RichardHowe.com – Voices from Lowell & Beyond

To replace or not to replace? That is the question.

To replace or not to replace? That is the question.

By Louise Peloquin

Six photo-illustrated pieces, posted between April 4, 2023 and May 5, 2025, covered the restoration of Notre Dame de Paris. (1) This top tourist attraction still makes the news as thousands continue to visit the “Limestone Ph0enix.” A giant crane towers over the majestic church since outside consolidation is ongoing, funded by single coins as well as by multiple-digit bank transfers.

A three-year-old debate about whether or not to replace grisaille panels is popping up in the media once again. (2) Signed by the Paris regional prefect, an administrative document announcing window replacement work has been posted directly on the cathedral. This is setting off proceedings in matters of administrative law and is marking the start of legal action. The Sites and Monuments Association has announced that opponents to the project can take legal action by filing an appeal at the administrative court. A debate of ideas is becoming a legal battle whose consequences will concretely impact the future of Notre Dame cathedral.

Behind the posted document is a very specific project. It entails removing the 7-meter by 4-meter (22 feet and 11.5 inches high by 13 feet and 1.5 inches wide) 19th-century medieval-style stained glass windows in six chapels south of the nave and replacing them with modern  creations. Contemporary artwork is not in itself problematic. However, its insertion into an already structured and coherent gothic cathedral is widely discussed because the 19th-century windows are deemed to be an integral part of the architectural ensemble.

Side chapel original windows

The new window project was initiated in 2023 by Laurent Ulrich, Archbishop of Paris. That year, on December 8, he invited President Emmanuel Macron to the cathedral renovation site. The President immediately gave his full support to bringing a “contemporary contribution” to Notre Dame. An official call for public procurement contracts was launched. One hundred and ten proposals were examined. French-born artist Claire Tabouret’s dossier was retained. (3) The Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs endorsed the choice by stating that the new windows would be “a contribution from our era” to a monument built over the course of several centuries.

One of Claire Tabouret’s 6 new windows

One may ask why the project has triggered strong opposition given that history has already shown additions to the cathedral, for example, Viollet-le-Duc’s spire. (4) Opponents point out that this project is fundamentally different. It is not about adding something but rather about replacing elements which still exist. The 19th-century windows were not destroyed in the 2019 fire. They were dismantled, protected, cleaned and restored. In other words, they are perfectly preserved. Consequently, the question is: why dispose of something that works, is protected and is part of the history of the cathedral.

Original blue and grey window

Notre Dame is listed as a historic monument and so are its components. Windows are  not merely elements of decor but are just as protected as the heritage site is. This fact reinforces the legal constraints surrounding their modification or replacement. The opponents’ argument is that replacing these windows is aimed neither at conservation nor at restoration. The official mission of the public institution in charge of Notre Dame is precisely to preserve and restore the cathedral. Therefore, window replacement is considered acting outside of the legal framework. This will be the main argument for legal action. Opponents are also quick to point out that Claire Tabouret is a friend of First Lady Brigitte Macron.

A first legal procedure was initiated concerning the question of the legitimacy of the public institution to carry out this operation. The procedure was lost at first instance but is currently under appeal. Opponents particularly criticized the decision because of its failure to take the heritage aspect into account.

A second, more direct legal front opened, that of the project itself. Heritage experts find this point very interesting because the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture has twice opposed dismantling the 19th-century windows. Therefore, opposition is not just marginal. A real disagreement exists between the political project and part of the historic heritage world. Despite this, the decision to go ahead with the project was upheld. The experts’ opinions were not followed. The polemic is no longer just an artistic or a heritage discussion but seen as a political choice which disregards specialists’ recommendations.

Top section of an original window

Top section of Claire Tabouret’s window

     The project is moving along despite reservations and this is precisely what is feeding the polemic because opponents are not only contesting the final result, they are also contesting the way in which the decision was made. They find it to be a forced choice disregarding technical views. Some associations are even talking about a dangerous precedent for the future protection of historic monuments. If this type of replacement can be approved, the broader question comes up of who decides about the evolution of a monument such as Notre Dame.

