OA THE COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC Volume 11 . Number MAGAZINE 2 Fall 2015 ISLANDS COA The College of the Atlantic Magazine Islands Letter from the President 3 News from Campus 4 ISLANDS 8 COA's Islands Mount Desert Rock 10 Poetry 15 COA's Islands . Great Duck Island Grubbing for Petrels 16 Islands Through Time 22 In Their Own Words 23 Hiyasmin Saturay '15 Alex Borowicz '14 24 Alice Anderson '12 26 Alex Fletcher '07 28 Julia Rowe, MPhil '02 29 Barbara Meyers '89 30 The Tactile Power of Ellen Sylvarnes '83 31 Bonnie Tai's Island Return 32 New York's Forgotten Islands 36 Book Excerpt . Ocean Country 38 Alumni & Community Notes 41 Our Back Pages Commencement The Problem of Bar Island 46 Student Perspective 56 57 Herring gulls on the north face of Mount Desert Rock. Photo by Izik Dery '17. COA The College of the Atlantic Magazine September 7, 2015, Bounty Cove, Maine Volume 11 Number 2 Fall 2015 Midnight. We are nestled in an island cove on Penobscot Bay. Having delivered Editorial the magazine pieces to Rebecca Woods, who makes beautiful sense out of Editor Donna Gold the disparate folders of text and photographs that form each issue, I have Editorial Guidance Heather Albert-Knopp '99 abandoned land for a last long voyage of the summer aboard our thirty-foot John Anderson Rich Borden sloop Northern Light, which we have now sailed for almost half of its fifty years. Darron Collins '92 But the stories I've spent a month reading, editing, rereading, these I can't Izik Dery '17 abandon. SLEEP OUTSIDE, at least once, Teresa Bompczyk '17 urges after a Jen Hughes Rob Levin summer spent on our research station at Mount Desert Rock. Her call charms, Sean Todd then haunts me. On our last night aboard, a light breeze whipping away the bugs, Editorial Consultant Bill Carpenter I forgo our warm cabin for a cockpit bench. Not far above the horizon is the Big Alumni Consultants Jill Barlow-Kelley Dianne Clendaniel Dipper, pointing to the North Star. Scorpio, I believe, is behind me and Cassiopeia to starboard. Our son is to starboard as well, engrossed in computer work on the Design bench across from me. Sleep outside-yes. But one cannot both watch the stars Art Director Rebecca Hope Woods and sleep. My eyes close. COA Administration One a.m. Daniel's computer clicks off. "The moon's about to rise, Mom," he President Darron Collins '92 says as he heads into the cabin. I hear him; I want to see the moonrise-but no, Academic Dean Kenneth Hill Associate Academic Deans Catherine Clinger I fall back asleep. Half an hour later the quarter moon is a hand's breadth above Stephen Ressel the eastern horizon. Waves lap against the shoreline. The tide turns, and with it Sean Todd our boat. Karen Waldron Administrative Dean Andrew Griffiths The depth and persistence of our students' perceptions no longer surprises Dean of Admission Heather Albert-Knopp '99 me, but it does still amaze me. Scientists absorb the wonder of the world Dean of Institutional Lynn Boulger as if they were artists; artists understand its underpinnings as if they were Advancement Dean of Student Life Sarah Luke scientists-just look at the chemical knowledge implicit within the paintings of Ellen Sylvarnes '83. Yes, human ecology spans the disciplines, but perhaps more COA Board of Trustees important, it trains the eye, encouraging, even demanding that we go deeper, Timothy Bass Jay McNally '84 Ronald E. Beard Philip S.J. Moriarty that we see and connect and then, quite possibly act, as Liz Cunningham '82 has Leslie C. Brewer Phyllis Anina Moriarty done through her book Ocean Country. Alyne Cistone Lili Pew We are a college on an island and a college of islands, given our two offshore Lindsay Davies Hamilton Robinson, Jr. Beth Gardiner Nadia Rosenthal research stations. But that in no way removes us from the world. As so many Amy Yeager Geier Marthann Samek of our students and alumni note throughout these pages, islands cultivate H. Winston Holt IV Henry L.P. Schmelzer connection. Philip B. Kunhardt III '77 Stephen Sullens Anthony Mazlish William N. Thorndike, Jr. Sleeping outside, however, does not necessarily cultivate sleep. I shift in my Suzanne Folds McCullagh Cody van Heerden, MPhil '16 sleeping bag and my eyes open, once, twice, many times. I am bathed in the Linda McGillicuddy silence of the stars, the moon, its beauty. Life Trustees Trustee Emeriti Perhaps even more than islands or the William G. Foulke, Jr. David Hackett Fischer ocean, darkness connects us; we might think Samuel M. Hamill, Jr. George B.E. Hambleton we are isolated, separate, alone, but night's John N. Kelly Elizabeth Hodder Susan Storey Lyman Sherry F. Huber mystery envelopes us all. William V.P. Newlin Helen Porter Yes, at least once in your life sleep John Reeves Cathy L. Ramsdell '78 outside, right under the stars. But don't Henry D. Sharpe, Jr. John Wilmerding expect to get all that much sleep! The faculty, students, trustees, staff, and alumni of College of the Atlantic envision a world where people value creativity, intellectual achievement, and diversity of nature and human cultures. With respect and compassion, individuals construct meaningful lives for themselves, gain appreciation of the relationships among all forms of life, and safeguard the heritage of future generations. COA is published biannually for the College of the Donna Gold, editor Atlantic community. Please send ideas, letters, and submissions (short stories, poetry, and revisits to human ecology essays) to: COA Magazine, College of the Atlantic 105 Eden Street, Bar Harbor, 04609 dgold@coa.edu Cover: Looking out from a door atop Mount Desert Rock Light. Photo by Izik Dery '17. WWW.COA.EDU Back Cover: One a.m. A view from Great Duck Island. Photo by Nina Duggan '18. MIX PRINTED WITH CERTIFIED Paper from responsible sources WIND FSC FSC® C021556 POWER