A weekly report on things I’ve read, heard and seen since last Wednesday.

Book Review: Isola, by Allegra Goodman. I recall reading a Times review of this book when it was first published last November. It caught my attention. It’s the story of a young French noblewoman was dependent on a cruel cousin for financial  support. He forced her to accompany him to Canada in the early 1550s where he hoped to establish a French colony. During the voyage, she had a romantic  relationship with the wrong kind of person. As punishment, the cousin deposited the couple plus the young woman’s servant on a deserted island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Over two winters, the man and the servant both perished, but the noblewoman survived by living in a cave and learning to shoot and hunt. Finally, she was rescued by fishermen who sailed her back to France. There she told her story and was rewarded for her heroism and fortitude. Incredibly, the book is based on a story from history. I was also interested in it because when I think of Europeans coming to North America, I think of the 1600s, not the  mid-1500s.  

Obituary: Eddie Andelman – “A feisty, uproarious voice for everyday fans” by John Powers, Boston Globe, June 16, 2026. Eddie Andelman was born in Boston in 1936 into a family with often precarious finances. He gravitated to real estate development and was quite successful. He was also a sports fan who liked to talk. One night in 1969, he was in a bar talking sports with two friends, Jim McCarthy (an insurance executive) and Mark Witkin (a lawyer). A guy sitting next to them at the bar interrupted, saying he found their sports chatter entertaining and that he was the general manager of a small AM radio station in Brookline, Mass. He’d offered them a Sunday night slot on the air. They gave it a try and within a year were on WBZ. When WBZ dropped the show in 1971, WEEI, then at 590 on the AM dial, picked them up. That’s where I first remember the show. I don’t know how I found it but I became a regular listener, mostly because of the outrageousness of their commentary and interactions with callers, but also because of the hilarious skits they did on the air. I was just 12 or 13 years old but this introduced me to talk radio which certainly became a big deal through the decades (and continuing in its modern manifestation in podcasts and on YouTube, although I know there are still a few traditional radio talk shows still broadcasting). Andelman stayed active in entertainment until 2010 when he retired. I lost track of him long before that, but the news of his passing revived dormant memories of listening to the Sports Huddle on Sunday nights. It entertained and took some of the sting out of going back to school the next morning. 

Read: Whistler retrospective in London – “Behind Atmospheric and Gauzy Scenes, A Provocative Voice” by Emily LaBarge, New York Times, June 18, 2026. This is a review of the largest retrospective exhibit of the works of the Lowell-born artist James McNeill Whistler on view through September at the Tate Britain Museum in London. The writer explains that Whistler’s paintings were characterized by a looseness and fluidity that were the result of detailed planning and highly technical painting but were misinterpreted by his contemporaries as unfinished and lazy. Also, the combative and argumentative temperament he exhibited throughout his life caught up to him when he sued a critic for libel. The verdict in the case went in Whistler’s favor but the cost of the litigation drained his finances and his behavior cost him many friends and business opportunities, things that likely harmed his reputation in life and in death, although as time has passed his reputation as a great artist is being restored through exhibits like this one. 

Newspaper: “On David Hockney and Bliss” by Lawrence Weschler, New York Times, June 15, 2026. The British artist David Hockney passed away in London on June 11, 2026, at age 88. Since then, my media stream has been filled with articles about him so I wanted to note his passing. Although I’ve been to many art museums later in my life, I cannot distinctly recall seeing any of his work, although my wife assures me we have. After all that I’ve read of him since his passing, I’ll be sure to remember whatever work of his that I see next. According to Google, Hockney “revolutionized pop art and modern landscape painting through vibrant colors, innovative perspectives, and pioneering use of technology.” In fact the article I cite here, written by a decades-long friend, stresses the varying perspective that Hockney used in some of his paintings which create a feeling of movement. I’ll have to get back to you on that, too. In any case, RIP David Hockney. 

Read: Cholla Needles 115. Cholla Needles Art & Literary Library is a nonprofit literary corporation based in California which, among other things, publishes a monthly literary magazine of which Issue 115 recently arrived in my mailbox. This edition has two strong Lowell connections: There are six poems by Paul Marion, clustered in what he calls “That War Place.” The poems are about conflict viewed from different perspectives. About them, the editor of the journal writes in their introduction, “Paul Marion disrupts our domestic quiet like Whitman’s war drums, having us walk out of an elevator door at a New York museum to witness the first firebombing of a town in Spain – Guernica.” The second Lowell connection is a group of poems by Chath pierSath, whose four poems are about love, generosity, evil and loneliness. 

Exhibition: LowellScapes at Lowell’s Brush Art Gallery from June 6 to July 26, 2026. This is an exhibit that celebrates Lowell’s Bicentennial through photography. The theme is architecture, landmarks, and popular places that may or may not still exist. Photographers whose work is on display (and is for sale) include Adrien Bisson, Jeff Caplan, Tammy Dohner, Kevin Harkins, Paul Richardson, Coleman Rogers, Peg Shanahan, and Tory Wesnofske. I enjoyed these photographs individually but was especially impressed with the juxtaposition of images of new places like the Kiernan Judicial Center with older ones like the Fanny Farmer Candy Store at the corner of Merrimack and John Streets from 1980. Besides the photos that are part of this exhibit (which is free to see), the Brush has nearly a dozen artist’s studios all offering artwork for sale.