The journey was long and uncomfortable. I was hot, tired and desperately craving a strawberry Pop-Tart. A few of my classmates were off to Disney World for the week, but after a 22-hour flight, a delayed layover and a very bumpy three-hour van ride, I finally arrived for my first visit at my mother’s rural […]
Leslie Bridgers
Columnist
Leslie Bridgers is a columnist for the Portland Press Herald, writing about Maine culture, customs and the things we notice and wonder about in our everyday lives. Originally from Connecticut, Leslie came to Maine by way of Bowdoin College and never left. She joined the Portland Press Herald in 2011 as a reporter and spent seven years as the paper’s features editor, overseeing coverage of arts, entertainment and food.
Posted inCookbook Reviews, Recipes
Spicy pork and soba noodles deliver sweet, salty and crunchy in one filling dish
Time is a precious commodity, so if someone offers me a shortcut, I’m all ears. That’s one reason I dove into “The Shortcut Cook” by Rosie Reynolds (Hardie Grant, 2021). The other was that I loved “The Kitchen Shelf,” a cookbook she wrote in 2016 with Eve O’Sullivan, which is all about building meals around […]
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Posted inArts & Entertainment
Mary Lincoln wasn’t ‘crazy.’ She was a bereaved mother, new exhibit says.
WASHINGTON — Callie Hawkins had been working at President Lincoln’s Cottage museum for 10 years when she became pregnant. She and her husband were thrilled, and she joked with her co-workers about the baby’s “perfect” due date – Feb. 12 – Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. When the day arrived, Hawkins went into labor right on schedule. […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Flipping the script on ‘fat’ in comedy
The third and final season of ‘Shrill,’ starring Aidy Bryant, was released on Hulu on Friday.
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Review
Art review: There’s abundant art to see at Cove Street
Poetry, photography, sculpture and more make up the multiple exhibitions on display.
Posted inDo This, Food
Tap Lines: Surprise, brown ales don’t have to be boring
Maine breweries are playing with the old style in new ways.
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Do This, Uncategorized
Indie Film: Filmmaker taps into his darkest fears for ‘Family History’
The horror film by Mark Parker, who moved to Kittery from New York during the pandemic, is playing at festivals.
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Review
Art review: Farnsworth puts spotlight on women behind the Maine arts scene
‘Women of Vision’ uses artwork and wall texts to showcase their influence.
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Review
A farm woman of iron will yet surprising delicacy anchors this Icelandic drama
If you’ve seen the recent Oscar-winner “Nomadland,” you might recognize a little bit of Frances McDormand’s Fern in Inga, the indomitable heroine of “The County.” Granted, Inga lives on a dairy farm in Iceland, thousands of miles away from Fern’s itinerant existence tooling around the American West in search of work. Set adrift by grief […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Review
Familiar addiction drama is elevated by powerful performances
Anyone who saw the movie “Beautiful Boy” – the fact-based 2018 addiction drama starring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet as a father and son struggling with the younger man’s drug dependency – will already be familiar with the narrative rhythms of the similarly themed “Four Good Days.” Much like Felix Van Groeningen’s movie, based on […]