Many of the items in the permanent collection on the upper floors deal with the subject matter of the new exhibit at the Maine MILL in the Bates Mill Complex in Lewiston.
Photos on a series of panels at the Maine MILL help tell the story of Maine’s labor force in the early 1900s.
The market in Ambalavao, a small urban center in south central Madagascar not unlike Lewiston, offers nearly everything one could need, including household goods, clothes, hardware and food. During my Dec. 6 visit, I bought plastic food containers, a broom, curry spices and a couple of pineapples.
My bedroom in my host community boasts a Peace Corps-issued mountain bike, a giant 1996 map of the world from the old Edward Little High School and my Sun Journal paper tube.
I received many laughs and stares from people while walking with my newly purchased twin-sized mattress in one of Madagascar's cities before leaving for my permanent community on Nov. 23.
Somehow, Peace Corps staff managed to fit my twin bedframe, bookshelf, coffee table, kitchen table and metal trunk on top of our vehicle as we made out way to my community. The trunk of the car, too was jam-packed with stuff.
A section of the market in Ambalavao, which is a small urban center in south central Madagascar not unlike Lewiston.
My kitchen has a water filter, left, and a three-burner gas stove, right.
Alexandre, a mason, spent several days building the toilet and shower rooms in my backyard in the community where I am stationed. The toilet hole is roughly 25 feet deep and was hand-dug by other workers weeks earlier.
The area where I'm working boasts stunning views of villages, fields and mountains.
Sunday worship at a Lutheran church in Mantasoa, where the Peace Corps training center is located. Parishioners usually pray inside the nearby church, but the special service on Nov. 12 made it necessary to relocate outside.
During my two months of training in Mantasoa, I lived with a large host family that included three kids and two babies. This photo was taken after church on Sunday, Nov. 5.
Soccer is the most common sport in Madagascar. In Mantasoa, where the Peace Corps training center is located, games that are played every Sunday draw hundreds of spectators.
My host sister and her cousins discover hand dryers in a bathroom at the Peace Corps training center in Mantasoa on Nov. 4.
Lemurs at a wildlife park near the Peace Corps training center are well-acquainted with humans. The lemurs don't hesitate to hop onto visitors shoulders when bananas are offered.
A green chameleon seen in a lemur park near the Peace Corps training center in Mantasoa.
Two ring-tailed lemurs chase after a small group of Peace Corps volunteers in the hopes of receiving more bananas in a lemur park near the Peace Corps training Center in Mantasoa. A young ring-tailed lemur can be seen clinging to the underside of the lemur to the left.
A female ring-tailed lemur nurses her baby at a lemur park near the Peace Corps training center in Mantasoa.
bPlus 
