Presque Isle and surrounding communities in The County have an impressive record of musical achievement. Graduates of Presque Isle High School, for instance, have performed around the world.
Gordon Tweedie exemplifies this well. His voice has been heard in performance spaces in Europe, the U.S. and other places. He even has a website devoted to explaining the nuances of classical opera for students.
Buck Edwards is hitting the top of the country charts in Europe with his collections of songs and parodies of the K-tel song collections that used to be on the air. John Cariani has written about Aroostook County and sung for his supper on Broadway. The list goes on.
However, there is little remembrance at the high school and far less acknowledgement in the hometown media.
The latest County members to gain a national honor are Madawaska High School Marching Band students.
Political strife is nothing new. It is rare for a single group to be invited to perform on a national stage. However, the Trump Inauguration Committee extended an invitation to Madawaska’s marching band. The only band in the entire state of Maine to receive such an honor.
Not a word written or broadcast of this achievement until an outcry on Facebook. Where was our media champion? No posting of Youtube clips; no interview at the time of the announcement; nothing until the denizens of Facebook sang out. This is wrong. It shows a slothlike disregard for possibilities in our communities.
The trite announcement 24 hours after downstate media made the announcement seemed insincere. Twenty-seven students, their parents, and their friends will go and represent the State of Maine at this inauguration. It is a moment for Aroostook County to shine and yet the local news gatherers had nothing timely.
Chagrin is an appropriate response. Yet, where was leadership? Those young men and women deserve better. May they have a moment in the sun. Perhaps at sometime in the near future there will be coverage of what area residents are doing to build up the image of The County outside of Aroostook. Perhaps at some point the simpering hordes of sycophants will hold the reporting staff to professional standards. Perhaps we will witness a praiseworthy routine saying, “We are Aroostook and we make the world a better place.”
Orpheus Allison is a photojournalist living in The County who graduated from UMPI and earned a master of liberal arts degree from the University of North Carolina. He began his journalism career at WAGM television later working in many different areas of the US. After 20 years of television he changed careers and taught in China and Korea.
