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An occasional contributor to our blog, John Wooding is familiar to many people in the city for his work at UMass Lowell and in the community. He recently retired from his position as a professor of political science. He is a former provost (academic vice president) on campus. John continues…
Read More »Web photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org One of midsummer’s visual signals in the Merrimack Valley is purple loosestrife. While some people frown upon its spread as an invasive species, I’ve always enjoyed the distinctive color in the landscape at this time of year. The following is an essay that is returning…
Read More »Next Monday marks the 30th anniversary of the dedication of the Jack Kerouac Commemorative in Kerouac Park on Bridge and French streets. On the dedication day, some 200 people gathered for the celebration, joined by journalists from the Sun, Boston Globe, New York Times, New Yorker magazine, CBS-News TV, and international…
Read More »I am introducing a new writer to our blog readers. He’s not new to writing, but we haven’t featured his work here before. I met Mike McCormick through Tom Sexton, one of our regular far-flung contributors who is a mutual friend. That would be Tom Sexton, the poet and retired…
Read More »On a bright yellow day in new-minted May, my phys ed class and I are out for a walk. The class is actually called Mind and Motion, with some idea that the two go together. The small urban high school where I teach has no athletic facilities—no courts, no playing…
Read More »US Rep. Nancy Pelosi and US Sen. Charles Schumer should sacrifice their own ambition to help their nation and party. The success of attorney and former Marine Conor Lamb in this week’s congressional election in southwest Pennsylvania is further evidence of the potential for widespread victory by Democrats in the…
Read More »We have a brand new poem by Tom Sexton, our far-flung contributor and faithful reader who is in Alaska this time of year. Tom, as many of our readers know, is the author of several books of poetry including “A Ladder of Cranes” (Univ. of Alaska Press, 2015) and “Bridge…
Read More »It’s about ten days early in the month for the timing of this post about a 2010 canal-side hike that appeared first on this blog and was reprinted in my book Mill Power. The weather is warming, and soon enough we’ll be into the days of preseason Lowell Walks and…
Read More »Through the years, writers on this blog have taken up the subject of Place as a way to talk about what it means to feel part of a community. The term “sense of place” is familiar to most of us, but that feeling is intangible and sometimes difficult to…
Read More »Tomorrow (Saturday, January 6, 2018) from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Lowell Telecommunications Corp at 246 Market Street, Lowell, there will be an artist reception for “Objects and Architectures: Photography of Tony Sampas.” The photos on exhibit are from Tony’s Master’s Degree thesis in the Visual Arts program at…
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