On The Chris Wolf Show for Wednesday, December 8, 2015, our guest was Phil Crossman, notoriously of Vinalhaven, Maine.

Frank Sinatra sings “I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king”. Phil seems to have lead a similarly charmed life, being an entrepreneur, a raconteur, an author, a musician, a thespian, storyteller, humorist, historian and pundit.

A recent article in the Island Institute’s Working Waterfront describes Phil’s life as full of challenges:

“He is suspicious, for example, of joining in his neighbors’ friendly croquet games, certain he is “fodder.” He describes his wife Elaine, an artist and gallery owner, tolerating his own aesthetic limitations. He is impatient with inefficient, nonsensical government policies and practices. He—a veteran—passionately opposes senseless war, and as a volunteer and sometimes town official, passionately supports community services for those in need of help.

He suffers poor quality beer on the island, rigged duck races, vandalism, trash along the roads and beaches, and a lack of interest in elected offices, but celebrates the high caliber of local theater and music (including that of his a cappella group, Phil ‘n’ the Blanks), the occasional martini tasting, and those who work to preserve the island’s beauty.

Some recent writing resulted from a challenge he gave himself: to circumambulate Vinalhaven’s coastal edge, walking around the island at low tide in stretches over the course of a few years.“

Phil as written two books, “Away Happens” and recently “Observations: A Maine Island, a Century of Newsletters and the Stories Found Between the Lines”.

The show was broadcast on WRFR Community Radio, Channel 7 Time Warner Maine Coast TV, and streamed live on www.mainecoast.tv/streaming, 8:00-9:00 a.m. EST.

It’s that time of year. Thanksgiving has just passed and Christmas is coming up. No sign of snow yet, but the season is here with Christmas by the Sea in Camden the big event for this weekend.

On The Chris Wolf Show for Friday, December 4, 2015, our guest was Karen Brace, Camden’s new Community Development Director, who will fill us in about all the happenings for this year’s Christmas by the Sea Celebration, running from December 3 to December 6.

They will have several new activities this year for children and adults during the celebrations in Camden, Rockport, and Lincolnville.

On Wednesday morning, December 2, 2015, The Chris Wolf Show featured some special guests from the PAWS Animal Shelter in Camden including Amie Hutchinson and Holly Raasch along with some friends from the shelter.

The show was broadcast on WRFR Community Radio, Channel 7 Time Warner Maine Coast TV, and streamed live on www.mainecoast.tv/streaming.

Amie Hutchison, Executive Director of P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption Center – Amie has worked with mid-coast Maine non-profits for the past 10 years alternating between programs for kids and animals. She has two dogs of her own.

Holly Raasch, Assistant Director of Operations for P.A.W.S. Holly has worked for P.A.W.S part time for many years and recently came on board full time as the Assistant Director of Operations. She has a cat and dog at home – both very special adoptions from P.A.W.S.

No animals will be hurt during the making of this show, although they will be subjected to a relentless barrage of Wolf puns and will be tickled until they laugh.

The Chris Wolf Show is a joint project of PenBay Pilot, WRFR FM Community Radio and Maine Coast TV Community Television.

Wendy Harvey, of Hope, is no stranger to the plight of the American Mustang. She spent most of last winter and spring gentling and training a wild roan mustang from the Wyoming plains. It was all part of the Extreme Mustang Makeovers, a nationwide effort to raise awareness of America’s wild horses and find them homes, as their grazing territory continues to shrink.

By August, Freedom, the traumatized mustang, had blossomed under Harvey’s quiet and persistent touch. At the Extreme Makeover competition in Massachusetts, Harvey took Freedom to 10th place in a contest that inspires the best in horse trainers.

Freedom came back to her new home in Hope, and by Thanksgiving, she was one of the herd at Equine Connections, where Harvey boards and trains horses, and teaches people not only horsemanship, but how to build healthier relationships between humans and equines.
“I am devoted to the business of helping horses,” she said.

She is particular concerned about the American Mustang, whose habitat has shrunk, as the industries of oil, gas and cattle have driven those wild horses into the violent round-ups. Those wild horses are pushed in captivity in order to get them off open land. Some perish in those round-ups. Many get trucked to slaughter houses in Mexico for money. Others spend the rest of their days in cramped, substandard corrals.

A few, very few, like Freedom, find the grace of humans such as Harvey.

On Monday morning, November 30, 2015, the special guest on The Chris Wolf Show was David Troup of Camden, Maine.

The show was broadcast on WRFR Community Radio, Channel 7 Time Warner Maine Coast TV, and streamed live onwww.mainecoast.tv/streaming, 8:00-9:00 a.m. EST.

David Troup is a company member of Camden’s Everyman Repertory Theatre and is also a lifetime member of NYC’s Actors Studio.

