Author Archive
Tex-Mas Eve 2-night at Worthen to Help MV Food Bank
Musican Dave Norton sent a reminder about a good cause event tonight. Worthen House – Lowell’s Oldest Tavern & Restaurant 141 Worthen St. Lowell, MA 01852 (978) 459-0300 – “this one is for Ed!” Thursday 12/23 8:30 to closing. The line-up is a who’s who of Lowell’s music industry. 8:45…
Read More »Gail Collins Gives Prez, Kerry, Lugar Stars for Christmas
Read NYTimes columnist Gail Collins today and feel good about our government leaders, at least some of them, working together to get some stuff done and move the sprawling nation forward a few feet just as we get set for another yearly starting line. Read her opinion here, and get…
Read More »See Lowell Filmmaker Jim Higgins’s Prize Film Online
Our blogging colleague Kad Barma called attention to this item: Lowell filmmaker and photographer James “Jim” Higgins won the Grand Jury Prize in the 2010 Screaming Ant Film Festival, which is a huge deal even though some of us have not heard of this annual online festival. His film “A Fairy’s Tale”…
Read More »‘Patterns of a Prayer Town’
I wrote the first draft of this poem in 1976, and worked on it on and off for a long time. I had in mind the extensive outdoor lighting displays in Dracut (the town) and Lowell, but especially as it evolved the dense array of Christmas decorations in Pawtucketville, between Mammoth Road and…
Read More »Globe reports on Mass. losing US House seat
Read the boston.com article here and see US Rep. Niki Tsongas’s comments.
Read More »Dec. 31 Deadline for Appleton Mills Artists Residences
This reminder was sent by Jim Dyment of VYU arts magazine and the Whistler House Museum of Art: “Another neighborhood comes back to life as the Appleton Mills building on Jackson Street nears completion. It’s been under construction for months and this project is one more step in the process…
Read More »Hot Last Minute Gift Idea
The word downtown is that Steve O’Connor’s collection of short stories, “Smokestack Lightning,” is one of the hot local gift items for last minute shoppers. It’s a little big to go in a stocking, but fits nicely under the tree. Available at Barnes and Noble, Brew’d, Dharma Buns, Welle’s Emporium,…
Read More »Anne Bradstreet of North Andover, December 1643
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 »Oranges at Christmas
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…
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