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Frank Bruni’s column for tomorrow’s NYTimes covers the encouraging trend of city greening, from New York City to places around the country. Read his thoughts here, and get the NYT at home or online if you want more of this kind of writing. This is “Flowering City” stuff in the…
Read More »My wife and I enjoyed a sunny day in Boston this week and left the city convinced that it is looking as good as it ever has. Our destination was the waterfront, Fan Pier, where we expected to go to the Institute for Contemporary Art—but the weather was simply too…
Read More »In honor of the gardens all over the city, a summer composition from the 1980s. “Tomatoes Box” by Richard Marion (c) 2012. See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »“The Worker” by Brian Herrmann At the forefront of Lowell’s historical gateway downtown resides a sculpture titled “The Worker.” This work, constructed in 1985 by Elliot and Ivan Schwartz, depicts an Irish canal worker widening the canal ways of Lowell. This work, along with several others, was placed into the…
Read More »NYTimes opinion writer David Brooks keeps me reading his column because I appreciate his thoughtfulness if not his core analysis. Today’s column deals with inequalities among American children as described in recent scholarly research. After painting a picture that should worry everyone, he winds up with a cliche ending that blames President…
Read More »Congratulations to the Bread & Roses Centennial committee in Lawrence for a massive success in the use of social media. On Facebook, the organization’s page has 1,081 followers (LIKES), which is an extraordinary number for a local history initiative. This is not Ashton Kutcher in Hollywood, but all the folks working…
Read More »On August 31, 1837, an important man from the Greater Merrimack River Valley spoke to members of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass. His address that day is considered by some to be ‘America’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence.’ Here is Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ‘The American…
Read More »“Blue Carnival” by Richard Marion (c) 2012 For carnival, fireworks, and festival season, an image from downtown Lowell in the 1980s. See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net Prints of all artwork are available from the artist.
Read More »If I had a “bucket list,” seeing John Sebastian perform live once more would have been on it until last night. Check. The highly entertaining Sebastian has been a favorite of mine since the Lovin’ Spoonful broke into the record charts in the mid-1960s with songs like “Do You…
Read More »“River Board” by Richard Marion (c) 2012 The image was painted many years ago on a cabinet door found by the artist along the Merrimack River. See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
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