In 2023, a petition was launched against the project. On April 28, 2026 it had 302,935 signatures, a considerable number for a question of heritage. It shows that the issue goes far beyond just specialists. It concerns the public which holds dear the integrity of the monument.

The project is also generating interest. Models of the new windows, illustrating the theme of Pentecost, were exhibited at the Grand Palais from December 10, 2025 to March 15, 2026 and attracted approximately 325,000 visitors.

Models of Claire Tabouret’s windows exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris

Public opinion remains divided. One point comes up frequently in the discussion and that is cost. Some people find it shocking to spend nearly 4,000,000 euros ($4,694,668  – May 1 exchange rate) to replace windows that have already been restored (for a cost of several million euros) and are in perfect condition. Opponents feel that French taxpayers’ and donors’ money is being used to satisfy an aesthetic vision imposed by what some call a “presidential whim.” They maintain that replacing restored, intact windows by contemporary artwork is transforming not preserving. Therefore, beyond budgetary considerations, the issue remains whether or not to impose a new interpretation of the original windows.

What are the precise criticisms of the new windows? They represent Pentecost figures with a figurative, contemporary approach. Opponents insist that it is not just a question of taste. They put forward two main arguments. The first is linked to the idea of architectural coherence since the current windows are part of a progression of color and therefore, replacing risks upsetting visual balance. The second is an argument of principle. When working on historic monuments, adding, not removing, is acceptable.

Finally, some specialists bring up technical characteristics. For example, the new windows do not take into account the tracery (5). There are problems with delineating the characters depicted in the glass.

Detail of a Claire Tabouret window

It is really not a question of rejecting contemporary art at all. Some completely agree that contemporary art can have its place in the cathedral. Take, for example, the tapestries now hung in some of the side chapels. (6) The root cause of the problem is not integrating something new but rather replacing something sound.

Controversy over replacing stained glass windows at Notre Dame has already triggered controversy. An exhibition, held from June 22, 2024 to January 5, 2025, in Troyes, a city in the Champagne region, presented an ensemble of forgotten windows conceived for the 1937 Paris World Fair. Stored in the rear of Notre Dame’s south nave, they were rediscovered in 2019. They were created by twelve master glass-makers to replace Viollet-le-Duc’s grisailles. Louis Barillet, emblematic figure of Art Deco, was project manager. In 1934, he began working with eleven other master glass-makers to create a series of windows for the Pontifical Pavilion at the 1937 Paris World Fair. (7) When the fair ended, Louis Barillet sought to ensure the future of the creations because selling them was forbidden. In 1935, at a time when Viollet-le-Duc’s grisailles were judged to be “too dull”, Barillet offered the Historic Monument Commission to replace the old windows with his new ones by insisting that the latter were less outdated and more in keeping with medieval polychrome windows. The Historic Monument Commission gave the green light without making the initiative official.

Detail of Paul Lousier’s 1937 window of Saint François de Sales

Detail of Valentine Reyre’s 1937 window of Sainte Foy de Conques

The Pontifical Pavilion was conserved after the 1937 Paris World Fair and it was only at the end of 1938 that the new windows were finally installed, on trial, inside Notre Dame. A heated polemic ensued. The question of placing modern artwork inside an ancient monument divided art specialists, historians and the general public. It was the course of history, with World War II looming, rather than the artistic controversy, which ended the 1938 window replacement project.

In 1939, by precautionary measure, Louis Barillet’s workshop removed its windows, stored them in straw-filled crates and reinstalled Viollet-le-Duc’s grisailles. Seven of the Barillet workshop panes were recuperated by their master glass-makers and five were lost.

In 2019, just after the Notre Dame fire, the 1937 windows briefly came back to center stage. Recuperating them for the renovated cathedral was not seriously considered.

This whole debate ultimately goes beyond the question of window choices because it raises the question of whether or not we consider cultural heritage as something we receive and pass on or as something we adapt to our time.

Today, there is no consensus about the Notre Dame window project. What is certain, however, is the fact that the decision to be taken will be a landmark. It will serve as a reference, a precedent for other projets. Beyond the windows, a certain conception of cultural heritage is ultimately being played out.

