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The late Phil Riley of Lowell was an English teacher and cross-country and track coach at Stoneham High School for 22 years. His wife, Johanna C. Bohan Riley, recently spoke to me about his deep affection for Lowell and literature, particularly poetry. He passed away about a year ago. I asked…
Read More »While at the reception following the funeral for former Lowell National Historical Park Supt. Sandy Walter today, someone at my table received a message via Blackberry that Geraldine Ferraro had died. One of Sandy Walter’s first public events in Lowell was the dedication of the “Homage to Women” sculpture by Mico Kaufman…
Read More »My uncle Frank died this week. Francis “Pinky” Roy was my late mother’s youngest brother. He lived for years in New Hampshire after an adventurous life that took him from the Centralville neighborhood of Lowell to Europe in World War II to California, Florida, and other states. He was a meat-cutter by trade,…
Read More »The Kerouac House (writer in residence program in Orlando, Fla.) posted a link on Facebook to a video of singer Katy Perry talking about her new song “Firework,” which she says was inspired by the writing of Jack Kerouac in “On the Road.” The source link is at fabulousbuzz.com. Katy Perry performed at the…
Read More »Don’t forget the fab fabs band BeatleJuice is coming to Lowell Memorial Auditorium on Thursday, March 31, a special program of Middlesex Community College. Here’s a taste of music and words from thebeatles.com
Read More »The Sun today has details on the funeral arrangements and services for Sandy Walter, past Superintendent of Lowell National Historical Park. Here is the link. Note that donations can be made in her name to Gossnell Memorial Hospice in Maine or to the new Sandy Walter Memorial Folk Festival Fund…
Read More »We’re going down a bad road when politicians like the Maine governor start removing images of labor history like the mural in the Maine state Department of Labor office in Augusta that he ordered to be removed. Read the article from the Lewiston, Me., newspaper, the Sun Journal here. The Governor’s office spokesman said unnamed…
Read More »To support communal feelings, a nation must seek to preserve certain cherished institutions as well as engage in creative innovation; it must value collective responsibility as well as individual incentive; it must espouse goals over and above those of economic self-aggrandizement. If a commitment to the ends of economic individualism…
Read More »F. Bradford Morse Distinguished Lecture & Dinner Discussion, April 7, 5.30 pm, reception; 6.30 pm, dinner & lecture. Join keynote speaker Roger Cressey, a graduate of UMass Lowell, whose vast knowledge of security and counterterrorism has led him from the halls of UMass Lowell to the White House, for a cocktail…
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