Posters, Rack Cards, Post Cards,

Print Consulting...To name a few

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Home projectsRepairsRenovationsProperty management

ALAN LETOURNEAU

REOPENING SATURDAY, NOV. 5after a 2-week vacation.

Wed-Sat, 10-5 until Thanksgiving,then daily thru Dec. 22!

Rt. 131 at Barter Hill Road, Tenants Harbor, ME207.372.8102 www.bluetulipmaine.com

Plant Bulbs NOW forSPRING COLOR!!

Amaryllis, Paperwhites also available!

PHOTO: Courtesy St. George School

At the end of September, the 8th Grade class went to a leadership school called Camp Kieve. This is a camp where you learn how to team build and to make our class more collaborative as a whole. We did some team-building challenges; we climbed rock walls and rope courses, and we had some great discussion classes where we reflected on successes and failures. We stayed there for five days and four nights. We were also there with two other schools. We stayed with Winslow and a Massachusetts school. Every day was a new experience.

During the daytime of our stays, we did some pretty fun stuff. We’d wake up around 6:30am and get ready for the day in our cabin. To start the day, we would head up to the main hall called “Pasquaney” where we would have breakfast. We would always be excited for the day ahead of us because we knew we’d have a new experience every day. After breakfast we would go to our classroom and talk about what challenging activities we were going to try and accom-plish as a team in the first half of the day.

After our daily challenge we would go back to Pasquaney for a snack. Then we would go down to a fire pit where the na-ture trails were by Damariscotta Lake. We would get to explore and play games like man hunt and hide and seek for about an hour and a half after which we would go back up for lunch. After lunch we would get a choice time to choose what we wanted to do for an hour. After that we had anoth-er snack time which then would lead into two more choice times. When those choice times were over we would get in line for dinner. When dinner was over we would

A week spent at Camp KieveBy Logan Putansu and Obie Miller

then have a nightly activity or game which involved every school that was there. When the activities were over we would go back to our cabins and get settled down and ready for bed. Lights were out at 9:15pm.

The meals at Kieve were amazing. Kieve had this interesting way of not wasting any food. It’s called ORT. An ort is a scrap or morsel of food left at the end of a meal, so ORT at Camp Kieve means the amount of food wasted during the meal we had. One of the people who worked there told us that a human eats about one pound of food a day. The point of ORT is so that people don’t take what they’re not going to eat. If your cabin table ate all their food, you could yell a chant. The boys’ cabin didn’t waste any food any of the days.

Overall, everybody had an amazing time. It was a great opportunity to work as a team, support each other, and try things we’ve never tried before. We would like to go back! Many of us agree that regular school should be more like Kieve, with a mix of challenge, play, learning and reflec-tion.

(Putansu and Miller are Grade 8 students at the St. George School.)