The question remains: to replace or not to replace?

Keep the old or bring in the new – what do you think?

1) “Notre Dame de Paris, an Update” – posted on April 4, 2023

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

“Gift-wrapped in Steel Notre Dame’s New Spire” – posted on December 18, 2023

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

“Spire Update” – posted on February 2, 2024:

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

“Notre Dame the Limestone Phoenix” – posted on December 4, 2024

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

“Notre Dame Inauguration New Flash” – posted on December 7, 2024.                        https://richardhowe.com/2024/12/07/notre-dame-inauguration-news-flash/

“Notre Dame Revisited” – posted on May 5, 2025

https://richardhowe.com/2025/05/16/notre-dame-revisited/

2) “Grisailles” are stained glass windows characterized by a non-figurative ornamental design painted in black lines on colorless glass. Small quantities of color were later introduced. This technique, which means, “paint in grey shades” was principally used to create contours and shadows. Many French cathedrals have grisailles, for example, Chartres, Beauvais, Tours, Troyes and Paris.

3) Born on September 25, 1981 in Pertuis, Vaucluse, in the Provence region, artist Claire Tabouret, admired by contemporary art collectors, is living and working in Los Angeles. The six large windows she designed are supposed to be installed in Notre Dame de Paris in December 2026.

4) See the 2nd and 3rd links of footnote #1 for information on Viollet-le-Duc’s spire.

5) “Tracery” is the intricate decorative framework that supports and divides the panes in medieval stained glass windows. Begun as simple plate tracery, it gradually became more complex and further enhanced both the structural support and aesthetic appeal of large windows.

6) See the second photo in:

“Notre Dame Revisited” – posted on May 5, 2025

https://richardhowe.com/2025/05/16/notre-dame-revisited/

7) The eleven master glass-makers who worked with Louis Barillet from 1934 to 1939: Jacques Le Chevallier, Valentine Reyre, Jean Hébert-Stevens, Louis Mazetier, Jacques Gruber, Rev. Marie-Alain Couturier, André Rinuy, Max Ingrand, Joseph-Jean-Kef Ray, Jean Gaudin and Paul Louzier.

A Trump trompe? Echos from the past? by Marjorie Arons-Barron

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

The Order of the Day by award-winning French novelist and film maker Eric Vuillard is a well-researched and creatively presented story of the Anschluss, Hitler’s move to take over Austria and incorporate it into Germany. It is a brief cautionary tale in narrative non-fiction form.

Where direct quotes are available, Vuillard uses them. Where they are not, Vuillard draws on memoirs, journals, court testimony, interviews and photographs to create conversations as he imagines them to have taken place. We see the gestures and personal peculiarities of the speakers, their clothing styles, the interior designs of halls where high-level meetings were held. We feel characters’ anxieties, fears, and frustrations.

The book opens in 1933, when then-Reichstag President Hermann Goering gathers 24 corporate chieftains (think Krupp, Siemens, Opel, BASF, Telefunken, Reichsbank) around a table to lay out the urgency of Hitler’s plan to consolidate power. The upcoming elections are important, he tells them, to ward off the Communist menace, end trade unions, and consolidate their own power as mini fuehrers in their own companies. Goering even jokes that these may be the last German elections for a century. A reader can’t help feeling that the invitees look very much like today’s oligarchs, captains of industry like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, and others. They go where the power is and fork over the money to ensure their personal success.

As if to make the point, Vuillard observes that “corruption is an irreducible line item in the budget of large companies, and it goes by several names: lobbying fees, gifts, political contributions.” The corporate types who had funded Hitler’s electoral success not only stood by as he executed his evil plans, but, by using concentration camp prisoners as forced labor in their factories, they became even wealthier.

The major focus of this short (140 pages) book is March 12, 1938 when Hitler marched into Austria, having bullied then-Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg to sign a document agreeing to be absorbed by Germany, having threatened military action if Austria failed to comply. Leading up to that day, Vuillard describes British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement strategy and the denial and timidity of the rest of European leaders. None of them was unaware of the Nazis’ brutal actions: the burning of the Reichstag, opening up of Dachau, sterilization of the mentally ill, the many atrocities to achieve racial purity, the purge of political opponents.

