Brunswick Area Indivisible Newsletter #22
|
"We are a grassroots organization of concerned residents of Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell” Newsletter for April 20, 2026 Brunswick Area Indivisible Action Calendar: May Day National Day of Action, May 1st. Meet at the Gazebo on the Brunswick Mall at 4:30pm. More details below. The May Day Strong site has more information about this national event. BAI Monthly Meeting Wednesday May 6, 6:00-8:00 pm. Brunswick United Methodist Church, 320 Church Rd, Brunswick. Join us at 6:00 pm to socialize; the meeting begins at 6:30pm. Just in time for the primary on June 9th, our guest speaker will be Ed Erickson, a native of Maine and is a Brunswick-area specialist in communications and public affairs, with graduate training in political science. He is the president and founder of Erickson communication group, which works with political candidates to craft campaign messages. His expertise is in the nitty gritty of engaging voters with effective campaign communications strategies. BAI Book Discussion: Monday May 11th 4-5:15pm. Topsham Public Library. Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt by Arthur C. Brooks. Discussion will be led by Roy Underhill. All are welcome. Recurring Events (Brunswick) Tuesdays, 5:30 pm Brunswick Maine Street Route 1 Overpass Rally - Bring your signs and flags. Wednesdays, 12:30 pm Brunswick Town Mall Cosplay protest. Meet at the Gazebo- costumes optional Saturdays, 11:00 am to 12:00 Brunswick, Maine St. on Rt 1 Overpass. Bring banners, signs. Mark your calendar: The Town of Brunswick’s Earth Day Festival, Saturday April 25th 10am-3pm rain or shine. Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, 44 McKeen St. Brunswick. Free admission for all. Fun activities, talks, an all species parade, electric vehicle show and tell, bike tent, wheelbarrow races, live music, and more. The Brunswick Sustainability Committee looks forward to meeting with residents at the festival. BAI Monthly Meeting with Guest Speaker Hannah Pingree Wednesday May 27th 6:00pm. Brunswick United Methodist Church, 320 Church Rd, Brunswick. Join us at 6:00pm to socialize. At 6:30, Hannah Pingree will discuss her run for the Democratic Party's nomination for governor. She is a former school board chair, former speaker of Maine's House of Representatives, and current Director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. She advocates for Maine Won't Wait - Maine's Climate Action Plan, which has won national recognition. Postcarding, before the Monthly Meeting. Wednesday, May 27th, drop in, starting at 4:00pm. Brunswick United Methodist Church. Help write news boosting postcards, which inform Mainers about important topics in the national news, and how it may affect them. All supplies will be provided (postcards, names , pens and stickers ). Donations for the cost of stamps are most welcome. For More actions and events, visit Activate Maine Democratic Senate Candidates' ForumThe April 11 forum was well attended and informative, with candidates Graham Platner and David Costello. Congratulations to the sponsoring organizations, including BAI's Education Working Group. If you missed the event, watch the video provided by Christian Leger of Bath.
From the Action Working GroupLead Sheryl Search shared this update:
Our next Action is scheduled for May Day, Workers over Billionaires. It is May 1 from 5:00-6:00 pm. We will meet at the Gazebo in Brunswick at 4:30 and move to the sidewalks for a planned march down Maine Street and back to the sidewalks in front of the Gazebo. We plan to have chants and drums. Final plans are in the works. Please sign up on Mobilize!
We would like to remind our friends and neighbors of our regular protests; Tuesday 5:30-6:30pm and Saturday
11:00-12:00 on the Maine Street overpass. Also Wednesdays from 12:30-1:00pm, cosplay on the sidewalk in front of the Gazebo. Costume not required!
NK3 was a huge success and thank you to all who showed up to support democracy. More from the Action Group coming soon! From the Government Working GroupSome members from the Government Working Group regularly attend all Brunswick School Board Meetings as well as Town Council Meetings. We often contribute comments and focus on the current priorities of our committee which are: housing, voting rights, and immigrants. …Your support of our most vulnerable students — THE UNHOUSED, those with mental health and trauma issues, OUR IMMIGRANTS, struggling learners, the hungry — while holding high expectations for all students, is to be loudly applauded. CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS and CIVICS EDUCATION are of utmost importance now more than ever! Our youth need to learn to navigate the digital bombardment and AI evolution with clear understanding and healthy usage. Schools have the important task of teaching our children to become DISCERNING MEDIA USERS, RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS, AND WELL-INFORMED VOTERS. Thanks for promoting this more and more. Kudos for all you do—the long hours, the difficult decisions, the constituent connections, and on and on. Thank you.
