Author Archive

What’s with all the shooting?

Maybe it’s my imagination, but there seems to be a real uptick in the number of shootings in the city over the past few days. Consider this: Last night at midnight there was a report of shots being fired on Alma Street in Centralville Yesterday afternoon police rushed to Jewett…

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Robert Frost Fountain

While in Lawrence today for the Bread & Roses Festival, I got my first look at the city’s Robert Frost Fountain, pictured above. This is what is written on the plaque alongside the fountain: Robert Lee Frost, born Mach 26, 1874 was raised here in Lawrence. His first published poem…

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Bread and Roses Festival

To commemorate Labor Day this year I decided to visit the 26th annual Bread & Roses Festival in Lawrence, an event that celebrates the gains made by workers as a result of their nationally significant strike in the city back in 1912. Even before I left Lowell, however, I was…

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“The mills weren’t made of marble”

Here is the lead editorial from the September 7, 1992 edition of the New York Times – A Labor Day piece about the recently opened Boott Cotton Mill Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts: Youngsters who are made to troop through America’s historic landmarks might reasonably conclude that in the past, rich…

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Neighborhood Schools

Earlier this week I posted something on Facebook regarding the start of school which prompted a conservative friend to comment on the benefits of “neighborhood schools,” a term I haven’t heard in a few years. It might surprise readers to learn that I am a proponent of neighborhood schools only…

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Saturday political update

An Eileen Donoghue flier arrived in today’s mail. “A proven track record of job creation” was the theme of this piece, with a testimonial from the president of a company she once assisted in a “major” way that now has 50 employees in Lowell. The local newspaper also has profiles…

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1988 State Election

Massachusetts held its Presidential Primary on March 8, 1988. On the Democratic side, Governor (and eventual nominee) Mike Dukakis won easily with 418,256 votes. He was trailed by Jesse Jackson with 133,141, Dick Gephardt with 72,944, Al Gore with 31,631, Paul Simon with 26,176, Gary Hart with 10,837 and Bruce…

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Flashback Friday: Opening Day, 1970

Opening Day ceremonies for the Callery Park Little League, spring of 1970. Mayor Dick Howe Sr at bat; City Councilor Leo Farley behind the plate. Bounded by Stevens, Parker, Wilder and B Streets, this park had been known as Highland Park for generations but it was renamed in the late…

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The Hurricane of 1938

During the week of September 18, 1938, no one in Lowell was worried about a hurricane. The public’s attention was focused on two things: Germany was about to invade Czechoslovakia and on that Tuesday (September 20) voters would go to the polls for the state primary election. Lowell voters were…

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