Down East magazine (Portland, Bangor, Augusta: real estate, homes, school)

[Last1Standing]

I was excited to receive the first issue of my subscription but surprised at a few things.

1. Minuscule typeface barely readable with my reading glasses. Except for the ads---those are in a nice big font.
2. I'm guessing that more than 2/3 of the pages are ads.
3. Is Down East a magazine about poor people, for rich people?

Why I ask that: There are stories about quaint local people, community gardens, food banks, etc. But then there are many pages of real estate ads for properties costing millions of dollars. Example: There are 6 pages of ads for these mega coastal properties placed by Legacy Properties/Sotheby's. On the last page there's a little write-up announcing that Legacy Properties gave FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS to an organization called Partners for World Health as part of their "robust charitable giving program." What's robust about $500 when you're selling $8 million properties?


I have the impression there are two Maines.

[Demolitionman2]

I have the impression there are two Maines.

How right you are! There is the Maine of the coastline and beaches and places Mt Desert Isle, Acadia National Park and the southern third of Maine including the greater Portland Area. This is the Maine you see in magazines like "Maine Magazine", "Maine Home and Design", "Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors" "Maine Art Scene", Maine Biz" and "Maine Journal". Then there is the "other Maine". The Maine that my wife and I lived in for six years. This is the Maine of small inland towns in central and northern Maine. The Maine of paper mills (not many remaining), of factories, of blue collar homes and jobs. Reading publications and tourist ads you would think that Maine only consists of the coast, the southern 3rd and a few other select places......

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Half of Maine's population lives within 50 miles of Congress Street in Portland and half of that is water! That means that half of our senators and represntatives are from there. They rule us. Part of Maine has grinding poverty. We had a fourth grader come to school and the first day he went through the lunch line, picked up his tray and went with his class to a table.

He proceeded to eat his mashed potatos with his fingers. The other kids said, "Where's your fork?" He said, "What's a fork?" they said, "Where do you live". He said he lived in the woods and he did! A hunter took him to the local minister's house. The minister got him cleaned up and got him some neat used clothes. Kid was living on squirrels and rabbits that he snared. This was over a decade ago. His grandfather had died and the kid was making it on his own.

The people who live in the other Maine have no idea about the grinding poverty that exists in the real Maine.

[PAhippo]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Half of Maine's population lives within 50 miles of Congress Street in Portland and half of that is water! That means that half of our senators and represntatives are from there. They rule us. Part of Maine has grinding poverty. We had a fourth grader come to school and the first day he went through the lunch line, picked up his tray and went with his class to a table.

He proceeded to eat his mashed potatos with his fingers. The other kids said, "Where's your fork?" He said, "What's a fork?" they said, "Where do you live". He said he lived in the woods and he did! A hunter took him to the local minister's house. The minister got him cleaned up and got him some neat used clothes. Kid was living on squirrels and rabbits that he snared. This was over a decade ago. His grandfather had died and the kid was making it on his own.

The people who live in the other Maine have no idea about the grinding poverty that exists in the real Maine.

While that story illustrates poverty, it also illustrates the intelligence of that 4th grader (10 yr old I'm guessing) and the tolerance of other kids. Rather than making fun, they did something. The way the situation was handled was impressive.

[Maine Writer]

Like every other state in the country, Maine has its poor. I flipped through the magazine on my lunch break to see what you're talking about. The stories portray the way Mainers come together to help each other and work out issues. We're good at pulling together.

A lot of the quaint people in Maine are better off financially than most would guess. You might sit down beside someone in diner who's dressed in worn jeans, flannel shirt, and boots, and worth millions.



Two Maines - north and south. East, west and central are dismissed. Bangor is thought of as northern Maine by many who've never been north of Augusta. Two Maines - rich and poor. Above and below an invisible line. Drives trucks vs drives Subarus. Maine is one big state with a lot of quaint people doing incredible things to work together.

[OpinionExperience]

Originally Posted by Last1Standing

I was excited to receive the first issue of my subscription but surprised at a few things.

1. Minuscule typeface barely readable with my reading glasses. Except for the ads---those are in a nice big font.
2. I'm guessing that more than 2/3 of the pages are ads.
   
3. Is Down East a magazine about poor people, for rich people?
   

Why I ask that: There are stories about quaint local people, community gardens, food banks, etc. But then there are many pages of real estate ads for properties costing millions of dollars. Example: There are 6 pages of ads for these mega coastal properties placed by Legacy Properties/Sotheby's. On the last page there's a little write-up announcing that Legacy Properties gave FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS to an organization called Partners for World Health as part of their "robust charitable giving program." What's robust about $500 when you're selling $8 million properties?


I have the impression there are two Maines.

....there is BIG TIME. Hard Left and Hard Right, that is why their electoral vote is split between North and South.

The people of Maine will remind you everyday "You Are Not A Mainah" and drive out all the people that moved there for just the way it is, close to Earth and less congested.

[gf2020]

Originally Posted by OpinionExperience

The people of Maine will remind you everyday "You Are Not A Mainah" and drive out all the people that moved there for just the way it is...

That has never been my experience in over 40 years of visiting and sometimes working in the state of Maine.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by Last1Standing

[*]Is Down East a magazine about poor people, for rich people?[/list]

I don't know that I'd say it is "about poor people," but DOWN EAST magazine is definitely a magazine for rich people.

There are way more than two Maines. There is rich and poor. There is urban and rural. There is white collar and blue collar. There are those who were born here and lived here all their life, and there are those who moved here because they want to live here.

For example:

L.L. Bean is a Maine institution and provides lots of jobs. They make great products. No doubt. But most Mainers can't afford them. L.L. Bean caters mostly to people from New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida, etc.

Mainers shop at Reny's.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by OpinionExperience

The people of Maine will remind you everyday "You Are Not A Mainah" and drive out all the people that moved there for just the way it is, close to Earth and less congested.

I have definitely run into such people. They are around. But they are few and far between. They don't represent the typical Maineah. They're the bad apples giving the rest a bad name.

That said, even kind, generous, warm-hearted Maineahs do like Maine to be Maine. If you move here because you love it and want to be a part of it, 99% of Maineahs are going to welcome you with open arms. If you move here and want to change it to be more like where you left in New York, Massachusetts, etc., you're going to rub even good people the wrong way. Never start sentence, "Where I'm from, we did it this way..."

[7th generation]

For the most part the poor who live in Maine are rich and the rich who live in Maine are poor.The poor live their lives in a truly honest, non-judgmental way and those that look down upon them are deploreable.
This population is easily discerned, shunned and ignored by us.