Vuillard cinematically describes a confrontation between Hitler and Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, who tried to stave off the inevitable by persuading the Germans that he has always maintained policies friendly to the Reich. Hitler screams his disagreement. Then the Fuehrer’s mood becomes childish and he tells Schuschnigg that he, Hitler, is going to build the largest bridge in the world. He goes on to say he’ll put up the tallest buildings, bigger even than America’s.  (Sound like any official that you know?)  Vuillard calls Hitler as “virulent as a gob of phlegm,” which kind of sticks with the reader. Hitler, he writes, is beyond any objections of constitutional law.

Other major characters are Nazi war criminals Arthur Seyss-Inquart, who shares Hitler’s talent for blunt threats and repetitious propaganda, and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, who just happened to rent a flat from Neville Chamberlain in London.

Nowhere does Vuillard say that Trump is a Hitler, nor does he specifically warn of events in our own day. But it’s impossible not to see parallels to some of Trump’s behavior: the authoritarian actions, megalomania, braggadocio, thirst for revenge, and disregard for constitutional precepts, values, and norms.

Also resonant are the appeasers, the oligarchs, the sycophants, and, yes, those who shut their ears and eyes and hunker down in the comfort of their daily lives.

Written in 2017 and winner of the Prix Goncourt, France’s most prestigious literary award, Eric Vuillard’s book stimulates pressing questions about how far down the road to authoritarianism the United States has already traveled and who is leading us down that path to the detriment of democracy. Readers may balk at the author’s preachy inserts, but there is a much-needed sermon in the story he is telling.

Lowell Politics: May 10, 2026

The Tuesday, May 5, 2026, council meeting lasted just over two hours with no single issue dominating the meeting. Perhaps the central theme of council discussions on Tuesday and at other recent meetings has been the fiscal challenges the city faces in the coming year.

Related to that, the council received a report from Finance Subcommittee chair Belinda Juran on that committee’s April 28, 2026, meeting and the minutes of that meeting. The PowerPoint presentation to the subcommittee from Chief Financial Officer Conor Baldwin on the FY27 budget process was also included. The presentation was filled with information that sets the table for upcoming council budget deliberations, so I’ll review it at length in today’s newsletter.

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The proposed budget will be presented to the city council at this week’s meeting on May 12, 2026. The council will then schedule a public hearing on the budget and should adopt the budget no later than June 30, 2026, since Fiscal Year 2027 begins the next day. Under our Plan E form of government, councilors may adopt the budget as is, make cuts to it, or reject it entirely, however, the council may not increase the budget or any item within it.

On January 22, 2026, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue certified Lowell’s “free cash” from FY25 (which ran from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025). Recall that “free cash” is the city’s surplus funds from that fiscal year. Those funds may have come from several sources: Money that was budgeted for a specific purpose but was not spent by the end of the fiscal year; surplus revenue resulting from higher than projected income from taxes; or previously unspent free cash. Before the city can use free cash, the calculations must be certified by the state Department of Revenue. After that, the city can use the money for any legal purpose. However, the best practice is to avoid using it for recurring expenses like salaries. Instead, it is usually directed towards the city’s stabilization fund (which is a type of “rainy day” account); towards capital expenditures; or towards emergency expenses that could not have been anticipated in the annual budget.

In February of this year, the council adopted the city manager’s recommendation that $7.5 million of the newly certified free cash be sent to the stabilization fund to restore the amount used to close gaps in the FY26 budget, to subsidize the city’s parking operations, and to provide more funds to the Lowell Public Schools than the city manager had initially recommended in his annual budget. Another $1.7 million was used on “traffic calming investments” (I assume that means the much-desired “speed humps”); expenses from the two special elections for the vacant state senate seat; and a few other items.

Notably, all funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) has come to an end. That money had to be obligated by the end of calendar year 2024 and spent by now. The presentation states, “Positions or programs previously supported by ARPA that continue will require General Fund appropriation.” When a financial windfall like ARPA became available, it would have been irrational for the city not to have taken advantage of it, but the question now is whether the use of those funds was finite and ended with the funding, or did it become so central to city operations that there is pressure to absorb those extra costs into the city’s regular budget and thereby increase the fiscal pressure on the entire operation.

