About
Welcome to the236diner.com, a hyperlocal blog started in January 2008. Here’s some information to answer your questions.
Why is the blog called the 236 diner?
I named it the 236 diner because I wish we had an old fashioned diner in South Berwick, the kind of place where everyone in town goes to chat with neighbors, find out the news and gossip, debate issues, tell jokes and hang out. I named my imaginary diner “the 236″ because of Route 236, the road that South Berwick shares with Eliot, Kittery and Berwick. Route 236 is the route that goes through the center of town and it is the road that takes us out of town to Route 95 and the rest of the world. All of our schools are on it and it is a source of some of our thorniest issues like traffic and conflicts about how South Berwick should develop. In my imagination I serve really good pies at the diner and when people come in and ask for a cup of coffee I say “So, you want pie with that?”
Who are you?
My name is Molly Colman. I live in South Berwick with my spouse, Don Markley and two cats, Blue and Emma. I have lived here since 1990. For the first eight years I lived here I worked a 9-5 job in Portsmouth and left South Berwick most days. For the last ten years I have been working from my home as a consultant to nonprofits and small businesses. I am also a painter and have a studio at the Salmon Falls Mills in Rollinsford.
Why did you start this blog?
I love South Berwick but have been frustrated with how hard it is to keep up with what’s going on in town. The local papers do a less than adequate job of covering what’s happening here. We have no public access cable station and no local radio station. Not only is there no public forum for discussion and analysis of issues affecting South Berwick, it’s almost impossible to get basic information about what is happening at Town Hall without doing lots of legwork. Hence this blogthe236diner.com.
Do you have some kind of agenda you are trying to push with this blog?
My main agenda is to provide a way for people of this area to learn about their community. I have very strong progressive political beliefs. I think it is important to protect and conserve the environment. I don’t eat mammals. I try to buy local as much as possible. I would like to see a new library in town. My point of view will come through in what I choose to include and in occasional editorials but the main point of the blog is to help readers discover more about their community.
Why don’t you allow comments anymore?
When I started the236diner.com I did allow commenting. However, like most unmoderated forums on the internet, they often became mean spirited and did not engender discussion. For a time I moderated comments, but having to moderate comments sucked all of the fun of doing the236diner. Also, having comments means that the site gets a ton of spam and I would rather be creating content than dealing with spam. If reading something I’ve written gets you all riled up, start your own website, write a letter to the editor of Foster’s Daily Democrat or Portsmouth Herald, talk about it with people in the real world, go for a vigorous walk or whatever calms you down.
Email me at molly@the236diner.com .
