Author Archive

1947 City Council Election

Another in an occasional series of posts about past Lowell city elections. 1947 City Council Election November 11, 1947 – Tuesday – “Six incumbents returned to city council. They are joined by two school committee members and a former mayor.” Winners Former Mayor James J Bruin – 3633 Councilor Leo…

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‘The War of Independence’ by Paul Marion

My recent post on the military history of the Lake Champlain region omitted mention that volunteer soldiers from this area – the town of Dracut, to be specific – participated in many of these engagements. In his poem “The War Place: The War of Independence” (reproduced below), Paul Marion makes…

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2021 City Election scorecard

Last week the Lowell Election Office completed its certification of nomination signatures submitted by candidates for Lowell City Council and School Committee. The list of candidates (including home addresses) is available on the city’s website. For more detailed information about the candidates be sure to visit the Lowell Votes website…

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Notes from a Plane

Notes from a Plane By Christine O’Connor After a brief vacation in the American southwest, I jotted a few notes on the flight home: there are 16 million Mormons worldwide; the canyons had nine formations over 150 million years; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed in Zion; roadside…

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Lowell People: Maurice Cohen

Maurice Cohen, the co-founder and former owner of radio station WCAP, died recently at age 100. In the August 2, 2021, Lowell Sun, Barry Scanlon wrote an excellent appreciation of Maurice’s life. In 2012 while writing “Legendary Locals of Lowell,” I interviewed Maurice. He shared a number of photographs with…

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Dental Tales

Dental Tales By David Daniel One: Music The dental hygienist wants to talk about music, which is issuing quietly from the speaker in the laptop open on the counter. The screen displays my most recent set of x-rays. But x-rays seem incidental; she’s going on about singers she likes—Nora Jones…

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Boarding School Blues: Chapter 18

Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Ch. 18: Dress up, sit up, chin up The afternoon’s special guest positioned herself in front of the lectern while the headmistress took her seat on the nuns’ platform. Adeline Greenwood’s slim athletic build was similar to Sister Roger’s. Blanche thought maybe she played…

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Loom Press book featured in Boston Globe

The Boston Globe’s “New England Literary News” section recently featured We Hold on to What We Can, a new book of poems by Sarah Alcott Anderson that is published by Loom Press. Here’s what the Globe wrote about Anderson’s book: In her wise and elegant debut collection “We Hold on…

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I Was a Teenage Bibliophile

I Was a Teenage Bibliophile By Pierre V. Comtois This story originally appeared in River Muse: Tales of Lowell and the Merrimack Valley. It’s hard to believe now, but at one time Lowell was a veritable Mecca for lovers of the written word with books and magazines available almost everywhere…

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