Coffeehouse observation No. 244

Watching the Patriots stomp the Chicago Bears. I would not have thought the first half would have gone quite like this.

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Coffeehouse observation No. 243

OK, it appears as if the coffeehouse staff is going through Pandora’s entire disco collection. And it’s rather large. Rather large. “… Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight …”

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Luck holds out for proud leader and his troops | Maine Sunday Telegram

BANGOR – Back in late June, as I awaited my helicopter ride out of a remote military encampment hard by Afghanistan’s rugged border with Pakistan, Maine Army National Guard Capt. Paul Bosse and I had what was for the time being a very off-the-record, very sobering conversation.

It was about the many dangers still facing the 148 members of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Mountain Infantry at Combat Outpost Dand wa Patan – right smack in the middle of a region where the Taliban and other insurgents can be here, there and everywhere yet simultaneously nowhere to be seen.

Less than halfway through its nine-month deployment, Bravo Company had yet to lose a single soldier. But summer was now upon them – and with it, a widely expected uptick in insurgent activity.

“Think your luck will hold out?” I asked Bosse.

“I hope so,” he replied. “But there’s no way I’d guarantee it.”

Thursday afternoon, as the last planeload of Bravo Company’s soldiers disappeared into a wave of wives, children and other well-wishers at the Armed Forces Reserve Center, I sat down with Bosse in a quiet side room and, first and foremost, congratulated the 37-year old company commander on getting every last one of his men home.

Click for the rest of the column by Bill Nemitz in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Art for Haiti’s sake, as sale helps Konbit Sante: Media coverage of the traumatized nation has faded, so the sale in Portland also rekindles awareness | Maine Sunday Telegram

PORTLAND – The holiday season is bustling with weekend craft fairs, but one art sale Saturday served a special purpose.

The Konbit Sante Art Sale had three goals – raise money for the organization, raise awareness of Haiti’s plight and promote the work of Haitian artists.

The idea for the art sale was born when Skeek Frazee of South Portland, a member of the Konbit Sante Board of Directors, asked her women friends in the community for help in raising money.

“Women see it as a win-win,” said Karin Anderson, a principal of the Dala Consulting Group in Portland. In addition to buying art, “You learn through the art and conversations they have (about the art).”

Click for the rest of the story by Emma Bouthillette in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Clawing her way to new heights | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Clawing her way to new heights | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.

Coffeehouse observation No. 242

There’s an eclectic music selection at the coffeehouse today.  “Peaches” by the Presidents of the U.S.A. was followed by Johnny Cash’s “Will the Circle be Unbroken.” Now, some disco song is playing. See, eclectic.

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