RichardHowe.com – Voices from Lowell & Beyond

Learning about ourselves from our families’ pasts by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

To the Midnight Sun: A Story of Exile and Return by Stephen Saletan is another search for one’s own identity by researching a close relative, in this case, Saletan’s Russian-born grandmother, Eda Grigorievna Bamuner. As a child in suburban New York, Saletan spent weekends together and enjoyed a special relationship with her. From the elderly lady, he learned the music of the Russian language and reveled in the stories of her life in an affluent mercantile family in Pskov at the end of the tsarist rule at the dawn of the 20^th century.

As a teenager, Eda, 19, had a naïve fascination with revolutionary ideas, despite her father’s iron opposition to her independent thinking. When her younger sister Rulia, 15, was arrested and sentenced to exile for signing a petition at school calling for greater freedoms, Eda decided to accompany Rulia to the isolated northern hamlet of Mezen at the edge of the Arctic Circle. After months of isolation, Eda, never arrested herself, contrived an escape for the two of them that eventually led to their settling in New York. She made multiple trips back to Russia to visit family and, still in thrall to her revolutionary idealism, decided to move back to the USSR in 1932.  To get her visa, she enlisted the help of a former lover. He had been a hero of the Russian revolution who became a uniformed Marshal of the Soviet Union, a henchman of Stalin. The actual reality of living under this brutal dictator opened Eda’s eyes to the tyranny and oppression visited upon ordinary people, and she returned to New York for the rest of her life.

In 1963, when Saletan was 13, his imposing grandmother took him for a visit to Russia to meet his extended family. Eda’s ten siblings had stayed behind in Russia, mostly living together in a communal apartment in what was then called Leningrad. He was able to put faces to names and experience the sights, smells and sounds of the places about which his grandmother had told him vivid accounts.

Even as a child, he absorbed the DNA of his Russian forebears and knew it held some deep meaning for him. He went to Harvard (where he was a close friend of my brother-in-law, artist Tom Barron) and on to Harvard Medical School. He became an oncologist in New York, but his deep obsession with his Russian side endured. He got himself a Master’s degree in Journalism and studied the Russian language. Finally, in 1996, in the brief euphoria following the end of the Cold War, he took a break from his medical career and spent an extended period in Russia.

He found, along with the state of disrepair in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg again), enormous classical beauty that spoke to him of his now-deceased grandmother’s cultural background.  Staying for a while in that communal apartment but traveling to Pskov, Mezen, and Arkhangelsk,  Saletan – with the help of a translator and researcher – built not only rebuilt the details of his grandmother’s past but uncovered how her history was part of his own deeply personal legacy.

From library archives (the Publichka) to the institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the State Archive of the Russian Federation of Moscow, the Ministry of Justice, and throughout the extended labyrinth of Russian bureaucratic records, he gathered details to retrace and clarify his grandmother’s life’s journey through the turbulent history of Russia. In finding her, he found himself.

Saletan’s painstaking recapitulation of 20^th century Russian history (which you have probably already learned from many different sources) can become a little tedious.  So, too, with his sometimes ponderous and frequent repetition of how our lives can be intertwined with those of our forebears in ways we don’t always understand.  The more animated parts of this book are those describing time spent with his grandmother, how he was motivated to unearth details of her personal history and the enduring, intimate relationship he had as her most special grandchild. What’s also intriguing is Saletan’s sharing the intricacies of thoroughly exploring one’s genealogy. For the many of my readers who have explored their family past, often frustrated by the obstacles to easy revelation, this book is a good read and a helpful guidebook to the rewards of forging ahead. If you, too, have embarked on this journey, I’d love to hear what you’ve done in the comment section.

Lowell Politics: May 18, 2025

The main event at Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting was City Manager Tom Golden’s presentation of his proposed FY26 city budget to councilors. The formal public hearing on the budget is scheduled for the council’s May 27th meeting.

A concise PowerPoint presentation identified five “major fiscal challenges.”