For revenue, the FY27 budget estimates $320 million from state aid; $199 million from property taxes; $16 million from fees and excise; and $38 million from other sources. The state’s contribution, which is contingent on the legislature’s approval of a FY27 state budget, consists of $276 million for education; $32 million in unrestricted aid; and $9 million in reimbursements for charter school assessments.

When it comes to what the city spends money on, there are five big drivers of costs, all largely outside the city’s direct control:

• Pensions: $39.7 million in FY27, up 12.2% from FY25
• Debt Service: $23.2 million in FY27, up 35.8% from FY25
• State Assessments: $57.0 million in FY27, up 40.3% from FY25
• Health Insurance: $34.0 million in FY27, up 43.1% from FY25
• Energy: $9.4 million in FY27, up 8.0% from FY25

The bulk of “state assessments” are for charter schools. Since charter schools are public schools, their funding comes from the overall city budget in the form of a deduction from state aid. The amount of the deduction is determined by a complex calculation based on the amount per student the city is supposed to spend. The problem with that approach is that it oversimplifies the cost of educating a student. Fixed costs for facilities, infrastructure, administration, and other things must be funded regardless of how many students attend the district schools, so a greater share of the money remaining in the system must cover those fixed expenses. That leaves less money for the direct education of the students staying in the district schools.

The charter school reimbursement law seems to recognize this by providing reimbursements to the school district for a percentage of the per pupil money going to the charter school. The problem is that the reimbursement is “subject to appropriation” which means if the legislature does not allocate enough money to this line item of the state budget, communities like Lowell don’t get the reimbursement set by the statute. That has been a regular occurrence so this is a chronic problem which puts direct pressure on the budget of the Lowell Public Schools and indirect pressure on the overall city budget which is compelled to finance a greater portion of the school budget than would be the case if the legislature adequately funded charter school reimbursements.

These high-cost structural demands don’t seem to leave much room for discretionary spending in the city budget, which will make the coming budget sessions difficult for councilors. It’s easy to govern when there’s plenty of money; the challenge comes in tight times when you must disappoint people by saying no. Thanks mostly to the ARPA funding windfall, few of the current councilors have held office in tight fiscal times so it will be interesting to see how they handle it.

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A pair of memos from the city’s Director of Elections & Census Will Rosenberry provided interesting information about the mechanics of holding an election, specifically where people vote. Now, voting places in Lowell are almost exclusively in school buildings.

For many reasons, including that we live in a country that tolerates mass shootings on an almost daily basis, it’s vital that school officials control access to their building. That is tough to do on election day when hundreds and possibly more than a thousand strangers enter the school building to vote. Consequently, for many years, Lowell Public Schools have closed on election days. In most years, that means one closure in September for the primary election, and another in November for the general election. However, this year, because of the two special elections needed to fill the state senate seat left vacant when Ed Kennedy passed away, the schools faced two additional days of being closed. Instead, the city election office worked with school officials to segregate the space within the school used for voting from the rest of the school, especially the students, and school was not cancelled.

Turnout in the special elections was quite low, so neither posed a true test of a modified system. However, studies and past practice have shown that even small changes to voting places (such as, which door to enter or where to park) tends to reduce turnout. Also, because so many children get rides to and from school, the immediate vicinity of a school becomes somewhat chaotic at arrival and dismissal times which would make it difficult for potential voters who arrive at those times.

As for making a building other than a school a polling place, that is feasible if the place is handicapped accessible, has adequate parking, and a room sufficiently large to hold all voting functions. A facility with a liquor license cannot be used as a polling place, but any other private building, including a church, is acceptable so long as the standards mentioned above are met. However, there are at least two challenges that come with using non-school buildings: the first is the city would have to pay rent, something that is not currently within the budget of the election office. The second challenge would be consistent availability. While the dates for general elections are known well in advance, the dates for primaries or preliminaries are more fluid, and the need to hold a special election can arise without much notice. Since research shows that consistently using a place for voting tends to help turnout, the city would not want to be changing polling locations with each election.

