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Those Who Marched Before Us By Rich Grady, April 2026 Whatever of true life there was in thee Leaps in our age’s veins; Wield still thy bent and wrinkled empery, And shake thine idle chains; To thee thy dross is clinging, For us thy martyrs die, thy prophets see,…
Read More »A Walking Tour of Lowell’s Acre, Then and Now By Leo Racicot The Lowell Acre neighborhood streets I walked as a boy are much changed as I walk them now. True, the look of the landscape is pretty much the same –when I stand in my yard or go…
Read More »Book Review – Kent State: An American Tragedy, by Brian VanDemark (2024). On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired upon students at Kent State University in Ohio who had gathered for a protest against the Vietnam War. Four students were killed and nine others wounded, including…
Read More »Party & Pay – (PIP #104) By Louise Peloquin From January 20 to March 3, seven peeks into the past presented L’Etoile’s coverage of Lowell’s centennial celebrations. See the links below. (1) Here is a financial follow-up. L’Etoile – April 3, 1926 CENTENNIAL BILLS SUSPENDED __________ The mayor provisionally suspends…
Read More »Perhaps the most important thing to arise at last Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting was an announcement that City Manager Tom Golden, on behalf of the city, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Solar International Core Canada Ltd (SICC) of Toronto, Canada, in which SICC will serve…
Read More »Nana By Leo Racicot Our beloved Nana. Her name was Adele but everybody called her Lena. My friend, David Bowles used to get a kick out of that. I still do. Nana was born in Alexandria, Egypt. As young girls, she and her twin sister, Mariam, emigrated to Paris where…
Read More »Museum Visit: Massachusetts Historical Society – Last Friday I had an early appointment in Boston so when that was finished, I went to the Massachusetts Historical Society at 1154 Boylston Street which is not far from the Prudential Center. I’ve long been aware of the organization but had never visited…
Read More »Newspaper Nooks and Crannies – (PIP #103) By Louise Peloquin To add and to end with the March 24th topic, a few more phrases from L’Etoile’s nooks and crannies. (1) A grandiose coquette is the woman who states that she is not so. (January 23, 1926) The mind searches; the…
Read More »With today being the annual running of the Boston Marathon, my thoughts drifted back to that event in 2013 when terrorism injected itself into the iconic sporting event. Most are familiar with what happened, but this post, which I wrote on April 22, 2013, provides many details and a feel…
Read More »Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting was a business-like gathering with no overt controversies. However, a couple of innocuous items on the agenda shed some light on the workings of local government and some important public policy considerations so I’ll discuss them first. **** A routine public hearing on a request…
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