Author Archive

Common Cold

For the first time this month the morning air was cold enough to hurt your hands if you spent more than five minutes outside. I didn’t wear gloves when I took our pup across the street. My charge was in no rush, of course, because his twice-a-day jaunts are great adventures. We…

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Joel-Lowell Rhymes

Just back from an inspiring “performance” by Billy Joel in Durgin Concert Hall on UMass Lowell’s South Campus. For two hours the music mega-star engaged in a lively conversation with the audience, using a green laser pointer to call on this or that eager person in a sea of hands.…

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Christmas Lights

I drove downtown about 30 minutes ago and stopped near City Hall. In my side mirror, the mid-section of Merrimack Street behind me sparkled. People sometimes say Lowell is a “little big city”—and that’s what it looked like at 5 p.m. with the going-home traffic filling the intersections and the Christmas…

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The Power of Place

I thought of Lowell and the power of “place” to speak to us through sights that are beautiful, stirring, wondrous, or calming when I read NYTimes writer Frank Bruni’s essay this morning—about visiting past homes and the importance of seeing what’s in front of us. Read his Op-Ed piece here,…

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Pres. Candidate Huntsman’s Daughters at UMass Lowell, 12/19

These young women have drawn attention for their creative campaigning for their dad, including their spoof of the Herman (Who?) Cain man-smoking-a-cigarette political ad. After Mitt Romney’s $10,000 bet with Tex Perry at last night’s debate and Newt’s splurging surge, maybe Jon Huntsman will finally get his 15 minutes in the GOP…

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