The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday will be celebrated this year with an online program that promises to be as challenging and uplifting as live programs have been over the past 17 years. All are invited to Zoom in Monday, Jan. 18, at 10 a.m. Find the link at www.uukennebunk.org/mlk-program. The 18th annual Martin Luther King, Jr.  program is sponsored by the Social Justice Committee of the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Kennebunk.

Karlene A.P. Burrell-McRae, Dean of College, Colby, to speak at annual Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK program in Kennebunk. Courtesy photo

Keynote speaker Karlene A.P. Burrell-McRae, Dean of the College at Colby College in Waterville, draws from personal experience in her talk, “Why are you so Afraid? Black Rage is Part of our Journey.” Burrell-McRae is donating her honorarium to benefit Northern Light Inland Hospital.

Mother of two teens, Burrell-McRae was shocked and saddened when her daughter contacted her just after the brutal killing of George Floyd.

“While I was still at work, my teenage daughter FaceTimed me,” Burrelll-McRae wrote in the Portland Press Herald on June 3. “Sobbing, she shared that in her efforts to follow current events, she viewed the most recent video of a police officer’s barbaric and inhumane detainment of a black man. By herself, she witnessed George Floyd’s murder. As her sobs grew louder, she asked, ‘Why do they hate us?’”

Burrell-McRae collected herself that day, also feeling her own pain as she headed home to comfort her daughter.

“I don’t have the answers,” she wrote. “I do know that we need to dig deeper and work harder to bring forth an equitable society where every person is treated humanely and justly.”

Having earned a PhD in education, Burrell-McRae leads initiatives to foster a diverse and inclusive community at Colby. Before moving to Maine, she directed the Black Cultural Center at Swarthmore College, and previously held several positions at the University of Pennsylvania.

Those who tune in will also hear the rich baritone voice of Samuel James Dewese, who studied in Chicago and London and has performed world-wide. He will open the program with the song, “At the River,” by Aaron Copland, and close with “Make them Hear You,” by Steven Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens from “Ragtime.”

The program also includes time for questions and answers.

While First Parish will not be able to hold its traditional breakfast, the recipes for quiche and blueberry buckle will also be on the website to help you enjoy the morning. Tickets are $10, $20 per family, younger than 18 free. Registration is required in advance for both paid and free tickets at www.uukennebunk.org/mlk-program. Additional donations welcome.

Library to host Kennebunk poet

Kennebunk Free Library invites the public to a Zoom session local poet Helen Rousseau. Rousseau will read from her latest book, “Poems for a World on Fire: Meditations on Hope.” The program is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 19.

Helen Rousseau

“It was begun last year and focused on global warming, deforestation, loss of animal habitat and the lack of action on our part,” Rousseau said of the book in an email. “Then the coronavirus came along which brought about so many more issues that we hear discussed in the news every day.”

“Poems for a World on Fire” is her third book of poetry. Her first two are “Early childhood Education: A Memoir in Verse about Growing up Catholic in the Fifties” and “Coming to the Edge: Fifty Poems for Writing and Healing,” a resource for writing with prompts.

She’s been leading writing classes for 12 years. Recently, she has taught at senior colleges, using her book “Coming to the Edge.”

It is also used by many therapists with their clients. Helen is also a spiritual guide and interfaith minister.

The Zoom link will be posted on the library website (kennebunklibrary.org) in both the rotating display and the calendar.

For more information, call the library at 207-985-2173 or email kfl@kennebunk.lib.me.us.

Library, Habitat for Humanity host housing discussion

With many of confined to their homes for big swaths of this past year, the pandemic shone a spotlight on housing inequality in the United States. Not having access to safe, secure, affordable housing can take a huge toll on physical and mental health, job prospects, children’s education, food security, and more. It is a significant driver of generational poverty.

Kennebunk Free Library and Habitat for Humanity York County are cosponsoring a quarterly book group to discuss the effect of housing inequality on families and communities, the long-term effects of racial discrimination in housing, and what the solutions might be.

The first meeting will be on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. to discuss “Evicted: Property and Profit in the American City,” by Matthew Desmond. The Zoom link will be posted in the rotating display and events calendar at www.kennebunklibrary.org.

Habitat is building its first home in Saco in January 2021. Participants of the book group will be invited to complete an optional volunteer day on the Saco build site with others who have read the book. All volunteers are required to wear masks.

Those interested in volunteering with Habitat should email Alana at program@habitatyorkcounty.org or call 985-4850.

York County Audubon presents owls of North America program

On Tuesday, Jan. 19, York County Audubon will host award-winning author and photographer Paul Bannick. His online Zoom program will feature video, sound and stories from the field, and images from his book, “Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls.” His images follow the owls through the course of one year in their distinct habitats, showing their courtship, mating and nesting in spring, fledging and feeding their young in summer, dispersal and gaining independence in fall, and, finally, winter’s migrations and competitions for food.

Paul Bannick Courtesy photo

“If your average picture is worth a thousand words, a Paul Bannick wildlife photograph is worth 20,000,” said Ted Williams, former editor of Audubon Magazine. “Having worked with wildlife photographers for articles in Audubon, Smithsonian, Sierra, National Wildlife and other magazines for 45 years, I have yet to encounter one who better captures the magic and beauty of the natural world.”

Bannick’s work can be found prominently in many bird guides, including those from Audubon, Peterson, and The Smithsonian, and has been featured in The New York Times, Audubon, Sunset, Nature’s Best Photography Magazine, and National Geographic online. After a successful career in the software industry, he chose to pursue his passion for wildlife conservation, and now works with Conservation Northwest, a Seattle based nonprofit dedicated to protecting, connecting and restoring wildlands and wildlife from the coast of Washington to the Rockies of British Columbia.

For more information, visit http://paulbannick.com/ and on Facebook at Paul Bannick Photography.

York County Audubon will present the program online. It’s available free of charge, but advance registration is required. To register, visit www.yorkcountyaudubon.org, and click on the link. After registering, participants will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the program.

Correction

The ownership of Little River Antiques and Estate Sales was misidentified in a Jan. 1 story about an estate sale at the Captain Lord Mansion in Kennebunkport. The company is co-owned by Ellen Heath and Sandy Gnidziejko. Jo O’Connor is the publicist.

Silas Perkins Park in Kennebunkport on the first Sunday morning of 2021. Dan King photo