Here’s my attempt at a very brief update on the last month or so since I posted…it’s condensed and I’m leaving out a ton.
Hello, all!
In case anyone out there following this blog was worried that I got lost in Ireland’s rugged green terrain, or that I fell in love with an Irishman and decided to stay in Dublin forever, never fear! I managed to get back to ‘murica alive and well(-ish). I just got a bit lazy busy and haven’t updated my blog in a while. So sorry!
To bring you up to speed, the last few weeks of my semester in Ireland were sad and fun and weird and exciting and hard.
And now, I’M BACK. Well, I should say I was back. I was home in sweet St. Louis for only a very short while before I finally washed my clothes of that unmistakable Guinness smell and was on the road again. This time destination: Maine.
The state seemed a likely place for me to land, as the Eisenberg clan has some Maine history. My mom worked in Portland as an architect for a while and my dad attended a summer art program in Skowhegan. A group of the family was actually vacationing in Maine when I was born.
I’m working as one of two summer interns at the Ellsworth American, a small-town weekly. The other intern is my ex-fellow Missourian education beat reporter, Zach. Together, we produce material for Out & About in Downeast Maine, a special summer section of the regular paper.
Living in Ellsworth is kind of like being slapped across the face with Americana. It’s small, littered with Adirondack chairs and just brimming with charm. Zach and I are renting rooms in town from the lovely Bonnie and the house couldn’t be better — it’s about a 10 or 15-minute drive from the office and mere feet away from Graham Lake. Bonnie has two kayaks that we are free to take out and use to tool around to each of the little islands scattered about. We’ve done this once or twice..
I’m well into my fourth week of the job already and as far as I can tell they pay me to do fun things around the most beautiful parts of Maine and write about it.
Yes, folks I’m living the life.
On the job so far, I have: gone whale watching, ridden a go-karts, taken a ride in a horse-drawn carriage through Acadia National Park, interviewed a volunteer train conductor (who is also a Pew), seen a hand-built wood-firing kiln and watched a woman hand-dye wool using plants she grows in her garden, mingled with locals at the Blue Hill Farmer’s Market and interviewed the owners of a used book shop that once specialized in mystery novels.
There are a lot of things about the job that are new to me, but perhaps the most exciting — besides the fact that I’m getting paid to do journalism for the very first (and hopefully not last) time — is that I’m taking my own photos. The kind folks here at The American have loaned me my very own Nikon SLR for the summer and I’ve really enjoyed trying my hand at that aspect of storytelling.
Check out some of my subjects/ guinea pigs below, and thanks to them for being patient with me…
Other important points: I’ve found my coffee shop (Rooster Brother), and I discovered today that I definitely don’t miss the Missouri heat. I also promise to update more regularly. Until then, goodbye!
Abby Eisenberg 
Love your photos Ms A – they make me cooler – quite a feat – lv m
Afternoon on a Hill by Edna St Vincent Millay – another Maine poet
I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.
I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
And the grass rise.
And when lights begin to show
Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
And then start down!
Once again, this is so perfect Martha!
It sounds like you’ve been getting to do some awesome stories! Zach posted somewhere that you guys aren’t on a daily schedule, but I’d love to see your stories when you can put them up!
We’ll try to figure something out!