• Increase in the Pension Assessment of $1.4 million;
• The average overall Health Insurance premium increase is 12.7% from the GIC;
• Increase in the Charter Schools assessment $4.9 million;
• Increase in Debt Service of approximately $2.8 million;
• Increase in union collective bargaining agreements $2 million.

Omitted from that list is a cut in the amount of cash that this budget would provide to the Lowell Public Schools, something that School Superintendent Liam Skinner and others highlighted in their remarks to councilors on this agenda item. Before getting into Skinner’s remarks, let’s review how public school funding works in Lowell.

Back in 1993, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in the case of McDuffy v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Education held that the Massachusetts State Constitution imposes an enforceable duty on the Commonwealth to provide an adequate education in the public schools for all children. That duty ultimately rested on the state, not just on local communities. The court also found that the existing school financing system, which relied heavily on local property taxes, resulted in vast disparities in educational opportunities. It concluded that this system was not currently fulfilling the Commonwealth’s constitutional duty to provide an adequate education, especially for students in less affluent communities.

In response to McDuffy, the state legislature passed the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993. This law, often referred to as Ed Reform, substantially increased state funding to municipal schools and directed a larger share of state dollars to less affluent school districts to close funding gaps with wealthier communities and to provide more equitable educational opportunities.

Recognizing that if the state simply gave more money to poorer communities, those communities would likely shift whatever municipal money was being spent on the schools to other purposes, Ed Reform established a minimum local contribution to the schools by each community with the intent that local government contribute its fair share to school funding.

The city’s contribution to the schools takes two forms: One is a direct appropriation of cash from the city that is spent by the school committee as it sees fit; the other is “maintenance of effort” which is a credit for in-kind contributions that benefit the schools. Examples of “maintenance of effort” expenditures would be snow plowing, facility repairs and maintenance, utilities, insurance, certain employee benefits, and administrative support.

To illustrate how maintenance of effort works, let’s say there is a broken toilet at Lowell High School. The school custodian submits a work request to the city’s Department of Public Works for a plumber to come to the school to fix the toilet. The plumber, whose salary is paid by the city’s DPW, comes to the school and makes the repair. Fiscally, the city then gets a dollar amount credit for the portion of the plumber’s salary attributed to that repair that is counted as a maintenance of effort contribution to the schools.

This process recognizes legitimate expenditures by the city on behalf of the schools, however, it has long been a point of friction between City Hall and the school department. While there are complex state regulations that govern this and while the city’s claimed maintenance of effort expenditures are reviewed by the state, the school department has little if any control over these costs and how they are prioritized. Furthermore, the school administration has no control over the city employees performing the tasks, so there is little incentive on the city side to do things more efficiently or faster. (Notably, this dysfunctional arrangement is one of the reasons some city councilors are pushing so hard for a joint facilities department although I’m not sure that would solve this problem.)

While the city must still contribute some amount of cash directly to the school department budget, there is a temptation for the city to offset as much as possible with “maintenance of effort” credits. The city must pay that DPW plumber anyway, so the more of their salary that can be attributed to school jobs, the less cash the city must pay to the schools with the savings used on other priorities.

With that as background, let’s return to Superintendent Skinner’s remarks. He pointed out that most of the school department’s funding comes from the state. The city’s minimum contribution to the schools under state law is $68.9 million, however, most of that comes in the form of “maintenance of effort” with only a small portion being a direct cash payment to the school budget. Skinner said that over the past three years, the amount of cash from the city to the schools has been $14 million, however, this budget cuts that amount to $10 million.

This reduction, Skinner said, has “practical and moral implications.” Specifically, it would cause 53 school department employees to lose their jobs which will result in many of our neediest students losing essential services.

Superintendent Skinner next addressed what he called a “false narrative” that the school department had been awash with money from the federal ESSER program – ESSER stands for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, a series of federal grants designed to help K-12 schools address the profound impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education – and that the employees who would now lose their jobs were just those added through ESSER funding, so the school department should have foreseen and prepared for these cuts. Skinner said that was not the case. He said the school department did add employees with ESSER funding but that all those positions were eliminated in last year’s budget. All the ESSER jobs are already gone, he emphasized.

