Dirigo Deep Dives #3: Josh Powers

This installment of Deep Dives introduces us to Biddeford-based Josh Powers. First thing to know about Josh are these two fun facts: He and Sean Vinberg share a birthday, and not just the month and date. They were born on the exact same day in September of 1994. And DU founder Donald Thibodeau, who didn’t know about the common birthday, asked Josh to deliver the DU Man of the Match buoy to Vinberg in late August. That sounds like some serious DU cosmic connection to Deep Diver!

Born in Wisconsin and raised in Minnesota, this Midwestern boy’s genes are rooted in his paternal grandfather’s birthplace of Stonington. A great uncle’s celebration of life ceremony brought Josh and his family to Maine in the Fall of 2011. A teenage Josh was taken with what brings so many visitors to Autumnal Maine: “the ambers, oranges, golds, the deep dark greens of the pines.” Quite an observation for a teenage boy! A recruiting postcard from a university he hadn’t heard of in a town he hadn’t heard of arrived at his Minnesota home shortly thereafter. Josh enrolled at the University of New England and has been a Mainer ever since. Our state is better for having him here.

Deep Diver knew Josh before both were members of Dirigo Union. Josh has worked since 2017 at Deep Diver’s favorite coffee shop and meeting place – Elements: Books Coffee Beer in Biddeford. Josh greets everyone with a warm smile and a delightful chat. So when Deep Diver ran into Josh at a Hearts watch party, she was thrilled to discover another connection. Our Zoom conversation revealed that Josh’s is a kind and deep soul. When asked what makes him special, he struggled a bit to overcome his humility and reported that he tries to bring “an openness and friendliness” to everything he does. Deep Diver can verify that assessment. The word “joy” emerges throughout our conversation – the joy he feels in being part of multiple communities in Maine (including Hearts and DU, of course), and the joy he endeavors to impart as he moves through the world with a smile and loads of kindness.

Josh is an editor, proofreader, and all-around writing specialist. Semesters in Tangier, Morocco and Sevilla, Spain were life changing for him and led him to major in English and Liberal Studies at UNE. They also solidified his love not just of soccer, but of soccer culture around the world. He lived a short walk from Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, where Sevilla play high-quality, La Liga fútbol. His love of soccer is manifest in multiple ways: he follows Minnesota United in MLS, plays FIFA with fellow DU members as a part of DUFC, plays pickup games, and of course, is devoted to the Hearts of Pine. Indeed, his Elements coworkers know when Josh has been to a Hearts game because his voice sounds like a “squeaky Tom Waits gasping for air” in subsequent days. Deep Diver thanks his voice for its sacrifice to the beautiful noise coming from the Zoo!

Josh’s Zoom background, decidedly non-virtual, is a wall festooned with three guitars and a banjo. Off camera Josh has another guitar, a trumpet, a cello, and a keyboard. Josh brings his signature calm to his dedication to music. He is self-taught and finds playing music “an intensely personal and meditative practice.” He adores the BANDits and what they bring to the game day experience. “I’m so appreciative of the energy they bring. I love their noise. I love their joy,” he explains, but doesn’t yet feel his trumpet skills are up to their level. Deep Diver thinks it may be time for an audition.

Josh especially appreciates the connections made in the Dirigo Union. He asks for more Deep Dives because he’s “so excited to see who else is here!” He’s inspired by Lead with Your Heart and Football for Good, as well as by the Club’s community work and vocal stand for returning an ICE-detained Maine Legends player to his home in Lewiston. A keen-eyed DU member noticed Josh’s insulin pump and glucose monitor, creating a moment of solidarity with another who shares the unique challenge of blood sugars rising and falling along with the crowd. He has discovered DUFC, musicians, and voices in public radio, and sets his eye on our artistic members as they sketch and even do watercolors from the stands. Deep Diver didn’t know about these folks but isn’t surprised that creativity surges in our members’ veins. Josh’s special talent is to notice such types and to appreciate and befriend them. Speaking of art, Josh’s heretofore blank canvas of skin now sports its first tattoo – the Dirigo Heart of course.

Luckily for us, Josh is likely a Maine-lifer: “I love Maine, I love the atmosphere, I love my relationships… I don’t see myself leaving.” Dirigo Diver is struggling to sum up Josh Powers. He is clearly multi-talented and deeply thoughtful. Someone like that defies a summary. So she’ll end with Josh’s game-day ritual, which says so much about the person he is: “After every game, I stick around for an hour to pick up cans and other stuff to keep Fitzy clean. [Fitzpatrick Stadium] is part of the community so we need to take care of them however we can.”