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Web photo courtesy of Wikipedia The new issue of the New Yorker magazine has a short article about James Whistler’s durable portrait of his mother, speculating on why the painting is on the short list of iconic images in art history. The reporter, unfortunately, skips a mention of where the…
Read More »Senator Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy of Massachusetts died on this day – August 25, 2009. Known as the “Lion of the Senate,” Democrat Ted Kennedy was a staunch liberal who was elected to Congress nine times, spearheading many legislative reforms. From the U. S. Senate History: “Elected at age 30…
Read More »Today is the 99th birthday of the National Park Service and is the beginning of a year-long celebration leading to the centennial celebration in 2016. As part of this anniversary observation, the National Park Service asks people to discover their parks, not only official National Parks but also urban parks,…
Read More »Web photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org With purple loosestrife spread across the region, I thought I’d re-post this prose poem from years ago.–PM . Long Purples People write letters to writers, and sometimes the mail is a gift. Not long ago, Bill Martin wrote to tell me that he’d read a…
Read More »We’re fortunate to have two interesting Lowell walks this coming weekend. On Saturday, August 22, 2015, Jim Dyment, the executive director of the Brush Art Gallery will lead our regularly scheduled Lowell Walks. The topic: Lowell Artists, Past and Present. As always, the tour will begin at 10 am at…
Read More »My best time for reading books is during vacation, when I can live with a book for hours at a time, maybe come back to it two or three times during the day. I can read news articles and magazine pieces on the fly, but I’ve never been someone who…
Read More »Another essay on the history of the Lowell Public Schools by Jim Peters: The 1800’s were a period of tremendous growth in the educational system. During the 1800’s, the educational system had grown rapidly. Local Government got involved with the education of our ancestors. Today, we are basically going…
Read More »Frequent contributor Jim Peters shared the following: All of the information listed has been verified by the writer through the use of the Annals of the School Superintendent’s Office, dating back to 1826; the City Clerk’s Office, dating back to 1826; and private correspondence between people both living or…
Read More »Religious intolerance is often fanned by fear and falsehood. We need to know the history, learn from the mistakes… from our archive… Convent Sacked and Burned in Charlestown, Massachusetts ~ August 12, 1834 August 12, 2013 by Marie Posted in History, Politics Leave a Comment Whatever our religious leanings or lack…
Read More »Responding to my colleague Dick’s post on George Charrette, here’s an excerpt from my work-in-progress called “The War Place,” which is an extended meditation and commentary on the war experience in America seen through the personal lens of someone trying to make sense of this piece of the national experience.—PM…
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