Portland Press Herald food editor Peggy Grodinsky sat down for a conversation with chef Sam Hayward about his career during a live event on Tuesday, Feb. 27.
Award-winning chef Sam Hayward co-founded Fore Street restaurant in Portland in 1996, making fresh produce and farmer relationships his top priority. Hayward previously served on MOFGA’s board of directors for over a decade and has worked closely with Maine farmers, foragers and fisherpeople for over 30 years. As many more restaurateurs and farmers forge relationships, Hayward’s knowledge of both worlds is of great value to chefs, producers and food lovers.
Portland Press Herald staff writer Aimsel Ponti sat down with Spose to chat about his career during a live event on Tuesday, October 17 at One Longfellow Square.
Ryan Peters was born in Portland and grew up in Wells, Maine. He began rapping in eighth grade.
Peters graduated from Wells High School in 2004 then attended University of New Hampshire as an English major and later transferred to Suffolk University.
By then his music career was taking off and he was offered a record deal when he was two classes away from graduating. Adopting the moniker Spose, he self-released his first album, Preposterously Dank in 2007 while continuing to work selling lobster at the Barnacle Billy’s restaurant in Ogunquit.
Spose released the We Smoked It All mixtape with rapper Cam Groves in 2009 and in January 2010, the single, “I’m Awesome” received airplay on several Maine radio stations. A month later, after the song caught on in other parts of the US, Spose signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records and announced that he would begin working on a music video. Although he didn’t end up releasing music with Universal, Spose has released a total of 10 albums since 2008, including his most recent Get Rich or Die Ryan in October of 2021.
Welcome to the first episode of "In the Arena."
"In the Arena" is a podcast for Mainers interested in a deeper understanding of the political issues facing our state. Featuring former TV anchor/reporter Pat Callaghan, former Republican state Senator Phil Harriman and former Democratic Portland mayor Ethan Strimling
This week, on the first episode of “In The Arena," Pat, Phil and Ethan discuss Maine Rep. Jared Golden’s Republican opponent Austin Theriault, the political implications of Hamas’ attack on Israel and the Portland mayoral race.
In their lightning round, the three debate what's 'newsworthy' and 'snooze worthy,' including Republicans filing an ethics complaint against Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, Gov. Mills' opposition to the Pine Tree Power referendum, opponents of CMP being paid to campaign for the company, Mills' puzzling social media post and whether former Gov. Paul LePage might be gunning for Maine Sen. Angus King's seat.
Finally, Pat recounts a fun story from former Sen. George Mitchell about his longtime mentor and former U.S. Secretary of State Ed Muskie.
Copy this link into your podcast aggregator to subscribe to "In the Arena"
Portland Press Herald staff writer Ray Routhier sat down with Pat Callaghan and Cindy Williams to chat about their careers during a live event on Tuesday, August 22 at One Longfellow Square.
About our guests
Pat Callaghan began his broadcast journalism career in 1978 at New Hampshire Public Television.
Beginning in 1979, he spent 43 years as a news anchor and reporter for NEWS CENTER Maine (WCSH6 in Portland and WLBZ2 in Bangor). Notable stories along the way included being on the air live when the Challenger space shuttle exploded in 1986, and reporting from Belfast, Northern Ireland when former Maine Sen. George Mitchell chaired the talks that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement.
Pat spent much of his time covering politics and government, with extensive reporting from Washington, DC and Augusta, as well as covering Maine’s delegations at numerous national political conventions. He produced documentaries on notable Maine figures including Ed Muskie, Bill Cohen, Olympia Snowe and George Mitchell.
Pat holds a BA in History from the University of New Hampshire. He is a member of the Maine Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the New England Emmy Awards “Silver Circle.”
He and his wife Karen are the parents of two grown children.
Cindy Williams is a former news anchor for WCSH 6 News Center Maine where she worked for 32 years from 1989 until 2021. Williams has won several awards from the Associated Press and the Maine Association of Broadcasters for her anchoring and reporting. She graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1985 with a degree in Radio, Television and Film. Cindy was also the anchor of News Seven and the 10 o’clock news on the NBC affiliate in Laurel and Hattiesburg, Mississippi of WDAM-TV.
Portland Press Herald Food and Books Editor Peggy Grodinsky sat down with Chelsea Conaboy to chat about her newest book, that draws on the latest neuroscience and social psychology and weaves it together with new reporting to tell a powerful new narrative of parenthood. Conaboy talks about the myth of maternal instinct, how parenthood changes the brain for the long haul, and what it all means for our social policies, our understanding of caregiving broadly and our sense of ourselves during a live "Maine Voices Live" at the Portland Museum of Art.
Chelsea Conaboy is a health and science journalist. She was part of the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize–winning team for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing, and she was features editor at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram for three years. Her work has been published by The New York Times, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Politico, the Boston Globe Magazine, WBUR, The Philadelphia Inquirer and others. Her first book, Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood, has been called “a game-changer” and is set to be published in 20 countries.
Rachel Ohm, the lead reporter covering Portland’s influx of asylum seekers for the Press Herald, led this Newsroom Live virtual event on Tuesday, May 30.
