Alice Knight is Community Person of the Year

Happy Easter everyone. I came across this story in Facebook today. I thought you might enjoy this excerpt from Village Soup about one of my favorite people, Alice Crie Knight.

Alice Knight receives her award for "Community Person of the Year"

 at the annual awards dinner for

 Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce

....Photo by Kim Lincoln

Rockport — The Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce held its 86th Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony on April 23 at the Samoset Resort.

A number of local business, organizations and community members were honored with awards at the event, in addition to spending the night dining, dancing and entertained with a musical comedy show by Bucky Lewis. A crowd of 270 attended.

Rockland native Alice Crie Knight received the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce Community Person of the Year Award.

The Community Person of the Year Award is given each year to an individual who, through his or her professional and civic deeds, has greatly enhanced the quality of life in the community, according to the chamber of commerce.

"As a community, we have relied on this person's unyielding support and ongoing contributions for the betterment of where we live. One might refer to this person as a 'fixture' or 'backbone' of Rockland. Yet knowing this person, one is more inclined to think 'lamb' rather than 'lion,'" said Everett Spear III, who presented the award.

Born in Rockland in 1933, she has lived in Rockland all her life. Knight is a graduate of the class of 1952 from Rockland District High School and a 1956 graduate of the University of Maine at Orono, her professional career spanning more than 34 years, returning to RDHS to teach home economics and she served as senior class advisor for many years.

By 1976, she was a member of the Rockland Bicentennial Commission and assisted with the city’s planning and celebration of the country’s 200th birthday. She was the assistant editor of the book "Shore Village Story - A History of Rockland, contributing many 19th century glass plate photos from her private family collection. She also helped establish the Shore Village Museum, which is now housed at the Rockland Public Library.

"Over the years she served in many leadership capacities helping bring the Lobster Festival to fruition each August ... For over 38 years she has been member of the Rockland Festival Corporation and has only missed four meetings in those 38 years," Spear said.

She participated in the festival’s home improvement project to the home of Maurice Lindsey, of local Popeye fame and she also is one of a handful of people who have attended every festival since its inception in 1948. In addition she was grand marshal of the festival parade in 2007.

Since 1962, she has been a member of Beta Sigma Phi International and has supported the organization and various outreach and fundraising activities for almost 50 years.

She has videoed downtown Rockland and its historic neighborhoods to preserve a snapshot of Rockland for future generations and has served as a historical walking tour guide of Rockland over the years.

Knight also served as the children's event coordinator for Schooner Days; coordinated the sending of more than 700 community postcards for the initiative known as Rockland Share the Pride; was on the boards of the Lincoln Street Center and Coastal Childcare Head Start programs. In addition, she was instrumental and remains supportive of an educational fund created in 2007 in the memory of her late daughter-in-law designed to assist local area students with academic and social assistance and any immediate needs.

Knight also assisted her late husband Horatio in starting Rockland’s first marina for pleasure boats more than 40 years ago in 1967, and to this day Knight Marine remains under the family’s stewardship as a fixture on Rockland’s waterfront.

Currently, she serves on the boards of the Rockland Festival Corporation, the Maine Lighthouse Museum and Rockland Historical Society. The remainder of her time is split between her two children and three grandsons.

Knight was speechless, she said, after receiving the award.

"I loved growing up in Rockland," Knight said.

"I've always tried to do the best for Rockland, not just the things I like, but things to better the community," Knight said.

Knight said after she retired, she found herself volunteering and it has just continued on.

"I love going to meetings," she said, drawing a laugh from the crowd.

Jeff Foxworthy on Maine

Have you heard these yet? Sister-in-law, Kay, sent these truisms

 about Maine from Jeff Foxworthy. I thought you might enjoy them.

