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On Facebook, some people on the Lowell Live Feed and Innovative Cities group pages have been writing about the prospects for renewal of the historic Smith Baker Center, a former Congregational Church dating from the 19th century, across from the public library, Pollard Memorial Library, on Merrimack Street. The City…
Read More »In another life, my father may have been a high-school history teacher, in line with his passion for the stories of the past and current events. But in his own life he was a wool sorter and wool grader (a step up), a tradesman in the front end of the…
Read More »Our thoughts and prayers are with those suffering in Lowell tonight. To help survivors of the Branch Street fire and the families of our seven neighbors who died in the fire, donations can be made by sending a check or money order to “Branch Street Fire Victims Relief Fund,”Jeanne D’Arc…
Read More »Henry and John Thoreau took themselves on a two-week boat trip up the Concord and Merrimack Rivers at the end of the summer in 1839. Henry wrote a book about their adventure, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, published in 1849; he paid for it to be published…
Read More »This weekend I finished reading a book that I ordered several months ago after learning about the author, Englishman Geoff Dyer, in a Paris Review interview. The book is The Missing of the Somme, published in 1994, but which has resurfaced in discussions this summer because of the centennial of World…
Read More »In today’s NYTimes, opinion-writer Frank Bruni profiles an unusual politician, the long-long-time mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, Joe Riley, who talks about what makes a city tick, civic psychology, diversity, nonpartisan public administration, problem-solving, justice, the arts and excellence, and more. Read the column here, and get the NYT if…
Read More »On the Cultural Road: City of World Culture, Strategies for the Creative Economy in Lowell, Massachusetts A lot of thought, effort, and money were invested in developing this road map for cultural development several years go. The first Lowell Cultural Plan (1986) was at least a ten-year campaign. That report was revised…
Read More »From history.com On this day in 1826, former Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who were once fellow Patriots and then adversaries, die on the same day within five hours of each other. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were the last surviving members of the original American revolutionaries who had…
Read More »Note to Lowell cultural sector and marketing planners: $50M raised by the ICA in Boston. Add that to the recent expansion in the Boston museum network (MFA, ICA, Gardner) and you get a muscular, world-class attraction in the arts less than one hour away. It was always there, but now…
Read More »The South Common pool yesterday opened for the summer and not a day too early for the heat wave. More than 200 swimmers enjoyed the sparkling cool water. Pool hours are 12 noon to 6 pm. The City staff and lifeguards do a first-rate job on site. I learned that the…
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