Read the Press Herald series “Long Way Home” at pressherald.com/longwayhome.
On the panel:
Mufalo Chitam, Executive Director, Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition
Kristen Dow, Director of Health & Human Services, City of Portland
Ninette Irabaruta, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, United Way of Southern Maine
Many Maine-based companies have footprints beyond the state border, even when “the Maine brand” is a big part of their corporate identities. How do these companies keep their cultural or physical roots in the state, especially if they’re adding locations outside of it? What tools and strategies are they using to elevate their brand and leverage their Maine ties? Join our panel conversation to start thinking of affinities that go beyond traditional markets.
Business Editor Will Hall sat down with Scott MacLeod from The VIA Agency, Jenny Kordick from Maine Outdoor Brands and Colleen Croteau from Maine Beer Company to discuss their strategies on Thursday, April 20 for a panel discussion at University of New England’s Innovation Hall on Stevens Avenue in Portland.
President of The Boulos Company, Jessica Estes sat down with Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at The Roux Institute at Northeastern University on Tuesday, April 4.
More information at pressherald.com
President and CEO of Central Maine Power, Joe Purington sat down with Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at The Roux Institute on Wednesday, March 1.
About Joe Purington
Joe Purington was appointed President and CEO of Central Maine Power (CMP) in September 2021. CMP serves approximately 646,000 electricity customers in an 11,000 square-mile service area in central and southern Maine. The appointment brings Purington home to Maine and to CMP where he began his career in utility operations.
Ryan Adams is a Portland Maine artist, born and raised, where he lives with his artist and designer wife and their two daughters. His background in traditional graffiti led him to creating large-scale mural work as well as hand lettered design and signage. His signature ‘gem’ style of work is a geometric breakdown of letterforms with shadows and highlights incorporated in order to create depth and movement. His work often including statements within them that addresses introspective or cultural issues. Currently, Ryan owns and operates a mural and signage company along with exploring and exhibiting his ‘gem’ style work in exterior and interior spaces.
More information (and video) at https://www.pressherald.com/2022/12/07/maine-voices-live-with-ryan-adams/
A panel of journalists from The Portland Press Herald, the Sun Journal, the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel share memories of covering the epic Ice Storm of 1998, of the people they met and stories they found. Panelists include Judy Meyer, executive editor of the Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel, retired Press Herald columnist Bill Nemitz, Morning Sentinel reporter and columnist Amy Calder and Press Herald photographer Greg Rec. Press Herald staff writer Kelley Bouchard moderates the discussion.
Portland Press Herald staff writer Eric Russell talks with Morgan Talty about his new book, Night of the Living Rez during a virtual conversation on Tuesday, December 6.
Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation where he grew up. He is the author of the story collection Night of the Living Rez from Tin House Books, and his work has appeared in Granta, The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, Narrative Magazine, LitHub, and elsewhere.
Portland Press Herald food writer Peggy Grodinsky talks with Tara Jensen about her new book, Flour Power.
About Tara
Tara Jensen is the author of A Baker’s Year and the just published Flour Power. She grew up in Naples, Maine, attended Lake Region High School and graduated from College of the Atlantic. Jensen has baked professionally for over 20 years, including at Red Hen Baking in Vermont; and Farm & Sparrow and Carolina Ground, both in North Carolina. She also ran her own tiny, wood-fired bakery, Smoke Signals in North Carolina. Her gorgeous breads and pies have been featured in publications such as Food & Wine and Bon Appétit and her beautiful Instagram account, @bakerhands, has more than 100,000 followers. Today, Jensen teaches baking workshops in Virginia, where she lives with her husband and toddler daughter. Her approach to baking marries the technical with the intuitive.
President of Baxter Brewing, Jenn Lever joined Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at The Roux Institute.
Jenn is an Auburn, Maine native who graduated from Edward Little High School in 2004, and then attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges, earning a BA in Economics and Sociology. In 2008, Lever ignited her career in the Food & Beverage Industry when she accepted a Warehouse Supervisor role with Pepsi Co. Her upward trajectory included successive leadership positions that took her from New York to Virginia, before returning to Maine in 2014, where she worked for three years in fresh cut vegetable processing with the Curran Company, later Growers Express. She left the role as President to take on a Director of Operations position with Baxter Brewing in 2017 and in September of 2019 she was promoted to President of Baxter Brewing. In her very first year as President, she led Baxter Brewing through the COVID-19 pandemic, launching a successful rebrand and expanding distribution while keeping the health and safety of her staff at the fore.
Brian Ross–or Chef Brian, as he’s known around Hampden, where he lives–started the Facebook group Quarantine Kitchen in March 2020 so people could share pantry recipes during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. His network of foodie friends around Maine signed on as charter members. Two weeks later, the group had 8,000 members. Now with 11,000 members from 75 countries, Ross’s Quarantine Kitchen sustains itself with a steady supply of home cooking photos and kind words for each other’s efforts.
Portland Press Herald food and dining reporter Tim Cebula talks with Ross about the feel-good stories coming out of the Quarantine Kitchen.
