As Coastal Senior College (CSC) continues to expand its role in the active lifelong learning community in Lincoln and Knox counties and beyond, the College kicks off the winter 2026 semester on Jan. 13 with a varied collection of four- to six-session courses, both in person in a variety of settings and on Zoom.

Former newspaper reporter, Sandy Garson, invested years in noting key changes involved in modernizing the State of Maine. She arrived in the mid-coast area with an attention-gathering Op-Ed in the New York Times on her resume.  For CSC, Garson will be teaching a course titled “The Dozen Years that Yanked Maine into the Modernity We Know.”

In her course description, Garson notes that “those were the formative years that made Maine what it is now.”  She promises that she has created her course both for “newcomers and for those who lived through it to understand how we got here.” 

Garson states that “Everything changed between 1972 and 1984, between the second election of Nixon and the advent of Reagan. Massive ‘in-migration’ of ‘educateds’ who brought health food stores and Common Ground and MOFGA and businesses that became legendary. The advent of zoning and licensing and urban renewal projects that succeeded or failed. A reckoning with the environment, and the need to protect coastal lands, a new respect for the arts and new museums, a real Portland airport, the first inflow of outside cash to influence elections, and controversial laws to fund schools.” 

In six, two-hour Zoom sessions on Wednesday mornings beginning on Feb. 4, Garson will explore all that unfolded during those important 12 years of modern Maine history.  

Information about CSC and registration for the winter courses may be found at coastalseniorcollege.org.