Life's a Beach

This is a picture taken my by neighbor, Christine Mackenzie

Welcome to my very first blog, Staring at the Sun! My name is Colleen Whitcomb and I am a sophomore majoring in environmental studies at the University of Vermont. I come from Cape Elizabeth, Maine which is a small town outside of Portland, right on the coast. It's a small town with one stoplight, which I love about it. It's nice to know the people you pass driving or at the grocery store or the library. I also live in what I consider the best neighborhood in America...that might be a little biased though. Our neighborhood is really close and we have a lot of block parties, there is a neighborhood play each summer, as well as other gatherings and beach days. There are always people outside walking their dogs or children playing games, and everyone driving through waves to say hello. Some people don't like living in a neighborhood and think its weird that we're so close, but I wouldn't trade it for the world! Each summer we have a 12 hour wiffleball game, as a fundraiser for the local library. To the left is a picture of all the participants who were there when the game ended at 8pm. I didn't play all 12 hours this year because I had to work, but I have in the past. This year my team lost because my younger sister hit the game winning home run for the other team, but it was fun because it was so close at the end.

My friend Emily took this picture of my neighbors Katie, John and me posing for pictures in front of our road sign because we had a neighborhood graduation party

 I love Maine, especially going to the beach in the summer! I love to swim and boogie board and read by the water. I want to learn how to surf, but that has yet to happen. The ocean in Maine is really cold though, I went swimming on a few New Years Days for a charity fundraiser in my town, it was painfully cold! One of my favorite beaches to go to is Higgins Beach, and though I love Vermont, sometimes I really miss the ocean, and when that happens I like to look at the Higgins Beach Webcam (best viewed during the daytime), which isn't the same as being by the ocean, but it still makes me happy!

This is a picture taken from Peaks Island that a family friend, John Roma, took

Speaking of the ocean, Peaks Island is another place that is very special to me. I've been going there over the summer since I was 6 weeks old, and even though its only about 20 minutes away from home, it is still a great place to vacation. It's cool because my parents used to go there when they were younger too, so my sister and I love hearing the stories about what they used to do for fun and how the island has changed. There are certain landmarks on the island that we can't miss such as whaleback (which is a rock that looks like the back of a whale, Battery Steele (an old spooky war fort that you can walk through) and of course the ice cream store! We love to bike around the island, look for sea glass and my family always does puzzles together. I especially love the time there spent with my family. My cousins are always there on the 4th of July and we have all sorts of fun traditions such as the clamshell race, the parade and watching the fireworks together. It is one of my favorite holidays because of the time I'm able to spend with my cousins. This past summer, my uncle got married on a ferry cruising around Peaks Island. It was a beautiful day and really fun, my sister and I were both bridesmaids, which was really fun! Unfortunately the shoes I got for the wedding came with two left feet and we were stuck on an island, so that was a little disappointing, but it was funny so it worked out. I had to borrow my grandmother's sandals which were surprisingly stylish!

This is a picture that my friend took this summer while enjoying a day by a local beach.

This summer I spent a lot of time working a few different jobs, I worked selling concessions at a local baseball park, scooped ice cream at Friendly's, coached soccer at a soccer camp and did some chicken sitting. I also tried to learn the ukulele, but that's still a work in process! Chicken sitting was awesome, but it was sometimes difficult to get the chickens in the pen at night!

I love to spend time outside and be active, in high school I played soccer, ice hockey and ran track and cross-country. I also love to sing, read, canoe and cross country ski!

I love UVM and I have had many awesome experiences here, one awesome experience I have had in my time at UVM was attending Powershift, which was a convention to learn about organizing to make a difference, rallying for clean energy and hearing from a lot of really inspirational speakers such as Bill McKibben. It was so awesome to be surrounded by so many young adults who were so passionate about the environment and making a difference, it was such a powerful experience.
"BOO! IT'S HOT OUT HERE--THERE'S TOO MUCH CARBON IN THE ATMOSPHERE!"



This is a video that shows a little bit of what we did at Powershift




This is a video of a group of participants who rallied by throwing a "beach party" at a BP gas station to get back at them for wrecking beaches with their oil spill. This was my first time rallying in DC--so it was awesome and so much fun!