The holiday season is underway and soon families will gather for meals and gift giving. With many relatives under one roof, this is a great time for genealogists to ask questions about holiday traditions practiced in the past or to try to learn more about the family.

On Thursday, Nov. 29, 18 veterinarian technician seniors from the University of Maine-Augusta’s Bangor campus learned how to handle large, exotic birds at Siesta Sanctuary in preparation for their state exam. These students will be the first graduates of an accredited, four-year Baccalaureate degree vet tech program -- one of two now in Maine.

The Polyvagal Theory, developed by scientist Stephen Porges, PhD, will be the focus of this month’s Healing Trauma Series presented by NAMI Piscataquis County at Dover-Foxcroft’s The Commons at Central Hall at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 13.

Maneuvering has begun in Washington among the Democrats to choose the next speaker of the House. I am not a big fan of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and neither is our Rep.-elect Jared Golden. He indicated during the campaign his intention to try to vote for an alternative candidate for speaker.

The annual Hometown Holidays celebration across the region began in Guilford on Friday evening, Nov. 30. “Julie and Friends” caroled across town, including a performance in front of Davis Bros. Furniture, before moving down to the Braeburn lot.

Dexter Regional High School is proud to announce that the following students have been selected by the faculty as "Students of the Month" for October, grade 9: Elizabeth Kinney; grade 10: Brett Kusnierz; grade 11: Rachael Sickles; and grade 12: Trevyn Sinclair.

Thanksgiving week was a week to be thankful for the Depot. Greenville Junction Depot Friends are pleased to announce the continued success of the “Cap It Off Campaign” to have the eaves and roof of the Greenville Junction Depot building restored.

Piscataquis Community Elementary School students will be demonstrating their skills with voices and movement at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6 at the Piscataquis Community High School gymnasium on Campus Drive. The Holiday Choral Concert is a yearly event that parents and friends do not want to miss.

Looking back almost 40 years I can’t imagine not crossing paths with Ron Spagnardi, founder and publisher of Modern Drummer magazine. We were both drummers, entrepreneurs. Ron in New Jersey, me in New York. At about age 34, Spagnardi saw the success of a 10-year-old magazine devoted to guitarists, "Guitar Player," and wondered, why not publish a magazine devoted to drummers?

Now the next step on the Windjammers’ road to rehabilitation may involve a slightly different form of the game after a Maine Principals’ Association panel on Thursday backed the establishment of two divisions of eight-player football beginning next year. The MPA’s football committee approved the establishment of a large-school division of eight-player football for schools with enrollments of more than 350 students and a small-school division for schools with enrollments of 350 or fewer.