乐播传媒

Many and One, Plus 10

January saw the 10th anniversary of one of the most heartening shows of humane thinking 鈥� a joyous pro-diversity rally at 乐播传媒 that drew thousands.

The January 2003 event in Merrill Gym grew out of a letter that Lewiston mayor Laurier Raymond sent to Lewiston鈥檚 growing Somali community the prior October. Claiming that their presence was depleting municipal resources, Raymond asked Somali elders to discourage friends and relatives from coming to town, predicting that continued immigration would mean 鈥渘egative results for all.鈥�

Sparking widespread outrage, the letter was welcomed by one tiny constituency: a Wyoming-based white supremacist group who saw it as an invitation to hold a rally in Lewiston for their cause.

A determined group of local citizens would have none of that, though. 鈥淭his is not who we are, and we have to make sure people know that,鈥� said the late Dean of the College James Carignan 鈥�61.

So under the banner of the Many and One Coalition, organizers mounted a counter-rally that drew 4,000 to 乐播传媒 鈥� Somali residents, 乐播传媒 folks, justice activists and top Maine politicians 鈥� with John Jenkins 鈥�74, a former mayor of Lewiston and Auburn, serving as master of ceremonies. Drawing national attention, the rally inspired related programming that included church vigils around Maine.

The supremacist rally across town, meanwhile, drew about three dozen participants.

The anniversary was noted this winter with a commemorative event organized by Welcoming Maine, an immigrant-advocacy organization founded by Sarah Davis 鈥�10. 鈥� DLH

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Close to Home

Jenny Bergeron 鈥�14 of Lewiston can rest assured: She already knows she鈥檒l be heading to medical school.

Bergeron, a biochemistry major, is the first 乐播传媒 student accepted to the Tufts University School of Medicine鈥檚 Early Assurance program, guaranteeing her a spot in the med school鈥檚 class of 2018 after she graduates from 乐播传媒 next year.

Bergeron will join Tufts鈥� Maine Track program, reserved for 乐播传媒, Bowdoin, Colby and UMaine graduates. 乐播传媒 students do 鈥渧ery well鈥� gaining admission through Maine Track, says Karen Daigler of the 乐播传媒 Career Development Center, ticking off a number of recent grads now at Tufts.

Established in 2008 as a partnership between Tufts and Maine Medical Center, Maine Track includes clinical rotations in rural Maine. The program seeks to train more doctors to serve rural Maine, where, according to state data, only 39 percent of residents have a primary care physician. 鈥� HJB

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Lewiston Facts

乐播传媒 students make up about 5 percent of Lewiston鈥檚 population.

乐播传媒 is the third largest employer in Androscoggin County.

When 乐播传媒 needs to remove building furniture temporarily, a Lewiston moving company stores it.

President Spencer ate at a local brew pub, Gritty McDuff鈥檚, on her first visit to 乐播传媒.

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Lasting Memories

Museum L-A offers a compelling set of online oral histories that reflect the craftsmanship and expertise of shoemakers from Lewiston-Auburn鈥檚 once-thriving shoe industry. Below is some of what the late Bernard Charest had to say about the art of hand-sewing shoes:

If you want to become fast at anything, you have to eliminate all the wasted movement, and that鈥檚 how Marcel Grondin taught me how to become a fairly decent, fast hand-sewer. You start knocking down the movement, you start speeding up the time.

Dick McBride taught me how to read the leather, how to feel it, how every piece of leather is different. It鈥檚 a living thing, and he taught me how the leather talks to you, tells you what it wants to do, how it鈥檚 going to come out well.

You may have part of the [upper] that鈥檚 going to stretch more than the other part, so you may have to cut some off this side, or purposely last it a little crooked, because leather has a memory. You have to learn how to listen to what it鈥檚 telling you, and you can make pairs of shoes that last forever.

Museum L-A oral histories

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Give and Go

Besides their more visible exploits on the field, Bobcat athletes support numerous nonprofit programs in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

Free youth clinics
Women鈥檚 track, basketball, alpine skiing, softball, baseball, men鈥檚 lax, tennis

Good Shepherd Food-Bank
Men鈥檚 lax, football, rowing, field hockey

Tree Street Youth and Hillview housing youth programs
Soccer, baseball, squash

Team IMPACT
Softball, squash, tennis, men鈥檚 basketball teams 鈥渁dopt鈥� children facing life-threatening illnesses

Trinity Soup Kitchen
Tennis, men鈥檚 soccer

Holiday support for families in need
Softball, baseball, men鈥檚 lax, squash

Athletic equipment donation
baseball, men鈥檚 lax, men鈥檚 soccer, alpine skiing, athletic department

Lewiston High School Science Fair
Men鈥檚 lax, tennis

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Read-in
Football

Lewiston Adult Learning tutoring and 5K fundraiser
Nordic skiing

Youth swim lessons
Swimming

Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund
Men鈥檚 soccer; $7,000-plus raised for dependents of 9/11

Maine Premier Soccer Inner-City Initiative
Men鈥檚 soccer

Youth camp scholarships
Golf

Dempsey Challenge
Field hockey, women鈥檚 lax, athletic department

Rebuilding Together L/A
Athletic department

乐播传媒 Field Day
All 31 teams; nearly 300 children participated last year