BRIAN

Senior Staff Informatics Engineer, Siemens Healthcare

 

So, to be heartbreakingly honest, the number one consideration when we moved to Eastport in 1997 was that we couldn't stand being in Newton, Mass., any more. This was more true of me than for Alice, but we both were tired of working constantly, only to keep falling further behind, and to be in a huge "community" where we felt lost and I felt surrounded by people whose priorities were all out of order. We wanted to go somewhere, almost anywhere - and we had the benefit of a friend who Alice knew through other musicians found Eastport for us. We could afford a house there -- something we feared we would never be able to do in Massachusetts. It was almost magic, then, to find ourselves out on the edge of the country and suddenly immersed in a community that would almost take over our lives.

 

My involvement with Stage East changed my life completely, teaching me not only how to put on theater but how to come to terms with relationships and the problems of being human.  While I don't see myself ever re-entering politics, serving on the Eastport City Council was a tremendous education in finance, the law and national energy policy. The struggles with the ambulance service taught me some good and not so good things about regionalism and local identity, and about the need to sacrifice for the greater good, even if many of the "greater" don't seem to appreciate it. I've played the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra; I was able to work through seven of Shakespeare's plays with great kids and great teachers at Maine Youth Summer Institute; I immerse myself in fiddle music once a week when I'm home with my old friends in Keltic Schmeltic. I can't wait to see what I can find next out here.

 

If you're thinking about relocating to Eastport, I think you should just do it. But do take some time to see the place without the romance of the natural beauty that's so seductive. "You can't eat scenery," as they say around here). Can you live without dry cleaning? Without a grocery store after 7 p.m.? If you come out here, we want you to stay: we'll show you how we make do, commiserate about the little ridiculousnesses of being here, and hopefully give you something so much more meaningful and rare than the pretty view. It's tough some times - but that's what makes it worthwhile.