Howdy. This is my new site. Here’s the deal, I’m going to curate various interesting things going on in Maine. I plan to include news, events, products, and….I might even do pod casts!

Who Am I? I’m Kate Kastelein. I’m a married mom of 2. I’m a writer. I’m a 9 millionth generation Mainer. I’m pretty sure that’s all you need to know.

Why am I doing this? I love Maine. LOVE Maine. Maine is not doing so well lately. We are the oldest and whitest state. We have a terrible dearth of white collar jobs. Young people are fleeing the state in droves. This should not be happening. It’s an amazing place to live and raise a family. There are a lot of problems, we have a long way to go, but I want to help.

How can blogging about Maine help? I’m not really sure. I do know that there doesn’t seem to be one place to get news from around the state, that includes regular news outlets, blogs, tweets, etc. Maybe gathering everything together will highlight what a great place it is?

Am I planning on re posting ALL the news in the state? No. Just the stuff I find interesting. Is it presumptuous and narcissistic to think others might care about what I find interesting? Sure. Do I care? Nope.

Is this going to turn into some super liberal hippie loving blog? No. I’m going to try VERY hard to keep politics out of my posts. However, I’m very passionate about education, food, and the environment. Typical hippie crap.

Am I scared of trolls? Yes. I read a lot of news. I see comments. People are horrible nasty creatures. I’m going to put on my big girl pants and not worry about it. I will have a firm policy of deleting and blocking rather than engaging the super haters. You can disagree with me, but the nasty stuff will not be tolerated.

Can I follow you? Yes you can! I’m on twitter @mommyk8 and www.facebook.com/mainethings I’ll put some buttons on as soon as I figure this beast out.  If you are tweeting about this blog please use #mainethings  Thank you so much.

Can I send you things? Yes! Things about Maine only. I’m planning on a feature called ‘insider tips’. It would be particularly helpful if people would submit their favorite little known Maine tips. For example: LL Bean will resole your duck boots with a larger size. If, say, you are a pregnant lady and your shoe size goes from a 7.5 to an 8, take them in and have them resoled. I don’t know how much this costs. I will find out.