For now, it seems voting will continue to be done in city schools.

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On richardhowe.com, please check out Dave Perry’s stellar review of last weekend’s The Town and the City Festival which includes his account of reunion appearances of several bands that dominated the Lowell music scene in the 1990s.

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This week in my Seen & Heard column I wrote about the recent dedication of Eternal Flame a new public art piece by Lowell artist Jay Hungate that was commissioned by Lowell Cemetery for its newly opened West Meadow section; reviewed a New Yorker profile of Sam Altman, the founder of the artificial intelligence company, OpenAI; commented on a New York Times article on how professional historians are observing the semiquincentennial; commented on a New York Times Op-Ed about how elderly Americans went from being among the poorest group in America to the wealthiest and most powerful; and commented on another Times Op-Ed about Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Maine.

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Finally, Bob Forrant and I are teaming up to lead a free walking tour on Lowell and World War II to be held on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at 10am from the Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center at 246 Market Street. The tour will take approximately 90 minutes and requires no advanced registration. Just show up.

Time of the End of the Season Part V

Time of the End of the Season Part V

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 writer whose 2020 memoir, Tale of the Times: A Runner’s Story, is available at lala books in downtown Lowell and in Kindle format from Amazon. The following is an excerpt from his novel-in-progress.

Already published:

Time episode 1

Time episode 2

Time episode 3

Time episode 4

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Louis Spyridon

Atlanta Spiridon

In the afternoon I left for Atlanta, a bus ride that would take about ten hours. I planned to sleep through most of it and re-read “A Clean Pair of Heals” about Kiwi Champion Murray Halberg. Early in his career but after he had reached an international level of performance he travelled to Europe and the United States for a lengthy tour of racing and training living sometimes right on the edge of poverty with other athletes all determined to get their kicks and hopefully “come right” on time and win a medal at a major games.

It was me against the world fighting my own battle of Thermopylae defending my own free will, just barely nineteen years old, a sometimes-lonely struggle, but in Atlanta I would be joining up with another mentor who now owned a running store and would hire me to work for him as well. I would be pointing for the World Junior Cross-Country Trials in Gainesville FL in February.

My new mentor, coach and employer was Sal Parker, a former Olympian in the 10,000 M. Sal opened a store called Spiridon a specialty store with nearly all running related gear for inventory and a knowledgeable staff.

I was not sure yet where I would be living or if I would even be making enough money to get a place of my own. Sal was picking me up at the bus station when I arrived and we would talk things through. There was a pretty vibrant running community in Atlanta with a solid schedule of cross country and road races and track meets.

Spiridon had their own running team and I would compete for them at least until cross country trials six weeks from now and probably for a month or so afterwards somewhat depending upon if I made the team by finishing in the top six.

The bus trip was uneventful, I only had a cup of coffee and a stale donut and was starving when Sal picked me up around three in the afternoon. He suggested we go for a run from the store out around Piedmont Park. At the store he introduced me to Dickie and Freddie and Annie, my new clubmates and workmates.

I was immediately smitten with Annie, a little red head cute as a button beautiful and smiling. These three would become my constant companions and I gave them all nicknames. At some point Annie became “fire plug” Dickie became “jocko” and Freddie became “Hazel.”

They were all about four years older than me but somehow, I was already worldlier or world weary due to my recent lifestyle and experiences of life. We would share living space in a small house in a runner’s commune.

Dickie was mostly a road racer and pointing toward the Boston Marathon in April. He had recently run a 2:22 and won the Atlanta Marathon his first. Freddie ran the steeplechase and the mile in college and liked track racing best and Annie was aiming for the Senior Cross-Country Trial in Gainesville as well.

That first night we had dinner together with Sal and he handed us each an outline of upcoming workouts and races to prepare us for our upcoming events. We would run together every morning, usually a five miler, a combination of roads and dirt trails. In the afternoons Sal would meet with us for more individualized workouts which we sometimes did alone or with one or both of the others.

