An Eye on the Sky (PIP #11) By Louise Peloquin As winter looms, we wonder how snowy and cold the season will be. There was no “Weather Channel” or “Weather Radar” app a hundred years ago. Nonetheless, L’Etoile‘s readership obtained meteorological news. Surely, Lowell’s Franco-Americans studied the crystal ball in…
The consequences of Councilor Corey Robinson’s pending criminal charges dominated Lowell politics again this week. The Councilor is not due back in court until early January, however, on Tuesday he participated in a Council meeting for the first time since his mid-November arrest. In spite of six of the ten…
A version of this post appeared here on Pearl Harbor Day 2017. On Sunday, December 7, 1941, several thousand people attended that day’s Moses Greeley Parker lecture at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Admission was free, the doors opened at 2:15 pm, and the event began at 3 pm. The performers…
Franco Patriotism (PIP #10) By Louise Peloquin “The Patriotism of the Franco-Americans” (1) Miss Yvonne Lemaître, distinguished woman of letters, published a very interesting piece in Boston’s “Transcript” the other day. “Why François fails to fight” is an analysis, or rather a review, of the recent events, in Canada…
There was no Lowell City Council meeting last week. Normally the meeting would have been held on Tuesday night, but the preceding Thursday was the Thanksgiving holiday and I believe City Hall was closed entirely on Friday which is the day on which the Tuesday night agenda must be finalized.…
Appreciation of CBA Director Yun-Ju Choi By Charlie Gargiulo Earlier this month, Yun-Ju Choi, who has served as the Coalition for a Better Acre’s (CBA) Executive Director since 2014, announced that she will be stepping down next June. In her statement announcing her decision to resign from CBA, Yun-Ju showed…
From Darkness Into Light—Thankful Tonight By Ed DeJesus Tuesday, November 9, 1965, began like every school morning—but it sure ended differently for this fifteen-year-old boy from Lowell, Mass. I was fortunate to grow up in a ten-room, two-story tenement on Cambridge Street that my Dad, a WWII Vet, bought with a…
“Use your tongue” (Speak French) By Louise Peloquin Before PIP #9, here’s a throwback on Thanksgiving 1944. ********* L’Etoile November 22, 1944 Thanksgiving in times of war is different than that in times of peace. Let us be grateful for our victorious armies, for those who maintain their faith in…
The Lowell City Council met this past Tuesday night with the most anticipated part of the meeting being the roll call at the very start. That is when the public learned that Councilor Corey Robinson, who had been arrested several days earlier, would not be physically present at the meeting…
A Kerouac Thanksgiving by Suzanne Beebe Thanks, Jack, for helping keep the city On the map; for showing us what growing up Was like in 1920s/1930s Lowell of throbbing neighborhoods and mills Where workers fed machines with wool and cotton To feed their always-hungry children at home. Thanks, too, for…