Why are we starting to talk about a Kerouac Center for Creativity in Lowell? Aside from the facts that Lowell was founded by inventors and entrepreneurs, that the city is a contemporary hub of the creative economy, and that higher education institutions like UMass Lowell and Middlesex Community College demonstrate the positive results…
The NYT today has an article about artists and creative entrepreneurs working to inject vitality back into Detroit, which has become the default example of a failed Rust-Belt city. Read the story here, and consider buying a copy of the New York Times if you appreciate the reporting.
From the Moses Greeley Parker Lectures schedule, 2010-11 (a selected list of early fall programs): Sunday, Aug 29, 4 pm Boarding House Park, Lowell “Twelfe Night” performed by the New England Shakespeare Festival . Saturday, Oct 2, 1 pm Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, 246 Market St, Lowell “Jack Kerouac…
Dick’s tweets and postings from Charles Cowley’s “Illustrated History of Lowell” (1868) raise the following questions: When is the next general history of Lowell due and what form will it take? In the 19th century, an illustrated history was “high-tech” in its own way. On top of that, Cowley gave us a…
Thanks to the Sun for reporting on community plans to take the public presentation of Jack Kerouac and his literature to the next level in Lowell. The three initiatives being driven by the Cultural Organization of Lowell and its partners, including but not limited to Lowell Celebrates Kerouac, Inc., the National Park Service,…
The federal budget affects cities like Lowell that struggle to provide high levels of public service. Federal funds support many human services programs offered by Community Teamwork and other agencies, Community Development Block Grants, grants for law enforcement, research grants for Middlesex Community College and UMass Lowell, support for small businesses, etc.,…
In the Globe today, author Jane Brox writes about the waning days of the incandescent light bulb, that staple of modern life. Read her essay here, and consider subscribing to the Globe if you appreciate the writing.
The Merrimack Valley’s own Jane Brox earned a full page review of her new book “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light” in the NYT Book Review. A full page review in the Sunday Times is major-league attention. Reviewer Elizabeth Royte spends most of her sentences describing what’s in the book…
Columnist and “talking head” Thomas L. Friedman of the NYT has his fans and his detractors; he turned off a lot of people with his support for the Iraq invasion. The current mess in Afghanistan can be traced in large measure to the bad decision to start a second war in…
Accompanied by world-class guitarist Shane Fontayne and occasional vocals by Amy Correia, the masterful Marc Cohn lifted up the full-house audience at Boarding House Park with his stellar compositions like “Walking in Memphis,” “Silver Thunderbird,” and “True Companion” as well as beautifully rendered covers of a handful of hits from 1970…