After a few weeks Annie and I ran in a small cross-country invitational with mostly college teams. I won the five-mile race in 22:45 breaking the course record by over a minute. Annie won the women’s race in similar fashion. Sal told me “Willy, I don’t really gush but that was fucking nuts. You have to be the best talent in the entire friggin country and you’re riding around on busses sleeping in parks…. WTF.”

Sal gave me and Annie the afternoon off from the store. We put together a picnic lunch and went to a nearby lake and found a secluded spot where we went skinny dipping. Annie let her longish red hair loose from its usual ponytail.

I finished up a long slog of a run known only as “the loop” by me and my old man friends who only occasionally these days, would take it on. Eight miles of up and down murderous hills with beautiful views of the Whites in the early Spring snow melting rivulets of water flowing down the roads in all directions.

Last night’s writings and dreaming’s brought me back to my youth, the days in Atlanta and Annie, beautiful Annie. None of the young women I met that year on the road wanted any kind of long-term relationship, I think knowing that at my age of nineteen and my peripatetic lifestyle I just was not ready.

Jocko had a big road race coming up the National 20KM Road Race Championship in Massachusetts. Hazel and another runner from Spiridon would also compete there as a three-person team hoping to knock off the favored Beantown Bombers, some of whom I knew from growing up in Mass.

I had only a few weeks to go until the Cross-Country Trials when disaster struck. My Plantar Fasciitis flared up likely due to the workouts I had begun doing in spikes on the grass. Sal wanted me to stop running entirely and rest but I didn’t want to so he taped it fairly effectively, problem was if you taped it too loose it was ineffective and too tight and it could make matters worse.

For a while it got progressively worse and it didn’t help that I was on my feet all day at the store, but there was nothing to be done. They needed me there. I continued to do my easy five milers in the mornings at a very slow pace but in the afternoon, I would run maybe a mile or two and then come home and stick my foot in a bucket of ice water. I took aspirin as well.

The week of the trial I finally took two days off entirely and Sal gave me a full day off from the store. It helped but there was no way I would be able to compete in spikes. Sal said, “Willy, maybe you shouldn’t run trials. “ “Sal, I’m running even if it has to be in training shoes. I am going to be on that team.”

Annie and I travelled to Gainesville together leaving on Friday morning flying down for the Saturday race. Sal was not able to make the trip but he had arranged for a friend of his to pick us up at the airport and this friend would also doctor my foot and tape it for me before the race.

Annie was a long shot to make the team and Sal had planned with her to have a conservative strategy. “Willy, what do you think about Sal’s race plan for me.” “Honestly I think you should go from the gun their fire plug because there is a good chance they will let you go since they won’t know much of anything about you and once you get that lead darling you ain’t coming back to them.” Annie smiled, “Oh Willy you give the best pep talks.”

We jogged the course together on Friday afternoon, a flat as a pancake course which was going to be fast, not good for me since I could barely get up on my toes on my injured foot. The Junior Race would be eight KM two four KM laps. I brought spikes but decided to go with flats and I had to take some of the tight turns on the course real wide to stay on my feet.

At the end of the first lap I was in the middle of the pack with a lot of work to do and I dug deep and started to pick people off. I could see a straight line of runners ahead and I figured I was about twelfth.

With about a half mile to go I went into an all-out kick all I could muster and I moved all the way up to seventh before I started to run out of gas slipping all over in my flats.

I caught the runner ahead of me but could not get past him. This was for the team I never imagined not making it. We finished in a dead heat. I was unsure if I had made the team and the officials were all huddled around conferring.

“Are you the Desmarais who was leading Senior Nationals back in November?” “Ya, that’s me.” “Why the hell are you wearing flats?” “Plantar injury.”

Annie was lining up for her race and I headed over to watch. She was right out into the lead, man if this strategy doesn’t work I hope Sal never finds out it was my idea. After the first lap she had fifty yards but the pack was closing. “You look marvelous fire plug, keep your foot on the gas!” I think she actually smiled at that.

I watched as they came out of the woods for the final half mile, Annie had fallen back to fifth and was passed by one other but she made the team. Annie and I did a short cool down run and my foot was killing me. Sal’s buddy took us to the airport, no shower no time no room anyway off to Atlanta.

