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Blood on the Tracks By John Wooding The world is hurting. Tens of thousands are sick and too many have died. We are confronting a catastrophe, and there are few causes for optimism. In all of this, however, there are some small sparks of hope, one of which is our…
Read More »Our new correspondent Sierra DeWalt is in New Zealand on a study abroad program. We asked her to send her thoughts about being overseas during the coronavirus crisis. She is a junior at Chapman University in Orange, California, with a double major in English and Screenwriting. She grew up in…
Read More »A World Crisis Comes to a Small Town in Texas By Frank Wagner UNTIL ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, most people knew about Brenham, Texas, for the ice cream that is made here. Blue Bell Creameries quite rightly promotes their ice cream as the best in the country. The Kruse family…
Read More »The Barbarians Have Arrived After Cavafy by Tom Sexton After a few centuries of patiently waiting outside the city, the barbarians have finally arrived and taken over the Capitol. When did they realize our Republic was rotting from the inside like an overripe pear? Who thought they’d…
Read More »John Wooding of Medford, Mass., is professor emeritus in political science at UMass Lowell and the former provost on campus. His next book is a biography of Richard Gregg, champion of nonviolent practice and the philosophy of simplicity. The book is due from Loom Press this fall. He is an…
Read More »Remembering My Illness-Caused Separation, a Semi-Social Distancing By Marie Sweeney (March 25, 2020) Marie Sweeney, photograph by Kevin Harkins THIS MORNING A TWEET from Dan Rather took me way back in time to Spring 1953. I was in the fifth grade—in Sister Mildred’s class—a double-grade that included some sixth graders…
Read More »Stephen O’Connor’s new novel is This Is No Time to Quit Drinking: Teacher Burnout and the Irish Powers. A House in Carlisle by Stephen O’Connor I’ve often asked myself if I am envious of those who can afford to live in Carlisle, or if it is a better place to…
Read More »This past Sunday I revisited notes from a writing course I attended in Ireland three years ago. At the time America was a few months into a new presidency, and with much talk at home of building a wall, the warm welcome I received abroad was reassuring. Over the past…
Read More »We asked occasional contributor Paul Hudon of Lowell if he would consider sharing entries from the diary that he keeps. In this extraordinary time, we’ve seen other publications whose editors are encouraging certain writers to keep a journal or diary about the virus crisis with observations, reflections, reports on their…
Read More »Stop and Render Aid by Frank Wagner . Every traveler knows about certain points along the road, where the asphalt cracks, where the broken bottles crashed, where the chicken did not make it across. This is where the sun blinds the eyes, or the rain gets too thick that it…
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