Talk About ‘Place-Making’

August 8, 2013 by PaulM Posted in Culture, History, Lowell 3 Comments

There was some buzz and rattle on the web yesterday when the online appliance of a venerable magazine with a Boston root system, The Atlantic, posted a fizzy report about a made-up episode in the life and times of John L. Kerouac, all of it putting Lowell in the news stream for another 15 minutes. These are the moments that separate Lowell from a thousand other small cities. This is the kind of stuff that gives Lowell a special allure in the minds of people who enjoy places with character. I’m the last one who wants to read another story about bad behavior by the author of “On the Road” and “Doctor Sax,” but that “cat” is out of the bag, so to say. Nonetheless, the “fakelore” incident from Mill No. 5 on Jackson Street got traction on the web. Read for yourself.

And here’s the video for the song mentioned by the reporter in The Atlantic.

eggstoast

 

3 Responses to Talk About ‘Place-Making’

  2. Greg Page says:

    I, too, love the Oxford comma. I stood by it during some group editing sessions for a research paper this spring despite opposition that outnumbered me. This example I found online turned the tide:

    My favorite people are my sisters, Madonna, and Oprah Winfrey.

    My favorite people are my sisters, Madonna and Oprah Winfrey.

    So when I first saw the Kerouac thing at Mill Number 5, I was an instant fan.

  3. Marie says:

    I admit it… I’m a scofflaw about using the Oxford coma. But Greg’s example ~ “My favorite people are my sisters, Madonna and Oprah Winfrey.” is a good one!