“I hope you are on the team with me. Willy, it would be great to travel to New Zealand together.” “Ya, thanks fire plug, guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

I ordered a beer on the plane, the first of many I would have that evening.

Sal was in touch with the US Track & Field Cross Country Committee that week and the Manager/Coach for the team wanted to put me on it as a sub after it was determined that I had finished seventh.

But that would not be happening. USATF weren’t known for being magnanimous.

The plantar was still hurting in any case even worse than ever after trying to race on it. Annie and the others tried to cheer me up but I was despondent. Dickie had finished second in the National 20KM and looked to be coming right for Boston. Freddie had just run a four flat mile indoors.

I continued to limp through the five miler each morning and then after work, on the days where I didn’t go for ultrasound treatments, I would go by the library and borrow some books and then buy a six pack and sit with my feet up reading all night.

I realized the truth of athletics that all athletes get injured no matter how careful they are. The human body will have its way, no matter how strong you are mentally you cannot outrun that fact. No question I was in a funk and Sal came over one night and saw all the empty beer cans and piles of books. “Willy, you look like a frat boy college student.” “I had no use for college Sal, that’s why I’m here with you.”

I staggered off to bed around midnight looking forward to my run the next morning hoping the plantar would be better. I pulled back the covers and there lay sweet little fire plug Annie, resplendent, naked as a jaybird. I right then forgot all my troubles and all my cares.

The next morning, I was up early making breakfast coffee for me and Annie whistling and smiling stupidly when Hazel walked in and said “Willy, you have the look of I just had sex repeatedly all over you.” “Ah Freddie, just looking forward to another great day.” “Well from the sound of things you had a great night.”

On our run that morning I never even thought about my plantar and it was like the injury had never even happened. I went for ultrasound that evening and the therapist could not believe the difference from just a few days before. That evening I ran our ten miler alone in fifty-one minutes singing “sexual healing” in my head and smiling the entire way!

I rolled out of bed legs creaking back and hip achy I shuffled my way to the bathroom slowly waking up ever so slightly easily slowly and then downstairs kettle on the boil newspaper retrieved from outside slice of toast nicely burned with lots of butter the sit down on couch roll foot on roller old plantar injury and stare out the window while I slowly sip my coffee bringing it all back home.

The days in Atlanta were some of my best days and memories but Massachusetts still tugged at me in New England in my bones, family there and friends who thought I had gone mad.

Annie left for New Zealand and I was so very happy for her and envious too, but now that my own running was coming around my outlook on the world had improved and also through my reading I was beginning to broaden my horizons and Athletics was the prism I saw this world through.

I did some long runs with Jocko and Hazel, one a twenty miler at 5:15 per mile, the pace that Jocko hoped to run at Boston. It felt okay, not as hard as I thought it was going to be and Jocko was cruising.

“Jocko, you can handle 5:05’s no problem.” “Kid, what do you know about the marathon?”

He was right, I didn’t know much.

Me and Freddie went to the Florida Relays in March where Freddie ran a 3:39 for 1500M qualifying for Nationals which would be in Knoxville in June. I won the 5 KM in 13:44 a huge PR but I had never actually raced a 5KM before only three miles.

Sal planned for me to run a 10KM on the track in May to hopefully qualify in that event as well. Sal gave me fatherly advice and explained that I had some bad luck mostly brought on through inexperience and just plain bad luck.

Yes, luck plays a part I’ve learned and mine had been running well but I had worries and concerns I was not immune, no.

Back home in Mass. My Dad had had a stroke and his recovery went well and my brother and sister made sure he and my stepmom were going to be okay, but out here on my own engrossed in my own obsession, hesitate to call it a career where none existed, I wondered if I was doing the best right thing.

Annie ran great in New Zealand and didn’t come back cause the fire plug went and met her a fella, a New Zealander international.

She sent me a long letter, so I knew she loved me, but I was just a dumb kid and needed to mature, my interpretation.

I felt elegiac.

I was hurt but truth be told my running was going great and she was my real mistress.

****

Darlingside – Futures official music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sy0YM71i0Y