Knowing that funding would be tight this year, Skinner said the School Department prepared its budget by cutting Central Office positions and level-funding the schools. However, that budget depends on $14 million in city cash, not the $10 million City Manager Golden is recommending.

Superintendent Skinner repeatedly stressed the moral obligation the city has to its schools. He said the school staff “does a heroic job” with one-third of the students learning English; ten percent of the students being homeless (an astounding and disturbing number); and 20 percent of students receiving special educational services.

In closing, Superintendent Skinner acknowledged that there is much good happening in the city of Lowell but “you cannot bring success to our city unless you bring the schools along with you. That’s practical, but it’s also moral.” He asked that the city’s cash contribution to the schools be restored to last year’s level to avoid these cuts.

Councilors who spoke were mostly supportive of Superintendent Skinner’s request, but councilors have no power to increase the city budget. That power lies exclusively with the city manager. Councilors can only ratify the manager’s proposed budget or cut it.

Citing the great relationship he has with Superintendent Skinner, City Manager Golden told councilors, “We’ll pull back and reconsider” the amount of cash directed to the schools.

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Although City Manager Golden is congenitally upbeat, some foreboding crept into his overall remarks on the city budget. Because of “uncertainty at the state and federal level” Golden predicted “a very bumpy FY26.” (The state and city both use a fiscal year that begins on July 1 and ends on June 30, so FY26 runs from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026). He also advised against the use of “one-time funds” for budgetary purposes. In this he was likely referring to the city’s “rainy day fund” which Golden said was now at $17.1 million. Sustaining that financial cushion is critical to rating agencies keeping the city’s bond rate in a favorable place. While this might not seem like such a big deal, a better bond rating saves the city substantially in the long run with lower interest rates on borrowed money for things like the Lowell High addition.

Golden’s “one-time funds” comment could likely be a reference to the $4 million cash cut in the city’s contribution to the schools. The easy way out would be to just pluck that amount from the city’s rainy-day fund and give the schools what they ask for. But that would be short-sighted in two respects. First, it would embed a structural deficit in the school department budget and simply put off this reckoning for another year.  Perhaps more importantly, this would raise a red flag with the bond rating agencies which would likely manifest in the city having to pay higher interest rates to borrow money in the future.

Which is not to say that the proposed $4 million cut in cash to the schools should stand but finding that money will be a challenge. The formal public hearing on the FY26 budget is scheduled for the May 27, 2025, council meeting.

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The month-long Proleung Khmer observance wraps up this coming Friday night with its Closing Ceremony and Cultural Showcase beginning at 5:30 pm (on May 23) at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Tickets for the event which features a buffet dinner, entertainment, and dancing, are available online.

Proleung Khmer commemorates the 50th anniversary of the onset of the Khmer Genocidal Regime in Cambodia which took the lives of an estimated 1.7 million to 3 million Cambodian people due to overwork, starvation, disease and executions. This tragedy also launched a chain of events that led thousands of survivors of the genocide to settle and remain in Lowell.

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If you’re reading this early today, today’s tour of Lowell Cemetery begins at 10 am at the Lawrence Street gate. The tour will visit the graves and tell the stories of some of the hundreds of veterans of the US military who are buried in the cemetery.

The regular spring tour of the cemetery will be held on Saturday, June 7, and Sunday, June 8, both starting at 10 am from the Lawrence Street gate.

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This week on richardhowe.com:

Louise Peloquin recently visited Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and shares her observations on the post-fire restoration complete with two dozen photos.

Louise also contributed her weekly translation of a L’Etoile newspaper article. This week, local coverage of high school proms in 1924.

In her monthly “Living Madly” column, Emilie-Noelle Provost writes about the importance of Third Places in our lives.

Leo Racicot has another nostalgic look at life in Lowell, this one about the importance of music.

