Goodbye, Marrakesh

I've spent the last few days in Marrakesh, near the edge of the Sahara, attending "Atlantic Dialogues 2014", an international conference convened by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the OCP Policy Center here in Morocco.

I've greatly enjoyed the proceedings and the opportunity to meet, converse, and share ideas with such an intriguing group of people from around the Atlantic Basin, including former heads of state, foreign ministers, policy advisers, scholars, parliamentarians, and journalists.

I also had the privilege to share the American Nations paradigm whilst part of a panel on "Decoding the United States" that included former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former City of Denver chief of staff Kelly Brough, and the state department's special representative for global intergovernmental affairs, Reta-Jo Lewis. Thanks kindly to the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart for deftly moderating the session, where I did manage to make a pitch for Maine and other essentially "city-less" actors on the global stage of trade, investment, and cooperation.

For those who attended and wanted to learn more about American Nations, we've posted this Washington Monthly article and this follow-up here and on the AD Connect app; it should give readers a broader sense of what the paradigm is all about and its utility in understanding ongoing events as well as historical ones.

Thanks again to GMF and OCP for inviting me. Now, back to Maine.

Maine Press Association Journalist of the Year

I received an entirely unexpected honor near the end of an award's ceremony last night: being named the Maine Press Association's 2014 Journalist of the Year. Many thanks to the MPA, which represents my native state's newspapers, and to my editors at the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram who have been so supportive of my (often time-consuming, long-form) work since joining the paper in 2012.

I had come to the ceremony to receive the first prize for an investigative project for "Lobbyist in the Henhouse," the seven-month long investigation of what happened after Gov. Paul LePage appointed an industry lobbyist to head the Department of Environmental Protection. The paper also won several other first prizes, the best advertising representative, and the three most coveted awards the MPA gives out: best daily newspaper, best Weekend newspaper, and best website. A very good night for the paper.

Also, for those with an interest in "Unsettled", the 29-part series on the harrowing odyssey of Maine's Passamaquoddy people over the past fifty years, the ebook is now available. It's free for subscribers, and available for purchase from B&N, Amazon, and iTunes. Thanks to all who came to the launch reception last week at the Salt Institute.

Republic of Pirates hits New York Times Bestseller List for Travel

A pleasant surprise this month: The Republic of Pirates made the New York Times Bestseller List for the Travel category. Based on sales in the month of September here in the United States, it came it at number 6.

The book -- a history of the infamous pirate gang of which Blackbeard was a member -- was the inspiration for the NBC series "Crossbones" and influenced Starz' "Black Sails" and Ubisoft's Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag (which are both set with this gang). Its long been available in Spanish and Danish translations, but this year also in U.K, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Hungarian, and Chinese (Taiwan) editions.

Don Gellers, 60s-era legal champion of Passamaquoddy, has died at 78.

I'm sad to report that Rabbi Tuvia Ben-Shmuel-Yosef -- known to Mainers by his birth name, Don Gellers -- died Wednesday in New York City. He was 78.

He was a central figure in my recent 29-part Portland Press Herald series, "Unsettled", vigorously defending the Passamaquoddy in court at a time when nobody else would, calling national media attention to official handling of the brutal 1968 slaying of tribal member Peter Francis, and filing the first land claims case against Maine (via colonial power Massachusetts).

As the series reveals, he was for his troubles run out of the state and country by a state sponsored conspiracy orchestrated by the Attorney General's office.

I'll be writing a longer story on Ben-Shmuel-Yosef  for next week's Telegram and will say some words about him at the "Unsettled" ebook launch reception Oct. 16.

[Update, 1/10/20: Governor Janet Mills, a former Attorney General and career prosecutor, granted Gellers a full pardon and admonished the state's handling of the case.]

"Unsettled" e-book release party, Oct. 16, Portland, Maine

"Unsettled", the 29-part series on the epic story of Maine's Passamaquoddy people over the past half century, is now available as an e-book and the Portland Press Herald is throwing a reception.

If you live in the vicinity of Portland, Maine -- or have frequent flyer miles to burn -- consider coming to the Oct. 16 event at the Salt Institute. Photographer Gabe Souza and myself will be there to answer questions about the series, with Press Herald Executive Editor Cliff Schechtman moderating. It kicks off at 6:00 pm, but space is limited so do RSVP using this link.

Here's the invite:

The ebook, published by the Press Herald, will be available free to subscribers and from iTunes and Amazon for everyone else. [Update, 10/16/14: The ebook is out now; links to download or purhase here.]

Hope to see you there.