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* Monday, 01/15/2018
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** 18:41 Travels
  Began the day early at the airport only to be deplaned before we left Portland due to mechanical trouble. Thanks to technology Nextravel simply rebooked us on the next flight to JFK and then a later flight to SFO. in the end, despite the long day everything went surprisingly smoothly.

I just finished George Mitchell's memoir that Nammy gave me for Christmas. I was unimpressed. I found the most difficult aspects of the book for me was his avoidance of certain topics where things didn't turn out well, making oblique references but not sharing much. He comes across as a bit of a braggard, which is funny because I bet he'd be horribly embarrased to hear that, but it doesn't change the perception.

The best parts of the book were his reflections on growing up in Waterville, his experience with his siblings and growing up in a working Maine family.  They lend a human aspect to what is otherwise a series of public appointments and accomplished network building, none of which is interesting at all.

His leadership style, however provided a great jolt to my own position as a selectperson. Reading about the horse trading and deals in Congress reminded me that you don't always have to stick to what's been done before. I should be putting more time into identifying community issues, quantifying their impact, and distilling the best ways to address them.

One of the biggest hurdles in Castine, I believe, is the intransigence of certain groups of people.  While a vocal minority thinks we need more working families, and aggressive policy that actively sought to bring working families into Castine would likely be very unpopular. In light of that observation, I think the board needs to make a more concerted effort to be honest with the desires of the population and, most importantly seek out ways to communicate, both directions, with people.