Notre Dame Revisited

Notre Dame Revisited

By Louise Peloquin

     Since Richard Howe’s April 3, 2023 post on Notre Dame (1), we have regularly covered the cathedral’s meticulous renovation. (2)

     A journalist aims at investigating and gathering facts. A tourist plans to take in must-see spots. With the latter in mind, I decided to join hundreds of thrilled tourists and return to “the Limestone Phoenix.”

Notre Dame reopened on December 8, 2024. Since then, she has received some 30,000 visitors a day. Entry is well-organized. Security procedures are strict without being troublesome.

People without tickets can queue for hours before reaching the doorway. Therefore, it is wise to reserve, free of charge, a specific time slot 48 hours ahead of the visit.

https://www.notredamedeparis.fr/en/visit/reservation/

At the end of the reservation process, the future pilgrim, if so inclined, can make a donation of one euro minimum to contribute to Notre Dame’s ongoing renovation.

Waiting in line is never pleasurable, especially when pushing, elbowing and queue-cutting are expected. Surprisingly, on that gloriously sunny April 28th morning, none of this occurred as I made my way to the reserved time-slot line. Although the crowd was dense, everyone seemed excited to access the cathedral and behaved courteously, much like tourists did during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. The Notre Dame sightseers had come from all over the world to share an epiphany – experiencing pure beauty. Even the security guards kept smiling as they checked tickets and bags before welcoming us with two words – “bonne visite.”

As soon as I crossed the threshold, “the Limestone Phoenix” spread wings of soft light over me. While Notre Dame’s arches had been darkened by centuries of dust before the 2019 fire, renovation had turned the grey stone blond.

Arches

Security and safety in highly-frequented locations require rules and regulations. Consequently, meandering in Notre Dame is forbidden. The visitor has a set itinerary: down the left aisle, around the altar area, down the right aisle and exit. Any delinquent visitor is immediately stopped by a ND volunteer’s firm arm and steady smile. Prayer and meditation are possible within corded-off sections of the nave and a side chapel. Talking and photo-snapping are prohibited in these areas and violators are swiftly removed. After all, although the cathedral belongs to the French government, it remains a place of worship. (3) 

The left aisle, unpainted side chapels have become repositories for tapestries, not the Flanders hangings found in Loire Valley châteaux but rather Gobelins works by Matisse, Braque and French-Chinese artist Sao Wou-Ki, for example. Here is the Braque.

Tapestry

By deciphering four of the dozen languages buzzing around me, I understood the fellow visitors judging the new wall-hangings. Was juxtaposing the ancient and the contemporary appropriate inside Notre Dame cathedral?  For some, this was “scandalous and blasphemous,” for others, “bold and avant-garde.”

As I forged ahead, weaving through those who “see” by proxy through IPhone camera screens, I stepped on toes and bumped into backs as my face tilted upward in admiration for the exquisite French craftsmanship.

The soft new lighting enhances each architectural curve and accents the colorful stained glass and blond limestone. 1500 handmade chairs, whose oak came from sustainably-managed French forests, blend in perfectly with the majestic decor.

Arches and chairs

The two large rose windows, meticulously cleaned by hand with special cotton swabs, are scintillating kaleidoscopes of color.

Rose window

Side chapels have recovered the same vibrant shades French architect Viollet-le-Duc had chosen for his 19th-century restoration. Words cannot do justice to their beauty.

Chapel with white altar and three saints on red background.

Chapel with two winged beasts.

Chapel with man’s face and fleur de lys on blue background.

Column and blue ceiling

Chapel with Sacred Heart of Jesus statue.

Chapel altar with 3-leaf “clovers”.

Chapel wall with scenes from life of Jesus.

The exquisitely-carved wood carvings around the altar area had been spared by the 2019 fire. However, soot and ashes caused by flames and the toppled spire left them seriously soiled. Like the stained glass, these 14th-century carvings, depicting scenes from the life of Christ, were all cleaned by hand. The result is breathtaking, a medieval manga whose characters seem to call out to the pilgrim. (4) 

Mary, glowing with child, being greeted by her cousin Elizabeth.

Baptism of Jesus.

Jesus preaching with his disciples.

