Here's How We'll Do It

"Here's How We'll Do It" is a book written by one of the founders & directors of the lab, John Kingsbury, describing how the lab was built, and how island living is inherently a little different from mainland living. Here's a passage:

"The bare granite shore above the Appledore dock rises steeply and ruggedly to the elevation of the island "road". Even today, all luggage must be transferred by boat to dock and up that rocky hill to road and truck solely by hand. This is accomplished by assembling and organizing the entire island population of the moment into a single human chain strung from dock to truck. Then for 10 or 15 minutes suitcases, sacks, duffel bags, cardboard boxes, guitars and knapsacks pass from hand to hand up the hill. This exercise is repeated with cartons and boxes every time the lab vessel makes its weekly supply run to Portsmouth for provisions. A sense of community begins at the dock."

"At the moment a newcomer first steps foot on Appledore Island it is abundantly obvious, even without formal announcement, that no public fire department will respond to a fire, no police department to a safety emergency, no ambulance to a medical emergency, and no utility truck to a power outage. Everyone on the island is immediately and inescapably responsible for a share in the public welfare. One person shirking a duty, or one irresponsible act, places visibly more load on the community and each person in it. The feeling of a self-dependent, self-sufficient, and self-regulating community develops and grows rapidly from these roots."

Students working for their dinner

This sounds severe; but it isn't so bad. In a sense, when you are on Appledore, you are always at work. At any time, you could be called upon to take a sick student to the infirmary on the neighboring island, and there has yet to be a meal during which we weren't talking shop. But this isn't so different from the mainland. How often do you find yourselves at the bar with your coworkers talking about... work.

But the good stuff about this place is beyond good. I roll out of bed every morning around 7am, throw on shorts, a T-shirt and sandals, and begin my commute to work. My commute consists of a 45-second walk down a dirt path, past blooming wild roses and blackberry brambles. At 7:30, the whole island is gathered for coffee & breakfast in the commons. Then begins the work day, which as mentioned before, can consist of about 100 different tasks in one day. Lunch & dinner are also prepared (I haven't cooked for myself in ages!) and are almost always delicious. The evening commute is just as great as the morning's, and in the evening we do what most people do.... watch movies, talk on the phone, drink beer, play guitar, talk about politics.

But the best thing of all... the view from every window looks something like this (on a cloudy day).