Articles by Renee Ordway
RENEE ORDWAY
A Black Friday lesson to remember
I woke up for a Black Friday deal once. It was two years ago and my 16-year-old daughter thought it would be fun. God skipped over me when handing out the savvy and enthusiastic shopping genes, but since I gave birth to a girl who got both, I decided to ...
RENEE ORDWAY
A teaching moment in a new economy
When my daughter was a first-grader at Bangor’s Fourteenth Street School, she declared with all the certainty that a 6-year-old could muster that her life’s plan and her career path were set. She was to be a kindergarten teacher at Bangor’s smallest neighborhood school and buy a fine home in ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Maine ballot full of gambling proposals is sign of poor economy
For the moment, at least, the bulldozers, front-end loaders and dump trucks rumbling across work sites in Oxford and Bangor are welcome sights, representing desperately needed work for Maine people. And on paper, at least, the elegant resort and entertainment complex proposed in Biddeford — and the Oxford Highland Resort, ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Take a map to the City Forest
The Rolland F. Perry City Forest and I have what you might call a complicated relationship. It just may be my very favorite place in the city, yet on more than one occasion I have become confused within its boundaries and cursed its limited signage. Some appeared to have scoffed ...
RENEE ORDWAY
The agenda behind Bangor woman’s ‘meet and greet’ with council candidates
By Renee Ordway on Oct. 07, 2011, at 6:30 p.m.
Pauline Civiello of Bangor certainly didn’t violate any laws when she decided to place limits on which City Council candidates could participate in her “meet and greet” session last weekend. She’s a private citizen. She paid to rent the conference room at Husson University where the event was held. Of ...
RENEE ORDWAY
The pangs of seeing a daughter off to college
OK. I’ll just say it. I cried all the way from our driveway in Bangor to the University of Maine at Farmington a few weeks ago when we dropped off our daughter for her freshman year of college. I had not anticipated it. I am not an easy weeper. I ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Be angry at the welfare cheats, but have compassion for those who are hungry
Most of us certainly know what it is to feel hungry. The growl of an empty stomach can be distracting. Many of us may feel it because a busy schedule and poor planning have resulted in the loss of a lunch hour or perhaps breakfast. It is a temporary ache ...
LePage leads in fight against domestic violence
By Renee Ordway on Sept. 09, 2011, at 7:12 p.m.
It was good to hear Gov. Paul LePage step up to the plate this week and speak out against domestic violence, not only as the governor, but as a man, a businessman and as a victim. His position of authority combined with his empathy and very personal experience should go ...
New trial unlikely to change outcome for convicted killer Jeffrey Cookson
Since Jeffrey Cookson is back gracing our morning newspaper, still claiming that he was unjustly convicted of killing a young Dexter woman and the toddler she was baby-sitting, I thought it might be relevant to revisit a few points from his 2001 trial. Cookson, now 47, was convicted of the ...
RENEE ORDWAY
An open letter to Bangor’s police chief
Dear Mr. Gastia, I saw you Thursday night at the kickoff party for the American Folk Festival. Since I had left you two phone messages earlier in the day that you had chosen not to return, I assumed you were not interested in speaking with me. It was a casual ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Dog park effort part of growing national trend
I once had a T-shirt that read, “The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.” I was 15 years old. It was my dark, sarcastic period. Nonetheless, there have been times in the 33 years since I purchased that snarky shirt that I have hearkened back to ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Naturalist Markowsky died on her own terms
Judy Kellogg Markowsky surely loved a dead tree. She was a naturalist, of course, and a librarian for a time, but most important of all, Judy was a teacher. Give her a good dead and rotting tree, a handful of kids or even one clueless adult, and the teaching commenced. ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Foul language at concert offensive but not surprising
By Renee Ordway on Aug. 05, 2011, at 5:39 p.m.
Pssttt. Come closer. I’ve got a secret: I have tender ears. So had I been in the parking lot of Shaw’s Supermarket on Main Street in Bangor last Sunday and had a child with me, I most likely would have been quite offended had I heard over a very loudspeaker ...
RENEE ORDWAY
New life for an old institution
I guess for some, mention of the American Legion summons forth thoughts of smoky bars, bingo and baseball. For me, thoughts of the Barrows-Skidgel Post 105 in Newport involve Brownie troop meetings, family wedding receptions and anniversary parties and getting a free red hot dog in the parking lot where ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Shelter dog has trust issues
I spend a lot of time making excuses for my dog. She cowers away from friendly, dog-loving people who simply want to scratch her head or kiss her face — and nearly everyone wants to because she’s very cute and she’s a yellow Lab and Labs, of course, are lovers. ...
New LePage spokesman has work cut out for him
And yet again it appears I was passed over for the position as Gov. Paul LePage’s director of communications. Insert heavy sigh here. I’m kidding, of course. I didn’t really apply for the job. It’s fairly common for reporters, columnists and editors to leave their journalistic pursuits behind and slither ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Obesity report no surprise to this Mainer
Lately I’ve been feeling fat. So when the “F as in Fat” study was released this week I read it with just one eye open. And Friday morning when I picked up the newspaper and saw the local photograph of two people, each with a bit of a belly bulge, ...
Judge makes trial spectator pay for vulgarity
I am not a trial junkie. I am not a “celebrity” stalker. Once I got past taping Davey Jones and David Cassidy posters on my bedroom wall, I was pretty much over it. Sure, I tacked Charlie Daniels Band album covers on my dorm room walls, but that was because ...
Whereabouts of Hotham still a mystery
I know that a missing accountant from Bangor isn’t nearly as interesting a story as the tale of Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger and his capture this week in California, but all the talk about Bulger’s years on the run got me thinking. Just where the heck is Rod Hotham? ...
RENEE ORDWAY
Graduation follows battle with dyslexia
By Renee Ordway on June 03, 2011, at 3:56 p.m.
My daughter graduates from high school on Sunday. Those who know this seem to be curious as to whether I will cry. Undoubtedly I will, in part because “Pomp and Circumstance” makes me tear up every time, in part because I’m very proud of her, and in part because I’m ...
Glenburn art teacher killed in Friday morning collision in Bangor
Harvard student asked to leave bar for ‘bad behavior,’ not drunkenness
LePage blasts teachers union for endorsing same-sex marriage question
Reporting crime
A people’s revolt in Bar Harbor
Old Town football coach steps down
Perakslis helps UMaine beat Albany; Binghamton next in America East tournament
Orono baseball shuts out archrival Old Town for ninth straight victory
Stony Brook knocks out UMaine to win America East tournament
Aroostook businessman expands company out of home with hit mobile app 7 Little Words
Former CEO of MaineToday Media Richard Connor sued over $250,000 in loans
Small idea launches major project in Hampden
Diversity predicts export success, MIT professor tells Maine audience
New, old methods combine to deter scrap metal thefts in Aroostook
Gary Allan talks with the BDN leading up to Bangor concert
Out of the ashes, Central Street’s garden grows
Mid Coast Actor’s Studio provides new forum for classic plays
Signs lead artist to opportunity
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