Maine Humanities Council
Home of the Harriet P. Henry Center for the Book
1 2 3 4 5 6 “In reality, every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument which he offers to the reader to enable him to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have experienced in himself. And the recognition by the reader in his own self of what the book says is the proof of its veracity.”

— Time Regained
Marcel Proust
1. Taxing Maine
Dennis Price as a New Hampshire legislator Dennis Price as a New Hampshire legislator

The Portland Phoenix is not widely available outside of Portland, so I thought I'd share a recent article from this newspaper with everyone. It is a review of our first “Taxing Maine" performance and gives a good sense of what this Theater of Ideas series is all about. For information on where this play will perform next, glance at our list of current venues.

Tax belief

Two-man road show talks common good
By: MEGAN GRUMBLING, 6/7/2006

Now that the contentious Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights has made it to Maine’s fall ballot, you can expect to hear even more about the only phenomenon that Ben Franklin deemed as reliable as death. To help keep these discussions from also being as entertaining and nuanced as death, the Maine Humanities Council has commissioned Taxing Maine, a two-man educational road show written by the Theater at Monmouth’s producing director, David Greenham. A sort of stand-up people’s history of Maine taxes, Greenham and fellow actor Dennis Price present us with both the reasons and the passions behind the rates.

The aim of Taxing Maine is to move the discussion beyond the knee-jerk “Cut Spending” chant that tends to dominate the debate, and which will surely inform discussions about TABOR. (Similar to the initiative that voters passed in Colorado in 1992, only to suspend it again last year, Maine’s TABOR would cap government spending, allowing increases only at the rate of inflation and population.) Greenham and Price point out that the more responsible and difficult conversation must address the question of what we, the people, value. During the five months between now and Election Day, Greenham and Price will travel to libraries, schools, and town halls throughout the state, bringing Maine voters a brief, free history of the state’s taxes. Then, at the end of each show, Greenham and Price will open the floor to the audience for an open discussion about how we feel about our taxes, just what constitutes “the common good,” and how much we are willing to pay for it.

In easygoing slapstick/stand-up manner, the duo of Taxing Maine gives us the back story of the state’s three main forms of taxation: property (old as the hills, and inherited from England), sales (an idea got handed to us by, believe it or not, the Live Free or Die State), and income (originally pushed by the agricultural Grange Movement, to shift the tax burden off of farmers and onto the market’s “monopolists” and “middlemen” making a killing from their products).

Greenham and Price deliver all this information brightly, with plenty of silliness to temper the fiscal facts. Each segment on the three main taxes is introduced with a nod to its faux “sponsors.” (One that got a particularly good laugh was Dirigo, “providing affordable health care to dozens of Mainers.”) Big cards on stands illustrate dates and names, and the two actors bumble in and out of simple costumes in accordance with whom they’re quoting—coats and felt hats for Maine’s elder statesmen, overalls for farmers, black-tape mustaches for the cackling New Hampshire politicians (one of whom cheekily clutches a hunk of granite). They’ve plumbed old documents for exposition and great quotes, like this one from early 20th century Mainer politician Obediah Gardner: “Civilization and taxes go hand in hand. They are the difference between civilization and savagery.”

Potentially even more interesting than the historical exposé, though, is what happens after Greenham and Price cede center stage. At the show’s premiere on May 18, at the McArthur Public Library, in Biddeford, a handful of folks engaged in civic discourse as if starving for it. After some initial responses of the instinctive “my taxes are too high” and “government wastes too much” variety (a woman complained that the city trucks are idling away gas money whenever she sees them), Greenham mediated. Aside from the favorite culprit of government waste, he asked the group, exactly what would we be willing to cut?

After some comments from the group about the difficulties of providing services to a large, regional, and rural state, a 30-something man noted that it’s one thing to keep repeating the mantra of “cut spending,” and another to talk about what our tax dollars actually buy. “This is a more honest conversation,” he said. “It’s more difficult to walk into a room and tell someone they’re not going to get medical care.” When a 60-something man in a cardigan lamented the passing of “proud self-sufficiency,” another Gen-Xer argued that tax cuts alone weren’t going to teach him to plant a farm.

Even as the actors withdrew to pack up, the people kept talking. Tax talking will continue, statewide, and with any luck, Taxing Maine will help keep the level of conversation rising.

Back to the Top
2. Upcoming Events
Here, Bullet In a MHC-funded event on July 20, Brian Turner, soldier and poet and author of Here, Bullet, will discuss whether “poet” and “soldier” are mutually exclusive terms.

