Author Archive

Salem’s Chinese House

My family took a stay-cation day trip to Salem last Thursday, visiting the Peabody Essex Museum, our favorite place in a city that we go to once or twice a year. I’d never seen the Yin Yu Tang house, but my wife had been inside several times. This 200-year-old house from…

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Rich Clears Up the Mosque Fog; Dowd Says Mob’s Mad; Cavett Urges Get Real; Rudy Rejects Plan

In today’s NYTimes, heavy-hitter columnist Frank Rich takes on the “mosque” controversy that has spread from Manhattan across the nation. Read his essay here, and consider subscribing to the NYT if you appreciate the writing and thinking. In a related national commentary, Maureen Dowd of the NYT worries that the U.S.…

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Southeast Asian Water Festival

Today is Southeast Asian Water Festival day in Lowell. This is the 14th year for the popular event. Last night, I attended the opening ceremony at Middlesex Community College, where the evening activities culminated in a candlelight ceremony and small boats floated on the canal with accompanying blessings and wishes. Master…

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Cultural Conservation: Jazz

We’re always interested in a good preservation story in Lowell, so here’s one involving the National Jazz Museum in Harlem in NYC and long-rumored legendary recordings of jazz artists from the 1930s that will be preserved and shared with the public. Read the article by Larry Rohter here, and consider…

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Mosque?

In Lowell, there’s a debate about the future of the Pawtucket Falls Dam. There’s another debate about allowing alcohol to be served at a business adjacent to a temple. Behind the discussion are people’s feelings about the power of place, the meaning of certain special places. The concept of place is all…

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