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One reason history is my favorite subject is that it is composed of stories that, though true, often defy belief. Such is the case with the first controlled nuclear reaction which occurred on December 2, 1942 on a squash court under the bleachers at the University of Chicago football stadium…
Read More »Several weeks ago I wrote of my rediscovery of TV sportscaster Len Berman who did sports on WBZ-TV in Boston during the 1970s and who now has launched an internet career after many decades doing TV sports in New York City. Berman’s website invites you to sign up for his…
Read More »There’s an Op-Ed in today’s Globe by Carlo Rotella, a professor of American Studies at Boston College, that uses Lowell’s Micky Ward as the prime example of how popular culture, mostly in the form of movies, has embraced Massachusetts as a place where “traditional forms of masculine virtue still thrive.”…
Read More »Because the period of US history that interests me the most extends from the Civil War through the start of the 20th Century, Chicago was a natural destination for a site-seeing vacation. From the 1871 fire that destroyed a four mile long swath of the city to the 1893 world’s…
Read More »For the past few days our home phone has been dialed by someone the caller ID has named “Arizona” so we haven’t gotten around to answering. Someone I was speaking to this morning did pick-up when the 48th state called and ended up on the phone for 20 minutes answering…
Read More »We’ve just scheduled several guided tours of historic Lowell Cemetery for the coming months. They are still a ways off, but you can at least get them on your schedule: Saturday – August 14 – 10 am Friday – September 10 – 1 pm Saturday – September 11 – 10…
Read More »Yesterday at noon I was toiling away in the heat mowing my lawn just so I’d be done in time to watch the final game of the World Cup. Weeks ago, I think I caught a few minutes of the US v England game but my interest quickly waned. But…
Read More »In 1868, Lowell resident Charles Cowley wrote the “Illustrated History of Lowell”, a book filled with fascinating facts about our city. Here’s my fifth weekly compilation of “tweeting” from Cowley’s book: July 3 – Chelmsford always gave tax breaks & land grants to millers, mechanics & traders so they would…
Read More »Earlier in this decade I slid into the “give gay couples all the legal rights of marriage, just don’t call it marriage” trap, but when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that a ban on same sex marriage violated the state Constitution (Goodrich v Dept of Public Health – 2003),…
Read More »Each Friday, I post an artifact from Lowell politics past. This week, it’s this photo of the 1970-71 Lowell School Committee From left: Bill Collins, Ernest Hermann, Paul Robinson, George Kouloheras, Clement McDonough, Victor Forsley, Seated, Mayor Richard Howe
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