Musical protest groups invite participantsThe Singing Resistance by local organizer Will Bristol: It was a privilege to bring some of the Singing Resistance movement to Brunswick NO KINGS 3 Rally on 3/28. The Singing Resistance movement began in Minneapolis following a surge in violent immigration enforcement and has since allowed for other chapters to join with them across the country. This is a movement of singers who want to protect and care for communities in the face of rising authoritarianism. Inviting folx into song is an antidote to fear and it connects us to each other. Through song we can name and protect what we hold sacred—including those who have been taken from us due to ICE violence. To get involved in the Brunswick-Topsham Singing Resistance chapter, please email Will Bristol at wbman@proton.me The Mob of Angels Ensemble 'The Mob of Angels' originally formed in the 1980's under the leadership of the late Layne Redmond. This ritual drumming group of women drummed and stepped together, creating sacred space and an experience of entrainment. Layne was a master drummer who initiated many to the world of frame drums: a hand drum that has a drumhead with a width greater than the depth, played with hand techniques, and in ancient times was played primarily by women. The Mob of Angels has reawakened right here in Brunswick. A group of women who can drum, and sing, and step together in procession, is here. If you identify as a woman, you are welcome. The hope is to create a presence that is uplifting, powerful, and musical. The intent is to lead simple chants that can be readily learned by crowds. Everyone can be invited to join in. This group includes a number of women who have been playing drums for years, those learning some basic techniques on the tar or tambourine, those who love to sing, and others who can carry a simple pulse that synchronizes with the stepping, with hand percussion instruments. If you can talk, you can sing, if you can walk, you can play to the rhythm of your stepping. These celebratory and empowering actions build community and create energy. To join in, send an email tocommunications.bai.me@gmail.com. Please include Mob of Angels in the subject line. Every dollar spent is a voteMany of us try to be thoughtful and informed when we decide where to spend. There is no doubt that consumer action, whether negative, like boycotts, or positive, like Buy Local campaigns have changed the retail landscape over the past generation. Ethical Consumerism has emerged as an organized movement centered on choices to favor businesses that practice sustainability and social responsibility. In addition, industries working together have been able to exert influence on federal policy. Two recent events may be of interest to those who favor ethical consumerism: The USDA announces a reorganization of the Forest Service At the end of March 2026, it was announced that the US Forest Service (USFS) would undergo a full restructuring; moving headquarters from Washington DC to Salt Lake City, replacing a state leadership model with 10 regional offices, and eliminating 57 forest research facilities (leaving only 20). Project 2025, a checklist that the Trump administration is strictly adhering to, prescribes that the USFS moves from forest management to industrial lumber production and mining. USFS under Trump began by lifting mining bans at Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness this week, contracting with the Chilean mining corporation, Antofagasta. In response, there is a nationwide push encouraging retailers whose profits are based in outdoor recreation in America’s public lands, to pressure the Trump administration to keep the USFS intact and to continue protections for national forests throughout the US. In Maine, we have the White Mountain National Forest and the Penobscot Experimental Forest under their auspices. Also in Maine REI, Inc, The North Face, Patagonia, and LLBean are some of those outdoor recreational products companies that responded to the call from customers to come to the aid of the trees. In just two weeks, more than 80 strong outdoor equipment companies have joined the movement to Save Our Forests. At the time of this newsletter's publication, Cabela’s is notably absent from this fight. (See the full list at SaveUSFS.org .) Forests are critical to the survival of all oxygen-breathing organisms. Humans and plants have a symbiotic relationship. Every breath we inhale puts oxygen made by the trees into our lungs. And each time we exhale, our carbon dioxide gets taken in by our forests to be transformed into oxygen we can breathe again. This is the simplest, most basic of biologic needs, that we cannot live without. Thank the companies stepping forward to put their power behind the forests that power their profits. Do this on social media and by spending your dollars at the companies that stepped up. Hobby Lobby to open in Brunswick at the former Sears location Though locals may be happy to see a new tenant in the long-vacant space, and crafters may welcome a big box craft retailer after the closure of Joann Fabrics Topsham location, Hobby Lobby has a controversial history. This includes a conviction for smuggling stolen antiquities, complaints of discriminatory hiring and retail practices. The Green family, owners of the chain, are major contributors to The Servant Foundation, which funds anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation campaigns. The Servant Foundation is a funder of The Alliance Defending Freedom, characterized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. There are no known national boycotts of the company at present, though there have been in the past. Vote! Looking forward to record-setting primary participationMaine's primaries will be held Tuesday June 9th. It is more important than ever that all eligible voters make themselves heard. Please make a plan to vote and encourage everyone in your circle to do so. Remember that Maine has semi-open primaries, meaning registered voters enrolled in any of Maine's 4 official political parties can only vote in their own party's primary. Those who are not enrolled in any party may cast votes in 1 party's primary of their choice. Spread the work among your party-enrolled and unenrolled friends, young people 17+ and those who may not be familiar with the primary process.
The Maine MorningStar has published a handy primary guide. Other excellent sources of voting information are the Maine Elections site and The League of Women Voters Maine. The League has voting information in multiple languages, a great explanation of ranked-choice voting and maintains a voting questions hotline at (207) 558-3333. Data Centers Status in MaineMaine has become the first U.S. state to enact a statewide moratorium on large-scale data centers. As of April 2026, the legislature passed a bill halting the development of new facilities requiring 20 megawatts or more of power. The legislation aims to protect the electrical grid and shield rate payers from potential price hikes, as officials study the infrastructure, environmental, and water-use impacts of energy intensive AI facilities. Proponents argue this ‘breathing room’ is necessary to establish a robust regulatory framework, while critics contend the move stifles economic investment in the struggling rural communities. The bill currently awaits action from Governor Janet Mills, who has expressed a desire for exceptions to specific projects, such as a proposed data center at the former paper mill in Jay, Maine. Free Community College for MaineGovernor Janet Mills has signed a supplemental budget that makes her landmark Free Community College program permanent for Maine high school graduates in the Class of 2026 and beyond. The program, which began in 2022 as a temporary initiative, is designed to boost the state's workforce by covering tuition and mandatory fees for students attending Maine’s seven community colleges. Maine residents who graduate high school (or equivalent) in 2026 and subsequent years are eligible. The program has seen significant success since its inception, with over 22,000 students taking advantage of the scholarship as of early 2026. The permanent funding was part of a broader biennial budget passed by lawmakers to support education and strengthen the Maine economy. As always, if you have an upcoming action, article, legislative issue or story that you want to go out on the Brunswick Area Indivisible email list, send it to communications.bai.me@gmail.com Have you missed a newsletter, want to look back, or want to share a past issue? The most recent 6+ newsletters can be found on the BAI Posts page. Want to support BAI? We welcome your time and talents. Contact communications.bai.me@gmail.com for volunteer opportunities. Donations are welcome at our meetings and online through ACT BLUE.
|