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On Being a Guest, and Dumpling Evenings by Leo Racicot I was in her company only once, twice if you count the time she came over to Ed’s. That visit was brief; we talked about The Makioka Sisters, the occasional merits of Bizet over Mozart, the high price of flowers…

Obituary: Shigeaki Mori – “Shigeaki Mori, Survivor Of Hiroshima Who Led A Search, Is Dead at 88,” New York Times, March 23, 2026. On the morning of August 6, 1945, Shigeaki Mori was an 8-year-old student on his way to school when the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima. He survived…

An Easter Editorial – (PIP #102) By Louise Peloquin      L’Etoile published the editorial below one hundred years ago. The 25th “peek into the past” presents another such piece and casts a light on the newspaper’s publication choices by pointing out the following. “For the French-Canadian community, the church was…

Tuesday’s Lowell City Council was a long one, mostly because the council had cancelled its prior meeting which fell on St. Patrick’s Day. The public portion of this meeting took 3 hours, 45 minutes. For councilors, it was even longer since they went into executive session after that. **** The…

Time of the End of the Season Part Four By Bob Hodge Bob Hodge grew up in Lowell and went on to graduate from Lowell High (1973) and University of Lowell (1990). He was (and still is) one the greatest runners to come out of this region. He’s also a…

A Day in South Boston By Rich Grady On March 17th of this year, I drove across the Summer Street Bridge from Downtown Boston toward Southie, heading for Castle Island and the strand along Pleasure Bay. There, I would meet other Minutemen from around New England to muster for a…

Palm Sunday By Leo Racicot I’m not much for religion, not a churchgoer. Every year though, I try to make it to Palm Sunday services. I like the literal joy of the proceedings: the priests don bright red vestments for this celebratory day, the incense has a dual sensory effect; the…

Spaces for Wise Phrases – (PIP #101) By Louise Peloquin L’Etoile – March 1, 1926 __________      The L’Etoile print shop on 24-26 Prince Street had no modern technology to set up newspaper layout. Innovative ways to “meubler l’espace” (furnish the spaces) had to be found as we saw in…

Because the regularly scheduled Lowell City Council meeting this week fell on St. Patrick’s Day, the council canceled its meeting, so instead of writing about local politics, today I’ll share an essay I wrote as part of Lowell’s bicentennial observance. However, instead of the founding of the mills and the…

Noon on a Monday a Week into War By Bill O’Connell The Carolina wren sings his heart out. Juncos in the cedar respond. A pair of returning hawks circle beneath Air Force jet trails — C-5 transports lifting arms to Bahrain, Israel. On the deck in March sun I dig…