star island

star island is about ten miles from the maine/new hampshire coastline. during the summer it's a conference center for unitarians and congregationalists.

it is part of the isles of shoals and was featured in the anita shreve book "the weight of water" and the subsequent film starring sean penn and sarah polley about brutal murders that took place on a neighboring island in the 19th century.

these days, the conferences tend to be a week long, and since i was 6 or something (correct me?) my family took me there for a conference. i went there, one week a year, every year, up through high school, and, as i said, i worked there, living there all summer, the summers before and after senior year.

it's a beautiful place. sunsets, sunrises. as a kid i thought people were different there, kinder, more open, more forgiving, different from the way people are on the mainland, but that might just have been because of the intensity of the youth-group programs, especially the high-school age group, which is designed for emotional intensity and depth of connections.

lots of firsts there. first beer, first kiss, fist marijuana. my first real friends, people i kept in touch with through the year and looked forward to being with for that one week. i got my ear pierced there. first job.

living there all summer, those two summers, was fantastic. being on the inside in such a place, behind the scenes, knowing the workings. the first summer i worked as a dishwasher, not tremendously fun but completely worth it to have the island as my home for two months. the second summer i worked in the snack bar, which was social and thrilling. that was fun, a great summer.

at one point during that summer i cut my hand pretty good while slicing a bagel, and for a week or so i couldn't get it wet. so i switched to night crew for a week. night crew works from 10pm until 6am and all they really have to do is make hourly strolls around the island, looking for fires (almost the buildings are made of wood, and there have been significant fires) and people doing things they shouldn't be doing.

lots of ghost stories on that island. lots of ghosts. i was about as terrified as i've ever been on some of those strolls. still, incredible fun.

i haven't been to star island, through, since 1995 or 1996. my sister and our parents are going there today, for a week. i eagerly want to get kara over there; she's never been. next summer. 2007. of course, i've been saying that for the last few summers. 2006, we'll go. 2005, we'll go.

next year, though, it could work. i have stability in my job. kara is about to start a new job (within the same department) that is actually exciting to her. (congratulations, kara!) we need to plan it, but we can do that. neither of have had a week-long vacation in years and years. it would be great to take two weeks next summer and go to star and see family and maybe even my old college. maine is one of the few states kara hasn't visited yet.


kara went for a drink with a friend last evening and i stayed home and watched again a tremendously sad and beautiful movie called (what else?) "blue".