Author Archive

Virtual Tour of South Common Part I

The public health-related postponement of recent Lowell Walks led me to post a Virtual Tour of the Acre two weeks ago. Last week, I wrote about the courthouses of Lowell that served as a virtual tour. Today, we visit the South Common. I’ve broken this tour into two parts and…

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A Poem from Kathleen Aponick

Please welcome Kathleen Aponick of Andover to our roster of writers. RPH Postcards from Haggett’s Pond By Kathleen Aponick —after a recurrence of cancer I’m by the water on a path once a railroad bed thinking of trains whizzing by, passengers deep in thought, tense perhaps over work, family problems,…

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Lowell Walks: Virtual Tour of Acre

In response to the public health-related postponement of yesterday’s Lowell Walk on the Irish Acre, here is a virtual tour of a portion of that neighborhood. The text is based on the script I used to lead this tour in April 2016. The tour Dave McKean would have given yesterday…

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Covid-19: March 12 edition

It was 13 years ago this month that I launched this blog. Since then, I have used this site to capture in words the major events of our time (which is why Paul Marion and I called our 2017 best-of-the-blog book History as It Happens). Mindful of that tradition and…

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City Council Update: March 8, 2020

Here are the motions on the agenda for the upcoming March 10, 2020, Lowell City Council meeting: Councilor Mercier – Request City Manager have the proper department address the speeding on East Merrimack Street from 3 PM to 6:30 PM and set up a patrol to alert drivers of the…

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Super Tuesday Results

Here are some results from yesterday’s Democratic Primary elections in Massachusetts and around the country: Massachusetts (with 90% reporting): Joe Biden – 33.7% – 425,543 Bernie Sanders – 26.6% – 336,187 Elizabeth Warren – 21.2% – 268,337 Michael Bloomberg – 11.7% – 148,514 Pete Buttigieg – 2.7% – 33,937 Amy…

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A New Story from a New Contributor

Please welcome Matthew Jones to our roster of contributors: Something Terrible I Stopped Thinking About By Matthew H. Jones A million years ago, when I was nearing my eleventh birthday, I swam in a lake almost completely sheathed by evergreens and old growth. It was man-made with a looming cement…

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