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In Lowell, there’s a debate about the future of the Pawtucket Falls Dam. There’s another debate about allowing alcohol to be served at a business adjacent to a temple. Behind the discussion are people’s feelings about the power of place, the meaning of certain special places. The concept of place is all…
Read More »Read this Toronto Star report about this month’s celebration of The Beatles in their hometown of Liverpool, England. The events include a special version of the annual Mathew Street Music Festival (Aug. 29-30), which is billed as “Europe’s largest free music festival.” That description should sound familiar to Lowell Folk Festival people,…
Read More »Support local businesses. Can I say this more plainly in the lingering Great Recession? I perambulated the immediate neighborhood late this afternoon, from the JAM district to the edge of Back Central and back to the South Common Historic District. I’d been meaning for a while to go to the Brazilian “bakery…
Read More »(Web photo courtesy of Grand Rapids Press) This isn’t a photo from last night’s show at Boarding House Park (The Lowell Summer Music Series), but it will help anyone who missed the so-far show of the year picture what the stage looked like. At one point, Lyle had 15 musicians…
Read More »The recent posts about digging for Irish roots in the Acre and Hollywood gossip about the Ward movie “The Fighter” reminded me of Tom Sexton’s poem from his book “A Clock With No Hands.”—PM . Lowell’s Irish Micky Ward . Round 2. Ward’s left eye is already cut, but he…
Read More »An apple a day is the right thing. An apple plus a carrot is even better. Writing in the NYTimes, Natasha Singer looks into “prescription produce” and the sickness prevention benefits of real food, i.e., fruit and vegetables. Massachusetts public policy gets high praise in this article. Lowell and the surrounding towns offer farmers’…
Read More »The Lowell Quilt Festival continues at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, the NE Quilt Museum, and other locations around the city on Friday (10 am – 6 pm) and Saturday (10 am – pm). For the full schedule and event details, visit www.nequiltmuseum.org
Read More »The Globe and boston.com include an occasional feature about travels called “Passport” that is written by people in the Boston area, a kind of citizen journalism feature. This article by young student Akshan deAlwis describes a recent trip to Cambodia. The focus is a visit to the Angkor Association of the…
Read More »While we are talking about books, here is the link to an excerpt from Neil Miller’s new book “Banned in Boston” from Beacon Press, which appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine this past Sunday. The book delves into the history of the notorious and powerful Watch and Ward Society that…
Read More »I’m not the first to say this is a powerful book. Filkins won awards from the National Book Critics Circle and NYTimes Book Review. It was a best-seller in hardcover. I lent my first copy to someone, and it went into the book-loan twilight zone, which is why I bought…
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