In response to the public health-related postponement of yesterday’s Lowell Walk on the Irish Acre, here is a virtual tour of a portion of that neighborhood. The text is based on the script I used to lead this tour in April 2016. The tour Dave McKean would have given yesterday…
It was 13 years ago this month that I launched this blog. Since then, I have used this site to capture in words the major events of our time (which is why Paul Marion and I called our 2017 best-of-the-blog book History as It Happens). Mindful of that tradition and…
The Massachusetts Genealogical Council is coming to Lowell! The group will hold its 2020 seminar, Origins & Destinations, at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5, 2020. Registration is open to anyone and you may register for one or both days at…
Here are the motions on the agenda for the upcoming March 10, 2020, Lowell City Council meeting: Councilor Mercier – Request City Manager have the proper department address the speeding on East Merrimack Street from 3 PM to 6:30 PM and set up a patrol to alert drivers of the…
Here are some results from yesterday’s Democratic Primary elections in Massachusetts and around the country: Massachusetts (with 90% reporting): Joe Biden – 33.7% – 425,543 Bernie Sanders – 26.6% – 336,187 Elizabeth Warren – 21.2% – 268,337 Michael Bloomberg – 11.7% – 148,514 Pete Buttigieg – 2.7% – 33,937 Amy…
Bernie Sanders, Good Parenting & Market Basket By George Chigas In a recent Boston Globe editorial (“We asked every Democratic presidential candidate the same reader question,” Feb. 25, 2020) each of the candidates competing for the Democrat Party nomination listed their top policy priorities. For most, the climate emergency topped…
Please welcome Matthew Jones to our roster of contributors: Something Terrible I Stopped Thinking About By Matthew H. Jones A million years ago, when I was nearing my eleventh birthday, I swam in a lake almost completely sheathed by evergreens and old growth. It was man-made with a looming cement…
Super Tuesday The Massachusetts Presidential Primary Election is this Tuesday, March 3, 2020. The polls in Massachusetts will be open from 7am until 8pm. In Lowell, at least, there will be no school that day (which is a security measure since most polling places are within schools). Here are the…
Making Peace with the Duke By David Daniel TCM was running a John Wayne retrospective, and Lacey, the bartender, had it on the TV. “Isn’t there a Bruins game?” I asked. “What, you got a problem with the Duke?” someone on the stool to my left said. He had shoulders…
Lowell Walks is back in 2020, bigger and better than ever. This year, we’ve partnered with Lowell National Historical Park to offer 25 different Saturday morning walks. Here they are: March 7 at 10am: Women’s Activism in Lowell Walk with Resi Polixa, Allison Horrocks, Anne Mulvey, and Sheri Denk –…