From tips on how to identify native Maine species to the best locations in Maine to find the most exciting birds, Maine Audubon Naturalist and Press Herald nature columnist Doug Hitchcox shares his vast knowledge in a lively discussion with outdoors reporter Deirdre Fleming.
Since Robert Indiana’s death in 2018, Portland Press Herald arts reporter Bob Keyes has been covering the complicated saga surrounding the “LOVE” artist’s life and legacy. But there were more notes and conversations than what made it into print. During the pandemic, Bob spent much of his downtime putting the vast knowledge he’s amassed into his first book, “The Isolation Artist,” released Sept. 7.
Sam Sifton is the assistant managing editor of The New York Times, overseeing culture and lifestyle coverage. He is the founding editor of NYT Cooking and writes a food column for The New York Times Magazine. Based in New York City, Sifton has spent time in Maine every year of his life. His love of the state and its food heritage frequently shows up in his popular NYT Cooking email newsletter. Formerly the newspaper’s national news editor, culture editor and chief restaurant critic, Sifton is the author of the forthcoming “The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes,” as well as “See You on Sunday: A Cookbook for Family and Friends” and “Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well.” Portland Press Herald restaurant critic Andrew Ross leads the conversation with sign language interpretation by MJ Grant.
Abdi Nor Iftin is a reporter and the author of “Call Me American,” a memoir of his immigration to the United States. Growing up in Mogadishu, Somalia, Iftin learned English by watching action movies. When U.S. Marines landed in the 1990s to get involved in the civil conflict, Iftin felt it was an arrival of real-life action heroes and grew fascinated with American culture. Sporting hip-hop clothes and dance moves, he became known as “Abdi American.”
In 2006, as conflict again emerged in Somalia, Iftin risked his life posting secret dispatches to NPR. He eventually fled to Nairobi, Kenya as he became a target. In an eventual stroke of luck, he won entrance to the U.S. in the annual visa lottery, though his route to America—which was documented on the radio show This American Life—did not come easily.
Iftin is now a US citizen. His naturalization ceremony took place in Portland on Jan. 17, 2019. He lives in Yarmouth and writes a regular column for the Forecaster. He is also working on a documentary about his life story.
Iftin was interviewed by Portland Press Herald reporter Eric Russell.
Daniel and Marcia Minter are a Portland power couple in the arts, advertising, culture and history scenes. In 2019 they co-founded the Indigo Arts Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to the creative cultivation of artists of African descent.
Daniel Minter is an internationally exhibited artist, visual storyteller and illustrator. His artwork reflects abiding themes of displacement and diaspora, ordinary and extraordinary blackness, spirituality in the Afro-Atlantic world, and the creation and recreation of meanings of home. He has illustrated over a dozen children’s books, was twice commissioned to create stamps for the U.S. Postal Service and co-founded the Portland Freedom Trail. He teaches at the Maine College of Art.
Marcia Minter is a seasoned creative professional who has spent her career as an executive creative director for some of the world’s most iconic brands, including an extended time as Vice President Creative Director with L.L. Bean. Marcia is a dedicated arts advocate and community leader, deeply committed to social and cultural activism. Currently she serves on the Maine Arts Commission, the Board of Directors for Maine Media Workshops and College and Portland Ovations and is a Trustee of the Portland Museum of Art.
Video of this conversation is available at: https://youtu.be/41-jsuE7CoY
Meir lived in space for 205 days on the International Space Station. She conducted three spacewalks with crewmate Christina Koch of NASA, for a total of 21 hours and 44 minutes outside of the ISS. Meir has a Ph.D. in marine biology.
She contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development while onboard the orbiting laboratory.
This interview was recorded in June 2020. Video is available at: https://youtu.be/swiDaA2jy1w
Like A Boss is a live Q&A business event where you can hear insightful, first-hand accounts of the realities of running a business. Portland Press Herald CEO and Publisher Lisa DeSisto interviews local CEOs and business leaders for a behind the scenes look at their career paths, the ups and downs of running their businesses and the trends shaping them.
About Liz Cotter Schlax
Liz assumed leadership of United Way of Greater Portland in January 2015. As President & CEO, she guides United Way’s strategies that achieve community change in the areas of education, financial stability, and health to improve people’s lives.
Like A Boss is a live Q&A business event where you can hear insightful, first-hand accounts of the realities of running a business. Our CEO and Publisher Lisa DeSisto interviews local CEOs and business leaders for a behind the scenes look at their career paths, the ups and downs of running their businesses and the trends shaping them.
About Clayton Rose
Clayton S. Rose, who was inaugurated as Bowdoin’s fifteenth president on October 17, 2015, has consistently underscored the value and essential importance of a liberal arts education for living lives of meaning, for thoughtful engagement in civic life, and for satisfaction and success in work.
Over his 47 years in broadcasting, Bill Green became a household name in Maine, starting as a sportscaster in Bangor to hosting 19 seasons of his own Saturday magazine show, the last episode of which aired last fall, when he retired.
This interview was online live on September 15, 2020.