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by You might live in Maine If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, You might live in Maine If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, You might live in Maine If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, You might live in Maine If you know how to say...Wicked. ..Up to camp. .Ayuh . Can't get there from heyah, You might live in Maine If vacation means going "up north" for the weekend, You might live in Maine If you measure distance in hours, You might live in Maine If you know several people, who have hit deer more than once, You might live in Maine If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching and keep drinking coffee You might live in Maine If you see people wearing hunting clothes at social events, You might live in Maine If you install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked, You might live in Maine If you think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and Venison, You might live in Maine If you carry jumper cables in your car, and your wife or girlfriend knows how to use them, You might live in Maine If there are 7 empty unlocked cars running in the parking lot at Hannafords at any given time , You might live in Maine If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, You might live in Maine If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, You might live in Maine If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, mud season and of course, road construction, You might live in Maine If you can identify a southern or Massachusetts accent, You might live in Maine If your idea of creative landscaping is a plastic deer next to your blue spruce, You might live in Maine If "Down South" to you means Boston, You might live in Maine If you know "scat" is something you don't eat, You might live in Maine If you find -15 degrees "a little chilly", You might live in Maine If you actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Maine friends, You definitely live in Maine Now smile because at least 99 percent of these are true and Yes.....you live in Maine.

Easter Table Decorations

Easter Table Decorations

For those of you with a Martha Stewart personality, here are a couple ideas to decorate your Easter dinner table. You can find many more such ideas at:

www.allyou.com/budget.home/crafts/

Easter Egg Tree

For the branches you can use whatever flowering tree or bush that may be blooming at the present time such as forsythia, dogwood, apple or any blooming tree or bush with flowers on it. For those of you who may still be waiting for spring up north, you can substitute dried or cloth flowers found in any place that sells craft supplies; or if you wish, your florist may have some kind of branches you can use. I also think pussy willows would be a neat plant to use if you can find some.

To make the blown egg ornaments you’ll need:

Colored blown eggs

5” lengths of ribbon

Hot-glue gun

Hat pins

To make the egg ornaments, fold ribbon in half to form a loop and insert ends into one hole (eggs will have a hole at each end from blowing). Fold loop to side and add a dab of hot glue over hole.

Insert a hat pin into hole. Repeat with remaining eggs and hang on branches.

Blooming Easter Basket

Here’s a nice Easter gift for special guests like grandmothers. It is time consuming, so be aware. You may be able to use other faux flowers besides forsythia. Use your imagination.

YOU'LL NEED (makes 1 basket):

Faux forsythia branches (save-on-crafts.com)

Scissors

Hot-glue gun

Small, shallow plastic or metal bowl

Wire cutters

Wire coat hanger

Coffee can

20" ribbon, ½" wide

12" ribbon, ¾" wide

Remove individual flowers from branches using scissors. Glue blossoms one at a time to bowl. Continue until exterior of bowl is fully covered.

Use wire cutters to snip a 10" length of wire coat hanger. Wrap wire around coffee can or other cylindrical object to create rounded handle shape.

Glue end of ½"-wide ribbon to one end of wire. Carefully wrap ribbon around wire until wire is fully covered. Trim excess ribbon if needed and secure with hot glue. Let dry.

Position wire over bowl so ends are opposite each other. Glue one end to bowl and hold in place 1 to 2 minutes until completely dry. Repeat for other end of wire handle. (Note: Do not use the decorative handle to lift the basket.)

Tie ¾"-wide ribbon into bow. Trim ends and affix to handle using hot glue.

What's a Soap Opera?

Some cast members of  "All My Children"

The next generation coming along will undoubtedly ask this question when their older family members are discussing the demise of “Soap Operas” and how much they miss watching them every day.

Being a student of Communications, I have seen this blow to soap opera lovers coming for a long time. Why are they going away? I’ll answer that question a little later on.

At this point, when “One Life to Live” and “All My Children” disappears within the next year or so, we will only have four soap operas left on daytime television. They are “General Hospital,” the only survivor on ABC; “Days of Our Lives,” the last of the old soaps and the sole survivor on NBC; and “Bold and the Beautiful” and Young and the Restless” on CBS. “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light” have already disappeared from view. I think these last two were my mother’s favorites.

