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America’s First Poet, she is called. Anne Bradstreet of North Andover, originally part of Andover in the mid-1600’s when she moved to the frontier with her family from Cambridge (then Newtowne). She had sailed from England in 1630 with her husband to avoid religious persecution as Puritans. She was 18…
Read More »This essay was first heard as a radio essay on the “Sunrise” program of WUML, 92.5 FM, at UMass Lowell. Executive producer Chris Dunlap assembled writers in the area for the daily essay feature, a popular component of the morning public affairs show. I shared this essay with rh.com readers last…
Read More »In today’s NYTimes, historian Jill Lepore, who has spoken in Lowell in the Parker Lectures series, writes that Longfellow’s famous poem about Paul Revere was prompted more by the coming Civil War than by the poet’s recollection of the Revolutionary War. Read the article here, and get the NYT if you…
Read More »Read the NYTimes report on the historic vote in the Senate. Having already been passed by members of the US House of Representatives, the bill will now go to President Obama for his signature. Let’s remember the early leadership role played by former Congressman and now UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan on…
Read More »I love this stuff. AOL has a feature on the best images of space taken this year by the Hubble Telescope. “In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 20th year in space, NASA released a new photo of the Carina Nebula, one of the largest star-birthing regions astronomers have seen.…
Read More »99 years ago on Janurary 15, 20,000 people took to the streets of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Why? Prof. Bob Forrant of the UMass Lowell History Dept. sent news about a community meeting to help plan events for the 2012 centennial of the legendary Bread & Roses Strike in Lawrence. The meeting,…
Read More »“On June 29,1995, the U.S. Post Office issued a set of 20 commemorative stamps showing 16 individuals and 4 battles of the Civil War. Official first day of issue ceremonies were held in front of the Cyclorama Center at the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. A pictorial cancellation showing…
Read More »I haven’t dragged economist-columnist Paul Krugman over here for a while because he’s been so ticked-off about everything in Washington, DC, but his NYTimes column today deserves a mention. He blows the whistle on Republican members of a commission charged with investigating what caused “the current financial and economic crisis in the…
Read More »Matt Bai of the NYTimes analyzes the compromise tax bill that is headed to the President’s desk today. Read the opinion piece here, and get the NYT if you want more. Such compromises, ideal or not, are the building blocks of responsible governance. If that makes Mr. Obama some kind of…
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