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The Globe’s writers have stepped up their game for the crime saga unfolding in real time in Boston. In today’s paper, commentators James Carroll and Kevin Cullen have their say about the James Whitey Bulger horror show. Carroll has a masterful essay that puts the crime story in perspective, both…
Read More »In today’s NYTimes, opinion writer Charles Blow thinks about poverty. Read his column here, and get the NYT if you want more. I’ve never heard of unemployed people voting to limit how many weeks they’ll be eligible for unemployment checks or people without medical insurance voting to deny themselves access…
Read More »In 1996-97, there was a lot of activity in Lowell around a concept called “Lowell: The Flowering City.” At the Gorham Street/Back Central branch of Enterprise Bank you can see a tall sign with the logo from the project, a gesture meant to help shift the nickname of the city…
Read More »Rain List Poem . rain rainbow rainbow cactus rainbow trout rain check raincoat raindrop rainfall rain gauge Rainier III Rainier, Mount rainmaker rainmaking rainspout rainsquall rainstorm rain-wash rainwater rainwear rainy rainy day Rainy Lake, Ont. . —The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1970 edition)
Read More »In today’s NYTimes, columnist Tim Egan offers a eulogy for Clarence Clemons and tells what it meant for him to see a black guy and a white guy making music together. Read his essay here, and get the NYT if you want more.
Read More »Mediabistro.com reports that Penguin Books’ new app for Jack Kerouac’s legendary novel “On the Road” is selling well and ranked at #4 on Apple’s iPad apps list. Read the news bulletin here.
Read More »I’m thinking about stories this morning, when media waves around here are dominated by reports about the capture of criminal Whitey Bulger near Los Angeles. What about all the people whose lives are entwined with this man’s almost stranger-than-fiction life story? Consider the trail of death and destruction he dragged behind…
Read More »The Doors played the Commodore Ballroom in Lowell on August 15, 1967. Chris Simondet of The Doors site on Facebook provided that information to me. He said the show is a “phantom show” in The Doors chronology of performances and that nobody knows or remembers much about it other than…
Read More »It’s Sustainability Week in Lowell, and although we don’t live on the coast in Lowell our state is a coastal state—and everything is connected even if you live in Kansas. There’s a new report from international scientists sounding the alarm about threats to ocean life and possible severe consequences if conditions…
Read More »Poet and environmental activist Gary Snyder returned to his alma mater Reed College for the school’s centennial. He was profiled recently by Jeff Baker of The Oregonian newspaper for oregonlive.com. Snyder was one of my poet-heroes when I started out on the writing trail. He’s 81 years old and still traveling…
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