90th issue of Echoes released

    Echoes magazine launches its 23rd year of continuous publication with the release of its fall 2010 edition this month. Issue No. 90 contains stories by and about people in the St. John Valley, Houlton, Presque Isle and places in-between. Features include an article on the year-old Twenty 2 vodka distillery in Houlton and PAWS, a volunteer animal rescue project in Fort Kent.
    Every artist at a craft fair has a story, and writer Shari Ireland focuses on three of them in “Extraordinary People:” veteran photographer Oscar Nelder, Native American craftspeople Don and Dawn Paul, and painter Margaret Baker, whose image of Mt. Katahdin was selected for use in the movie Empire Falls.
    Mars Hill native Susan Dahlgren Daigenault details one of the ways her father overcame the effects of surviving World War II in “Delivering Gifts,” and Dorothy Fitzpatrick of Houlton describes the impact of losing the family home to fire in 1989.
    Aroostook County authors also are featured in the new Echoes with illustrated commentaries on books by Glenna Johnson Smith, Sandra Newman, Gordon Hammond, Polly Christie Gray, Tim Caverly and Betheny Anderson.
    An article about Addie O’Brien, a frontier Aroostook County school teacher in the1870s, continues a series by Pamela Snow Sweetser – “Sunshine and Shadow” – that was introduced in Issue No. 89. In another continuing story – “From Maine to Thailand” – Roger Parent of South Bend, Ind., pays tribute to his parents and teachers in Lille for their roles in encouraging him and his siblings to attend college.
    A colorfully illustrated feature by Bangor native David Parker of Rochester, N.Y., recalls the beautiful magazine published by the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad to attract readers to vacation in northern Maine. The article is titled “Selling Northern Maine: Ride the B&A to Paradise.”
    Columnist Lucy Leaf of Surry promotes “The Freedom of a Maine Walk-about” in her column “From the Cabin” and Glenna Johnson Smith of Presque Isle reflects on the origins of prejudice in “Carefully Taught.”
    Echoes No. 90 contains poetry by Ethel Pochocki of Brooks, David Brainerd of Howland, Dorothy Nash Gibson of Rockland and Mary Niles of Presque Isle. The trademark front cover frames a striking color photo by Kathy Lena of Orono, who captured the essence of autumn in a reflected farm scene.
    Published quarterly from offices in Caribou and printed in Presque Isle at Print Works, Echoes is dedicated to rediscovering community – preserving qualities of life at risk in today’s society. It is available on newsstands and by subscription. www.echoesofmaine.com