Aside from “Taxing Maine” performances in Rangeley, Dexter, Lincoln, Portland, Naples, and West Newfield, the MHC will be presenting the following grant-funded events in July.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the Top
3. News from the MHC
mowque

The Council has received some questions about its new Let’s Talk About It program "Behind the Headlines: An Introduction to the Middle East” (led by Professor Mahmud Faksh on July 7, 14, and 28 in York; and Alexander Grab on July 10, 24, and August 7 in Bangor). This is a sensitive topic but a necessary one, and the Council will be presenting a critical analysis and history of the current situation in the Middle East that will encourage open conversation about difficult topics in a safe, open forum that welcomes all perspectives. I mention it under this heading to emphasize the Council’s firm commitment to prompting civic conversation across broad boundaries. Programs like this one make me very proud to be part of the MHC staff.

Back to the Top
4. Recent Grants
Norlands Living History Center, Livermore Norlands Living History Center, Livermore

The MHC recently awarded the following grants:

$1,000 to The Stage, Portland, for Pre-Show Presentations
The Stage’s pre-show program, known as "Welcome to the Classics,” unlocks the mysteries of theatrical production as well as Shakespearean theatre through a variety of experiences. Held prior to Friday and Saturday shows, each presentation allows the audience to meet members of the creative team, tour both backstage and the set, and receive a lively introduction to Shakespeare.

$1,000 to the Classical Association of New England, Berwick, for “Freedom and its Discontents” (CANE Summer Institute 2006)
“Freedom and its Discontents” (CANE Summer Institute 2006) is a week of lectures, seminars, and other activities on the subject of freedom, and the origins of the idea in the classical world. Faculty from around New England and beyond will teach courses on history, philosophy, and literature that focus on freedom.

$1,000 to Norlands Living History Center, Livermore, for 13th Annual Humanities Conference, “Northern New England: Seen from Within and from Without”
This year’s conference, designed with the local community in mind, highlights the history and culture of the region in contrast with other regions.

$1,000 to the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, Portland, for Soldier-Poet: An Evening with Brian Turner, author of Here, Bullet
The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance will host Brian Turner, soldier and poet, for a reading and discussion on the subject of whether "poet” and "soldier” are mutually exclusive terms. He will draw heavily from his nationally acclaimed (and Maine-published) collection of poetry, Here, Bullet.

$750 to Messalonskee High School, Oakland, for Messalonskee Reads
The Messalonskee Reads book club promotes reading and discussion among high school students and teachers in Oakland, and encourages students to become lifelong readers and library users.

$500 to Hardy Girls Healthy Women, Waterville, for Girls’ Coalition Groups Poetry Writing and Slam
This grant will allow a Winslow Junior High School girls’ poetry writing project to be integrated into an ongoing girl fighting and bullying prevention curriculum.

$500 to the Elder Grey Meeting House and Cemetery Association, North Waterboro, for Elder Grey Meeting House Bicentennial Celebration
The Elder Grey Meeting House and Cemetery Association is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the 1806 meeting house with the construction of a small-scale replica and a social gathering with period games and other activities.

Back to the Top
5. What We’re Reading
Passage

Dr. Aziz views the British occupation of India with some amusement. His mind is full of poetry, and he looks at the world without ever truly getting angry. To his friends, who despise the English, this is an unforgivable attitude, a sign of laxness and laziness. Curiously enough, Dr. Aziz’s English supervisor views him in precisely that way for being not a mild-mannered Indian but simply an Indian. It is Dr. Aziz’s determination to do what is right that gets him into trouble when he first meets the kind-hearted Mrs. Moore and the idealistic Miss Quested, both in India to visit Mrs. Moore’s son, to whom Miss Quested is engaged. In an attempt to provide proper entertainment to the English ladies, Dr. Aziz thrusts himself-through sheer accident-into a maze of trouble which culminates with an accusation against him of attempted sexual assault. The result: uproar in the community, on both sides.

E. M. Forster traveled in India from 1912 to 1913, then in 1921 became the private secretary to the Maharajah of Dewas. It is the critical eye of this master novelist on the culture of the English in India—taking sides with no one—that makes A Passage to India such a powerful book. Let’s Talk About It uses this text in its “Across Cultures & Continents: Literature of the Indian Experience” series.

Back to the Top
6. Quote of the Month

"A highlight of my week is when I walk through the door of the daycare and see the children waiting for me with smiles and hugs. The Born to Read program is a wonderful way to keep in touch with the ‘young’ people. The commitment to this assignment has provided me the opportunity to give something to the community. As I focus on the joys of reading I feel I am more connected to my community and I feel that I am making a significant contribution to the children of my community!”

— From a Born to Read volunteer reader

Back to the Top