Maine is “Mine” with an “a”
In my Maine, I was never looked at as a “From Away” person. I came to Maine for the first time 4 years ago. I’ve been to many other places in the US for traveling purposes, but I have never been to Maine. When the Bus I was on drove through the Piscataqua River Bridge, I took out my phone and snapped a picture, not sure why I did that, but the 2 other people who were on the same bus with me did the same thing. I guess that’s what people do when they see things they have never seen before. I looked through the hard water spots on the window next to me, and I saw rivers, trees, people, and an unreasonable amount of Dunkin’ Donuts. Back then, I didn’t know the “Mainer” and “From Away” relationships, but even now, I still remember people I met in that first Dunkin’ Donut I’ve ever been to, they were nothing like the xenophobe Mainers I read about.
Being someone “From Away” in a boarding school is very interesting, because most of the people around me are also“From Away”. I never really had a good understanding of why people say Mainers dislike people “From Away”; on the contrary, I thought people “From Away” had such Stereotypical ideas for Mainers that there is now a checklist you need to do to be qualified to be called a Mainer. During my time at Kents Hill, I’ve built relationships with people who have lived in Maine for their entire lives and people who have been in Maine for less than 2 years. Most people get used to the culture and weather here so quickly, because Maine is so different from any other place, it could be snowing on Thanksgiving, it could be 30°F in June, and most Mainers would know Maine has 4 seasons: Summer, Fall, Winter, and Mud Season. All of that makes Maine so predictable.
I think I can qualify myself as a Mainer if I want to. I’ve been living in Maine for 4 years, and I only go back home for 2 months every year. I have learned so much about the culture in Maine; all I need is a Lumberjack beard and a L.L.Bean hoodie, then I’ll have my Mainer checklist filled. Oddly enough, I haven’t seen the word “Mainer” used very often. As time passes by, I feel like nowadays, Mainer is not really a definition anymore, it’s more like something people refer to other people when they fall into a certain Mainer Stereotype. I don’t know exactly how many people in Kents Hill are from Maine, but I do know some people who are not from Maine but still fall into the Mainer Stereotype. Like I said, people get used to Maine so quickly, even if you are someone “From Away”. Maine will eventually turn you into a “Mainer.”
Spending time with people “From Away” is a lot of fun; we get to learn about Maine on the same level. Before I came to Kents Hill, people told me Maine has a Brutal Winter. I never really experienced “Cold” before I came to Kents Hill, but coming to Maine refreshed my definition of what “Cold” is. The same thing applies to people I knew who are also “From Away”; I’ve seen people’s faces of seeing snow for the first time, and I’ve taken care of a sick roommate who overestimated how much a T-shirt can do for you on a chilly winter night. It’s not a rare thing to hear people complain about Maine’s weather and its Geography, but I found it funny how those complaints end up becoming the motivations for people to come back to Maine. The winter in Maine is so different than everywhere else; if you experience it once, it’ll never be the same without it.
Maine is Mine, this is not a denotation. Maine has been home to me for 4 years, so if I can call my home something mine, why can’t I call Maine (The place that has been my home for the past 4 years) my Maine? People can only be called Mainers in Maine, because if a Mainer leaves Maine, they’ll be someone “From Away”. The same thing applies in reverse.