Author Archive

A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day

A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day By Stephen O’Connor “I never heard a singer as good as Liam, ever. He was the best ballad singer I ever heard in my life, and still is.” —Bob Dylan, 1986 Somewhere around 1982, not long after the noon hour on a Saturday,…

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1943 Lowell City Council Election

More than 34,000 Lowell residents voted in the November 4, 1942, state election. Besides selecting state officers and local representatives, the people of Lowell also chose by a margin of 16,477 to 14,135 to replace the existing Plan B form of government (a strong mayor and city councilors both elected…

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UML Writing Contest Ends June 30

This post originally ran on March 12, 2021, but it’s being repeated here as a reminder of the approaching contest deadline.   ATLANTIC CURRENTS II Enter Your Original Writing—Compete for Cash Prizes Attention, writers! Alumni and students of UMass Lowell and University College Cork are invited to submit original prose…

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Boarding School Blues: Chapter 14

Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Ch. 14: Back to the Fold Mother and daughters weren’t thinking of the fleeting minutes. Instead, they were lingering at the picnic table scraping their paper cups with flat wooden spoons, extracting every last drop of melted ice cream. Maman started examining her eldest…

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A Poem by Sean Casey

This poem originally appeared in Origin (Bob Arnold, editor). To Florence By Sean Casey Flossy, Florence, Mrs. MacKenzie— this is Sean Casey, son of Michael and Kathy Casey of 9 Robandy Road, your neighbor since 1984. I wanted to let you know this past Sunday, January 14, 2007, the Patriots…

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Juneteenth and Lowell

In honor of Juneteenth, here are some snippets of African-American history with Lowell connections: Harry “Bucky” Lew, born in Lowell in 1884, was the first African-American to play professional basketball. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached in Lowell on April 12, 1953, at the First United Baptist Church on Church…

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Casino Tales

Casino Tales By David Daniel Covid Restrictions Easing, Area Casinos Look For Jackpot – The Boston Globe 5/23/21 1. Christina’s Other World The elevator on the casino level is crowded when the Wagmans board. “Thirty, please,” Neil Wagman says. A woman standing near the panel pokes it. “The VIP lounge,”…

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2019 City Council Election by Precinct

Here are the overall results of the 2019 Lowell City Council election followed by a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of each candidate’s vote. Rita Mercier – 5202 Vesna Nuon – 4830 John Drinkwater – 4796 Rodney Elliott – 4745 Sokhary Chau – 4329 John Leahy – 4188 David Conway – 3745 William…

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