David is the Communications Officer at the Farnsworth Art Museum, and is a 4th degree black belt in Shorin-ryu Karate which he teaches at the Pen Bay Y.

This show features many of the overwhelming talents of David and Chris including inspired singing as well as their gift of wit.

Remember the Blue Dots who used to inhabit Rockport? Named after the old Sylvania Blue Dot flashbulbs, they were the students of the Maine Photo Workshop. We used to see them everywhere on the streets dressed in black with cameras, lights, and other equipment working on their photography and film projects.

But now we no longer see them. Are they gone? Perhaps another victim of global warming?

No! They’re still around, bigger and better as the Maine Media Workshops + College at their campus on Camden Street in Rockport.

On Wednesday morning, November 25, 2015, The Chris Wolf Show hosted Meg Weston, President of MMW and Elizabeth Greenberg, Vice President in charge of all their programs. You’ll find out all about what they are up to now, where they’re going, and see lots of interesting pictures and videos about their work. And you’ll find out about the Blue Dots.

The show was broadcast on WRFR Community Radio, Channel 7 Time Warner Maine Coast TV, and streamed live on www.mainecoast.tv/streaming.

The Chris Wolf Show is a joint project of PenBay Pilot, WRFR FM Community Radio and Maine Coast TV Community Television.

On Monday morning, November 23, 2015, the special guest on The Chris Wolf Show was Sandra Lauterbach of Clearbrook SeniorCare, Inc. on Pearl Street in Camden, Maine. Sandra was joined on the show by her manager Angie Ross.

The show was broadcast on WRFR Community Radio, Channel 7 Time Warner Maine Coast TV, and streamed live on www.mainecoast.tv/streaming.

The Chris Wolf Show is a joint project of PenBay Pilot, WRFR FM Community Radio and Maine Coast TV Community Television.

Sandra left her career as a biotech executive in Boston to relocate back to Maine to take care of her mother and start a help at home business. Her parents were her inspiration and the business is dedicated to them. The name “Clearbrook” is a creative translation of her last name, Lauterbach.

Sandra purchased a home in Camden that was a former physician’s office and his home. She gutted and renovated the home to accommodate Clearbrook’s business needs. The house was built in 1850 and she kept most of the original detail to follow the “Federal “ style architecture. Clearbrook now has a reception area and office, with its own private entrance and parking.

Sandra put the business “on hold” while she took care of her mom whose healthcare needs increased significantly over the past two years. Her mom passed away in February 2015.

In June 2015, after Sandra’s mother’s “Celebration of Life” ceremony, she launched Clearbrook with all her energy and enthusiasm. With the help of two consultants with experience in the ‘help at home’ arena, the business expanded quickly. She now has 15 employees and a full time manager. Many of her employees cared for her mom while employed at her assisted living home.

Sandra is actively recruiting for new caregivers and raising awareness about Clearbrook via various channels (in-services at Pen Bay Medical Center, visits to assisted living facilities, rack cards at various businesses, word-of-mouth, etc).

On Friday morning, November 20, 2015, the special guest on The Chris Wolf Show will be Louise MacLellan-Ruf, the new mayor of the City of Rockland.

Louise has been a guest on The Chris Wolf Show in the past and is always very engaging. This show should be very worthwhile watching if you’re a resident of Rockland or of Midcoast Maine. Not only might you learn something new, but Louise is very refreshing as a politician. Definitely not one of “the good old boys”. She listens. She thinks. And she decides based on what is the best for the people she represents.

The Chris Wolf Show is a joint project of PenBay Pilot, WRFR FM Community Radio and Maine Coast TV Community Television.

Erja Lipponen, of Camden, has seen much of the world, and she now takes travelers to explore with through her businesses, Eurynome Journeys and WanderWoman tours.

On the most recent October trip to Greece it became clear to her that global dynamics have altered the landscape to degrees not witnessed before. On a sleepy Greek island in a community with similarities to Camden — with its restaurants and galleries and yoga — in came a steady stream of Syrian refugees, who had been at sea aboard inflatable boats.

They came beleaguered, traumatized hungry. Some babies had not eaten in days, their mother’s milk had dried up with the stress of their journey from Syria, through Turkey, and then to Greece. Some carried pets they could not bear to leave behind.

More recently, boats have capsized and children have been lost at sea.

Onshore, local citizens are helping the refugees, with few nongovernmental organizations nearby to help. It has fallen to the local community to feed, clothe and assist the refugees on their road.

The show was broadcast on WRFR Community Radio, Channel 7 Maine Coast TV, and streamed live on www.mainecoast.tv/streaming.

The Chris Wolf Show is a joint project of PenBay Pilot, WRFR FM Community Radio and Maine Coast TV Community Television.