Charles Simic conjures up this interior cast of characters from a lifetime of crafting poems. These ten populate a single stanza near the end of his most recent book, “New and Selected Poems: 1962-2012.” They’re a scant handful of the roles he and his characters play in this 50-year compendium. The collection samples broadly from more than 13 of his 20-plus poetry volumes. Including memoirs and translations, Simic has published over 60 books.

Most people think of “Cooking Italian” and “Introduction to Watercolor”—enrichment courses—when they hear “adult education.” But there is another side to adult ed: adult basic education, which prepares adults to take the GED or for college or the workplace. Next year, those courses are facing major changes as the new GED is unveiled in January 2014. The changes to the GED include a new scoring system, combining two sections (reading and writing) into one, and increased test difficulty. The new GED will also be entirely computer-based, with no option for a paper-and-pencil test.

The Maine House and Senate have voted to urge the state’s congresional representatives to craft a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as “Citizens United.” The bi-partisan vote was 111-33 in the House and 25-9 in the Senate.

It’s not surprising Brandon Lepere has been able to land gigs opening for Keith Urban, Hootie and the Blowfish, Edwin McCain and more. His voice, pitch-perfect-country, has been been winning him awards since the age of 15. On the new album "The Road," his songs are polished with the veneer of time well spent in the studio.

On a warm rainy evening—the first spring rain, with zero sleet mixed in—members of the Rollinsford Community Garden gathered in the Rollinsford Public Library, housed in a corner of the brick mill building downtown. Suzanne Huard, president of the Rollinsford Garden and Local Sustainability Club, which runs the garden, stood to welcome everyone and hand out paperwork. “If you have any friends or neighbors who want to garden,” she said, “send ’em our way.” There are still plots available in the 28-bed garden, located on Foundry Street.

Science Café series brings science out of the lab and into the lounge

“Everyone likes a good brain massage,” says JT Thompson, Minister of Propaganda for Smuttynose Brewing Company and The Portsmouth Brewery. And last Wednesday, the Brewery helped to give craniums a good rubdown during the Science Café—a lively and informal discussion held several Wednesdays throughout the year at Portsmouth Brewery’s Jimmy LaPanza Lounge

excitement about this year's season finales has us remembering the best

The year “Dallas” debuted, “The White Shadow” season finale of 1978 featured the basketball team deciding to form a singing group; in the “Mork & Mindy” season finale, Mork befriends a caterpillar. But by the time the curtain closed on the Ewing’s Southfork Ranch in May of 1991, “L.A. Law” was throwing people down elevator shafts and “St. Elsewhere” was smashing wrecking balls through its own hospital walls.

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Unfortunately, Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” falls so far outside these boxes, it’s not even on the playing field of adaptation. Imagine an amusement park rollercoaster named “Richard III” or a sport-utility-vehicle called the “Oedipus Rex” and you have a rough idea to what extent this movie can be considered an adaptation of the slender 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Revolutions begin in bars, and the best inventions have emerged from garages, note Evan and Denise Mallett in their announcement of a new restaurant they are scheduled to open in August. Hopestill Garage, on the site of the former Riverdale garage at 66 Main St. in Newmarket, will harness both of these traditions by using the innovation of their new restaurant to fuel the local food revolution.

Continuing their tradition of bringing in indie stars that fly under the mainstream radar, Portsmouth Book and Bar will welcome Billy Eli and Ken Stringfellow in early summer shows.

spring fever breaks into summer art shows

First the trees bud, then the tulips pop, the green grass grows, then come the summer art shows. Spring on the Seacoast is bursting with vivid color after a long gray winter, and so are art galleries throwing open their doors for the new summer season. This year, they’ll be joined by a new crop of outdoor markets, murals, sculpture gardens and artwalks.

On top of the 10 live talks, the day featured three music and dance performances, and four videotaped talks from previous national TED conferences, plus socializing among the audience members during several breaks. In the audience alone were enough city government, business, arts and non-profit leaders to create another whole TEDx conference.

An informally organized group of city residents who have been meeting and talking for more than a month in Portsmouth about the pace and character of development have taken their concerns to City Council in the form of a petition. Councilors responded at their May 6 meeting by agreeing to a joint work session with the planning board to discuss an emergency one-year city-wide hold on all commercial and residential development over 5,000 square feet.

Prescott Park Arts Festival has earned the best kind of kudos for its free summer concert series—waiting for a show to start, attendees have been overheard saying, “I don’t know who this band is, but they’re playing here so they must be good.” After a long winter of speculating how he could top last year’s lineup, festival director Ben Anderson puts fans’ nail-biting to rest with the announcement this week of the summer headliners.

Sequels are the cruelest of all film phenomena. Held in contempt by their creators, by the industry at large and by audiences, we nonetheless live in desperate hope exactly because our expectations are so low. And then, BAM! Sucker-punched again, sucker! No matter how low your expectations, Hollywood can always go lower.