"The Secret Life of Girls"

The University of Maine’s theater program is planning an educational production to be performed at the end of the semester. On Wednesday, theater director, AJ Moody held a meeting for all theater students who have previously taken an acting class and are interested in performing in the production.

“The Secret Life of Girls” is the name of the production, written by Linda Daugherty. The play is a 40-minute, 20-scene play based on the life of 5 middle school girls who get caught up in a struggle for power. This play shows the reality of how hard middle school can be for young girls who are struggling with being bullied.

During the meeting held in 1944 Hall on the University campus, details about rehearsal, cast, crew, and organizational details were discussed. The director of the production, Joye levy announced she has chosen the cast and rehearsal will start next week.

The play is to be put on for a variety of middle schools are the state of Maine. Its purpose is to speak out to middle school students who are dealing with the pressure of fitting in and dealing with manipulation and bullying. The production will air on May 10^th and the crew will travel around the state for 2 weeks performing.

Auditions for the cast have already taken place. The cast consists of 9 students who have graduated from the fundamentals of acting class. The 9 girls are scheduled for rehearsal once a week until the end of the semester.

“This is a very good opportunity for the cast, who have been in these middle school girls’ shoes before and understand how painful it can be” said Joye, a theater teacher at the University of Maine. The cast is very excited to dive into this production and hopefully send a positive message to younger kids.

Rain Floods Northeast

Rain Floods Northeast

March 19, 2010

A torrential rainstorm brought havoc to the northeast states early last week. The storm lasted threes days including heavy winds, fallen trees, flooded roadways, and power outages. It took many New England communities about a week to get cleaned up and regain power.

“Southern New Hampshire experience road closures because of flooding and fallen trees.” Says a New Hampshire state police officer. Manchester airport also experienced flight delays and cancellations because of high winds.

In the northeastern part of Maine some towns saw as little as eight inches of rain after the storm settled on Wednesday. High winds were also the initial cause to fallen trees that fell on power lines and caused outages. Utility officials say “ There were at least five different utility companies running through each state in the beginning of the week.” New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire all worked together to get power back in each state as fast as possible.

In Boston government officials claim “ the storm threatened to overwhelm the wastewater system, forcing officials to begin a controlled release of untreated water waster into Boston Harbor.” Fenway Park also experience muddy river flooding as well as many cancellations and delays at Logan International Airport.

The storm carried wind gusts as high as 75 mph. Coincidentally the storm came about two weeks after heavy snow and hurricane-force winds left more than 1 million customers in the Northeast in the dark, many of them in New Hampshire.

The storm has killed at least nine people across New England, including several who were hit by falling trees.

Rain Storm

Portland, Maine

February 28^th 2010

The clean up projects in Maine have begun after the southeastern portion of the state experience heavy rains and high winds, causing floods, up rooted trees and widespread power outages.

The National Weather Service has reported that the southern towns in Maine had received over 10 inches of rain the past weekend as well as experiencing winds up to 60 mph. Many power lines were ruined from fallen trees causing power outages lasting up to 5 days in many residences.

The winds and the rain began to pick up early Thursday evening. As the night went on the intensity grew and before midnight the winds were so heavy it sounded like a freight train and the heavy rain and wind ripped down trees and blocked roads.

The weather service expects to see much beach erosion, flooding, and road closures throughout the state. Many roads and parking lots will also need repair from erosion.

In response to two day storm, utility officials have called back up help from New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Vermont to assist in a sufficient and quick clean up. Over 300,000 utility customers and crews worked busily to clear roads of fallen trees. Officials say patients are much appreciated at this time and any volunteer help could go a long way. Power is expected to be back on in local residence in the next 3-6 days depending on location.

This is not a one-day event. This could easily be multiple days, even a week, as far as restoration goes," said Chris Pope, director of Maine Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Officials compared the storm that hit parts of Maine and slammed New Hampshire to the devastating ice storm of 2008 except with more excessive wind.

Even though frustration has hit many communities emergency shelter and assistance is offered all throughout the state.