AMC and OLTL will be replaced by live shows: “The Chew,” a food show; and “The Revolution,” a health and lifestyle show with Tim Gunn and former American Idol, Kimberly Locke.

I predict, however, that these four soaps won’t be far behind the ABC losses. They will likely be bumped as soon as network producers can find a hot new property to unleash on the daytime program lists.  The new show “The Talk” which runs opposite OLTL already has an audience. I enjoy it very much myself.  Hosts Julie Chen, Sharon Osbourne, Leah Remini, Sara Gilbert, and Holly Robinson Peete have a great camaraderie and they all make it a fun show to watch. More live talk show formats could be coming.

Don’t get me wrong. I have been a soap opera addict in the past. My addiction began with the old radio soaps like “Our Gal Sunday,” a 15 minute show I listened to with my mother in my pre-school days. When I was in college, I was addicted to “The Secret Storm.” I used to go watch it in the common room as we didn’t have TVs in our rooms. I got razed more than once for my loyalty to that show. My sister, Sara was addicted to “Dark Shadows.”

When I was working nights at the Hartford Courant in the late 60s-early 70s, my main TV viewing each day was the soaps. I watched the trinity on ABC, the two mentioned above and "General Hospital." They came on one after the other just as they do today. I usually only got to watch half of GH before I had to leave for work, but I really didn’t miss much. They dragged out story lines as much then as they do now.

So what is the legacy of the TV soaps? In spite of the fact that daytime actors and actresses have always been considered “B” players who couldn’t make it on nighttime TV, we have had some stellar performances from some of the stars who have been on these programs for years. Who can forget the split personalities of Vicki, as played by Erica Slezak on OLTL? We have grown to love Erica Kane, as played by Susan Lucci. She will marry Jack one more time before they depart from us on an eternal honeymoon.

Some of the actors and actresses have made a name for themselves in other venues and on nighttime programs. Kelly Ripa has made a name for herself on “Live with Regis and Kelly.” She and husband, Mark Consulos, who Kelly met on OLTL and married in real life, have their own program on TV. Then there is Judith Light, who has been seen on many nighttime shows. She’s one of my favorites. Rick Springfield, the rock star, also started out on GH; and Jack Wagner was also a soap star.

Why are the soaps disappearing one by one? Here’s my take on that.

Number one, the soaps stem from an oral tradition, i.e., radio. Today’s viewer wants movement, action, fast segues from one scene to another. Remember, attention spans are not what they used to be. On any given day, if you close your eyes and just listen to your favorite soap, you can follow the story quite easily. Scenes each day go from one living room, one office, to another with LOTS of dialogue. Oral, not visual.

Soaps notoriously drag a story line out to keep you tuning in. However, we aren’t as patient as we used to be in waiting for some action to play out. As far as storylines go, how many times can you tell the same story and make it believable? All the stories have been told many times over. I will commend the writers, however, for trying to focus on current social problems like the bullying storyline I saw recently on OLTL.

Some of the problem is certainly the economy. The networks can no longer afford to pay their stars the big salaries they expect. They can produce a game show or a talk show much more economically. I predict we will be seeing more of these type shows during the daytime hours. Who knows? Maybe we’ll see a revival of “Queen for a Day,” or “This is Your Life.”

Whatever happens, daytime TV will never be the same. My sister-in-law, Nat, is the biggest soap addict I know. She even subscribes to Soap Digest. She watches the ABC trinity religiously every day. She tapes them during the day and then watches them on her bedroom TV in the evening while my brother watches his ball games in the living room. What will she tape to watch now? I give her my sympathies as well as to all the other loyal fans out there. Watch “The Talk” with me if you like.

By the way, there is a campaign to keep AMC and OLTL on the air. Check out the ABC Soap site on the internet to cast your vote if you are an addict who can’t live without your soaps.

Thanks for listening.