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To Be the Best City of Its Size
There was a time not that long ago when it was common to hear a statement that was used to sum up the purpose of the community’s manifold efforts to move Lowell forward—efforts in the public and private sectors, efforts involving vast financial investments or genuine sweat equity, efforts involving…
Read More »$1.3 M for Concord River Greenway
Outstanding accomplishment by the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust in partnership with the City of Lowell planning department staff, our delegation at the Statehouse, and Gov. Patrick’s administration. $1.3 million in funding to complete the Concord River Greenway land improvements and pathways. The LP&CT has been visionary and persistent in…
Read More »Peter Aucella Recognized for Outstanding Service
Peter Aucella, Assistant Superintendent at Lowell National Historical Park recently received the Department of the Interior’s Superior Service Award for his 24 years of vision, planning, and efforts associated with the Lowell Summer Music Series and the development of Boarding House Park. Each year, the series draws some 30,000 people…
Read More »‘A Hundred Nights of Winter’
Thanks to journalist John Collins and the Sun newspaper for reporting on artist Vassilios “Bill” Giavis’s gift of a print of one of his classic paintings to the Town of Dracut. The original painting was based on a poem of mine. Read the story here. A Hundred Nights of Winter…
Read More »‘Oranges at Christmas’
This essay was first heard on the former “Sunrise” radio program of WUML, 91.5 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 readers of this blog for…
Read More »‘Milkman’ by Tom Sexton
On this snowy night, from Alaska comes a poem with a snowy owl, courtesy of our desk in the West manned by Tom Sexton. Here’s a Lowell memory for our readers. For those who don’t know, Tom Sexton is a distinguished alumnus of Lowell High School and former Poet Laureate…
Read More »‘The Christmas Fruitcake: An Ageless Tradition” by Henri Marchand
The Christmas Fruitcake: An Ageless Tradition by Henri Marchand A note from the author: Like its subject this essay has been around, appearing first as a Sunrise radio essay, re-wrapped as a “Guest Column” piece in the Sun and showing up on this blog for the past few years. At…
Read More »‘Patterns of a Prayer Town’
Along with Henri Marchand’s “fruitcake” essay, the re-appearance of this poem has become part of the Christmas tradition for this blog. 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…
Read More »What Linda Biehl Learned from Nelson Mandela: A UMass Lowell Greeley Peace Scholar Story
Linda Biehl of California was the first Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies at UMass Lowell in 2008. She was on campus and in the community for three weeks, meeting people, talking, sharing her remarkable, inspiring, and challenging story. Her daughter was a casualty in the sometime violent struggle to end…
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