In the folklore of Orkney, the wind-and-rain-lashed, green-cliffed archipelago in the north of Scotland, “Hildaland” — meaning “hidden land” — is a paradisiacal island, invisible to most, that is the […]
EVERLASTING RIPPLES
There’s Plenty of Hope in the Sea
In paintings and mixed media, Nancy Jenner finds beauty, inspiration, and a sense of herself
In recent years, the world has seemed especially cacophonous to artist Nancy Jenner. In a loud room, says Jenner, “I get quiet.” Her impulse is to travel inward, she says, […]
DEEP ROOTS
Paying His Dues and Playing the Blues
Fred Clayton, the ‘Blues Man of Cape Cod,’ has something to say
Before Fred Clayton had a guitar, he played “a stick with a string on it” — a “giant twig” curved and strung like an archer’s bow. He strummed along to […]
LOGGING IN
Fungi Are Forever
Leo Parent’s carved wooden mushrooms spring from finds on forest walks
Leo Parent takes a hand torch to the top of a large wooden mushroom, and the smoke puffs up, gray and fragrant. The torching technique is called shou sugi ban, […]
STILL FRAME
An Artist Takes a Moment
Solitude provides Zeinab Shahidi Marnani with new perspectives
Zeinab Shahidi Marnani, a visual arts fellow at Provincetown’s Fine Arts Work Center, spends a lot of time in relative isolation. “Seven months is a long time,” she says. She’s […]
GOING DEEP
Straight Lines and Sharp Teeth
For novelist Clara Mallon, expressing what you mean is lifesaving
The first time Clara Mallon wrote a story, she wrote it only in her head. She was five years old, looking out the window at school. “I was narrating from […]
THE MANOSPHERE
Non-Toxic Is an Antidote to Joe Rogan
Daniel Waite Penny’s podcast looks at climate change and masculinity
Three years ago, Daniel Waite Penny, who lives in Provincetown, started a podcast called Non-Toxic: a play on the term “toxic masculinity” and the state of the environment. The podcast […]
TUNING UP
Breathing In and Playing Out
An Irish band sizzles with a signature sound
For Shane Hayes, playing traditional Irish music feels as natural as breathing. “You don’t think about it,” he says. “You just play.” Hayes was born and raised in Ennis, in […]
CULTIVATION
The Bold and Patient Art of Bonsai
David Gavelek teaches a class that’s part horticulture, part art, and part engineering
Six bonsai trees in clay pots stand in a lineup under the fluorescent lights of the cafeteria at the Truro Central School, awaiting critique. The bonsai, all larches and junipers, […]
RADIO
Traversing the Seas of Recollection
WOMR’s Erik the Red is a storytelling DJ
Eric Auger doesn’t always wear his horned helmet. On air, Auger is Erik the Red, the Viking skipper of his WOMR show, The Reminiscence Bump, every other Thursday from 9 […]
PET PROJECT
The Cat People of Provincetown
Socializing with strays, volunteers carry on Carrie A. Seaman’s legacy
Cat statuary flanks the fireplace of the house at 5 Sandy Hill Lane in Provincetown. On one side, a stone angel cradles a kitten on its lap. On the other […]
SMALL TALK
Acie Clark Finds Poetry in Everything and Anything
Striving to make honest poems, even if they’re not true
Acie Clark is interested in small talk. Most of the time, he says, people refer to it dismissively. But he finds meaning in life’s mundane moments. “So much of our […]
MEET THE MAKER
In a Wellfleet Workshop, Vintage Silver Transcends the Table
Alan Hight cuts, bends, and hammers silverware into jewelry
Sitting at a workbench in the basement of his Wellfleet house, Alan Hight runs a hand over a glittering pile of dozens of silver spoons and forks. He’s searching for […]
UGLY TRUTHS
Young Writer Seeks Difficulty
FAWC fellow Jiaqi Kang isn’t afraid to write willfully
Jiaqi Kang doesn’t like to call their longtime habit — waking in the morning and scribbling recollections of dreams — a “practice,” because that word is “hoity-toity.” But one morning […]
MEET THE MAKER
Steve Smith Throws Away the Level and the Square
To be a boatbuilder is to be part fine-tuner, part heavy lifter, part dreamer
Steve Smith disappears through the wicket gate — the smaller, person-size door built into one of the two much larger doors of his backyard barn. Then the large door swings […]