The Last Supper

Jesus resurrected with Thomas.

Jesus on the road to Emmaus with disciples.

Seeing the damaged rooster which topped Viollet-le-Duc’s flame-eaten spire is extremely moving because it was thought to be lost. (5) Salvaged from a mountain of debris, it is now on display with the following homage to the heroes who saved Notre Dame. Here is the English version of the bilingual explanatory panel:

“Notre Dame de Paris has been reborn from the ashes and is even more beautiful.

We owe it to the heroism of the firefighters. Risking their lives, they defeated the flames and saved the monument from total destruction.

We owe it to the 340,000 donors from France and all over the world who, even as the fire blazed during the night, demonstrated their attachment to the cathedral through an incredible display of generosity. In just a few hours, 840 million euros were raised.

Finally, we owe it to the more than 2 000 builders who, from 2019 through 2024, pooled their efforts, talents, and determination, to resurrect the damaged cathedral, Among them, General Georgelin, who died in August 2023, diligently sent this incredible collective adventure on the path to success.” (6)

Rooster

The wrought iron work inside the cathedral, underwent serious polishing by hand.

Altar area and ironwork gate.

The curious visitor cannot help but stop to read the plaques placed here and there within the cathedral. Three examples:

English translation of the plaque:

In the year 1163, under the pontificate of Pope Alexander III and the reign of Louis VII, Maurice, born in Sully sur Loire, Bishop of Paris (1160-1196) undertook the construction of this cathedral in honor of the blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Notre Dame de Paris.

English translation of the plaque:

On August 26, 1944, General de Gaulle, accompanied by the chiefs of the Resistance and by General Leclerc, liberator of Paris at the head of the 2nd DB, went to Notre Dame to sing the Magnificat.

English translation of the plaque:

On June 26, 2002, a Mass memorial was founded in order that, each year, the anniversary of the liberation of Paris may be the occasion to pray at Notre Dame for WWII victims and for peace.

World War One British Empire memorial written in English.

Renovation continues at Notre Dame. The remaining scaffolding will soon disappear and the pilgrim will be once again be able to enjoy a Bertillon sorbet in Notre Dame’s shady green garden. (7) 

Behind the cathedral.

This is but a glimpse of the beloved “Limestone Phoenix.” Once again, she embraces the pilgrims who gaze at her in wonder. (8) 

Front facade

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https://richardhowe.com/2023/04/03/notre-dame-de-paris-an-update/

https://richardhowe.com/2023/12/18/gift-wrapped-in-steel-notre-dames-new-spire/#comments

https://richardhowe.com/2024/02/21/notre-dame-of-paris-spire-update/

https://richardhowe.com/2024/12/04/notre-dame-the-limestone-phoenix/

https://richardhowe.com/2024/12/07/notre-dame-inauguration-news-flash/

3) France’s laws regarding secularization stipulate that the French government owns all churches built before 1905, including Notre Dame. The government allows the Archdiocese of Paris to use the cathedral for free. The Archdiocese of Paris covers church upkeep and employee salaries.

4) Because the faithful of the past were rather noisy, between 1300 and 1350, a wall, adorned with wooden sculptures depicting scenes from the life of Christ, was built to reduce the noise in the choir area.

5)  The rooster is a symbol of France because of the play on words of the Latin “gallus” meaning Gaul and “gallus” meaning coq or rooster. In 51-58 BCE, when he conquered the entire area where the Celtics lived, Julius Caesar named it “Gaul” which became France. Glimpses of the new rooster in the links:                                                                                                              https://richardhowe.com/2023/12/18/gift-wrapped-in-steel-notre-dames-new-spire/#comments                                                                                                    and                                          https://richardhowe.com/2024/02/21/notre-dame-of-paris-spire-update/

6) French general Jean-Louis Georgelin (1948-2023) was pulled from retirement to oversee Notre Dame’s restoration. General Georgelin had served as chief of France’s military staff and had commanded operations in Afghanistan, the Balkans and beyond.

