Five-and-a-half years after Somalis began to move to Lewiston, the New Yorker magazine decided it was big news. An eight-page “Letter from Maine” in the current edition shows the African immigrants finding safe haven in an improbable place: a very white, northern American city dominated by the “crumbling hulks” of empty mill buildings.

The article touches on the culture clashes – some more unconscionable than others – that put Lewiston in the national eye, but the focus is on the Somalis themselves. How they are rebuilding their shattered lives in a strange land while clinging to the customs of their lost country.

Driven from Somalia by war, traumatized by rape, torture and murder, some find Lewiston to be a paradise. It’s a place where they can live safely, feed their children and send them to school. Such things had become impossible in Somalia.

The New Yorker labeled the Somali migration to Lewiston a “large-scale social experiment.” Writer William Finnegan offers a bit of insight into how that experiment is working so far.

– Karen Kreworuka
Chairman gets laughs

The new chairman of the Auburn School Committee, judging by the speech he gave at his swearing-in on Monday, has a great sense of humor.

He poked fun at school committees, saying some claim that school boards simply do what superintendents tell them to do. So, Das joked, he went to see Barbara Eretzian and asked her to approve his speech. He asked her whether it was true that school committees do what superintendents tell them. She said no.

“So, we can dismiss that theory,” Das said.

He said at times he has agreed with Mark Twain when he said: “In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made school boards.”

On a more serious note, Das said the Auburn School Committee is not a group of “yes men and idiots.” It is “a committee with a mission.”

The board has supported Auburn schools in combating discrimination, has approved a pilot program designed to lead to universal preschool in Auburn, and now needs to do something about Edward Little’s lack of an affordable healthy-lunch program.

– Bonnie Washuk
Reward boosted

University of Southern Maine officials have increased a reward to $20,000, hoping to end a string of bomb threats.

A reward of $5,000 was initially offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the person or persons calling in the bomb threats.

Since February, six bomb threats have prompted canceled classes and building evacuations in Portland and Gorham. The Lewiston campus was evacuated three times.

Anyone with information is asked to call USM police at 780-5487.

– Bonnie Washuk