Sun Up, Sun Down By Leo Racicot Part of the everyday fun of home life in the 1960s was having the city newspaper, The Lowell Sun, arrive afternoons around 3 or 4 o’clock. The paperboy would tuck our copy between the porch doors, safe from weather and wind. In those days,…

A weekly report on things I’ve read, heard and seen since last Wednesday.  Article: “Books Everlasting: The startling renaissance of reading, from the shop floor up” by Nathan Heller, New Yorker, October 26, 2026. In last week’s Seen & Heard, I wrote about a podcast featuring James Marriott, a London…

Two years ago, Louise Peloquin began sharing excerpts from L’Etoile, a French-language newspaper published in Lowell from 1886 to 1957. At my urging, she has agreed to compile some of her previous posts with added contextual information into a book manuscript to be called, L’Etoile: A Star on Prince Street.…

A couple of fiscal matters from Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting warrant discussion. The first was a transfer of $1.1 million from the FY24 Certified Free Cash Account to the Lowell Police Department “to support various equipment needs.” As a reminder, “free cash” – which is the source of these…

Houdini: Recalling A Legend By Henri Marchand Harry Houdini died on Halloween, one-hundred years ago at the age of 52.  In those short fifty-two years he took the world’s imagination by storm and in so doing became an astonishing American legend.  Although he is best known as a magician and…

Review of “Boarding School Blues” Book by Louise Peloquin Review by Charlie Gargiulo “Boarding School Blues” is a fictionalized memoir by Louise Peloquin about Blanche, a 13 year old girl from a very traditional and loving French-Canadian family in Lowell whose life takes a dramatic turn when she is sent…

Sweet Remembrances: Halloween Candies of the 1950s and ‘60s By Leo Racicot Part of the magic of trick-or-treating for kids in the 1950s and ’60s was the different kinds of candy we’d find when we got home and dumped the contents of our trick-or-treat bags on the bed or the…

A weekly report on things I’ve read, heard and seen since last Wednesday.  Book Review: Sword Beach: D-Day Baptism by Fire by Max Hastings (2025). Hastings is a well-known British journalist and military historian. This book details the experience of the British forces at one of the five beaches on…

Celebrating UMass Lowell Library By Louise Peloquin From 4 to 6 PM on October 20th, the UMass Lowell Library and Alumni Relations held an open house and gathering at the O’Leary on 61 Wilder Street. At 4:30, Senior Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Julie Nash spoke to the 200-odd guests…