7) Bertillon, established in 1854, is a popular French ice cream and sorbet manufacturer located on l’Île Saint Louis.

8) Photos and translations by Louise Peloquin.

Living Madly: Loneliness, Third Places, and the Back Table

Photo by Helena Lopes

Living Madly: Loneliness, Third Places, and The Back Table

By Emilie-Noelle Provost

Much has been written about the current “loneliness epidemic.” For the last fifteen or so years, people everywhere have become increasingly isolated from one another, a problem both exacerbated and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. People are spending less in-person time with friends and family, instead relying on social media to forge and maintain personal connections. More employees work from home today than ever before.

The World Health Organization has called the loneliness epidemic a global health concern, as people who are lonely are more prone to depression, anxiety disorders, dementia, and heart disease than those who enjoy healthy interpersonal relationships.

The loneliness trend has affected people of all ages but a lack of social connection seems to be a particular problem among those in their twenties. Because people in this age group are “digital natives” who grew up using social media as their primary means of interacting with one another, some experts believe many of these young people lack the basic social skills required to form healthy, meaningful friendships and romantic partnerships.

In addition to our reliance on social media, some experts have cited the increasing lack of “third places” as a significant contributing factor to our collective loneliness. A third place is defined as a public space separate from one’s home or workplace, where people can gather to socialize and connect with others.

Churches, social clubs, coffee shops, bookstores, barbershops, cafés, parks, bars, and public libraries are all examples of third places. These spaces provide casual, pressure-free environments in which people can meet and interact with one another. Because many third places attract individuals who share particular interests or other commonalities, they can help people feel less isolated and foster a sense of community.

When I was a teenager and young adult, third places were ubiquitous. Nearly everyone I knew had at least one hangout, a place they could go pretty much any time to meet up with friends and friends of friends, free from the worry of not being accepted. There were kids who hung out on the steps in front one of the pizza places in town, kids who haunted our high school’s media center, and others who were permanent fixtures in the school’s music room. My father and stepmother socialized with their friends from church at a potluck dinner once a week. It was common for adults to belong to bowling leagues and fraternal organizations.

When I was in college, my friend group and I had “the back table,” a round ten-seater located in the far corner of the school’s commuter cafeteria from which fifteen or twenty associated people regularly came and went at all times of day. We went there to study, to eat, to commiserate, to ask one another for advice, to share our triumphs and failures, to gossip, laugh, and cry. Most importantly, perhaps, we sat at that table to talk—about nothing and everything.

It was at the back table that we found out about parties, whose bands were playing at which clubs, whose boyfriend or girlfriend had dumped them, who needed a ride to work or a few bucks for gas. It was there that I forged my most lasting friendships—people I could still call at any time of day unannounced. It’s where I met and became friends with my husband.

It’s almost impossible for me to imagine what my life would have been like without this “third place.” It was my home away from home during one of the most formative periods of my life. But I also can’t imagine that our back table would have existed the way it did if smart phones and social media had been part of our lives.

According to some sources, places such as coffee shops and bookstores have declined in number due to economic factors, people working more hours, the increasing prevalence of technology, and a growing reluctance among many to spend time in public. Corporate policy changes that limit the amount of time people can spend in some public places are also an issue.

I don’t know what the solution to the loneliness epidemic is, but I know it’s a problem that can’t be fixed unless we are willing to turn off our computers, leave our houses, and talk to one another in person.

In spite of the general decline in public gathering places and a political climate that discourages cooperation among citizens, business owners, and landlords, there are still more potential third places out there than most people realize. Most cities and towns have neighborhood parks, coffee shops, bars, bowling alleys, libraries, and breweries. We are still free to take walks, sit down at bars and say hello to the people next to us, and take our laptops to coffee shops to work for a few hours in the presence of others.

It’s just a matter of getting off the couch.

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Emilie-Noelle Provost (she/her) is the author of The River Is Everywhere, a National Indie Excellence Award, American Fiction Award, and American Legacy Award finalist, and The Blue Bottle, a middle-grade adventure with sea monsters. Visit her at emilienoelleprovost.com.