The sculpture titled Agapetime stands on the plaza at the Lower Locks complex behind the main building of Middlesex Community College. The title is a combination of Greek words meaning “love” and “honor.” Artist Dimitri Hadzi (1921 – 2006) created the bronze artwork for Paul and Niki Tsongas in the late 1980s.…
Read More »
“Roadside Picnic” by Richard Marion (c) 2013 See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net This is for every one of the good vacation days in June, July, and August. Let’s hope we have a wonderful fall season.
Read More »
The Mills Weren’t Made of Marble New York Times (September 07, 1992) Youngsters who are made to troop through America’s historic landmarks might reasonably conclude that in the past, rich was typical. Ordinary people are shown mainly as servants, or as slaves, in the sumptuous mansions and town houses that…
Read More »
The Facebook page titled “You Know You’re From Lowell If…” has thousands of members, and sometimes the group “does” history in a crowd-sourcing fashion. For example, somebody will pose a question, and people will jump in with facts and recollections. I tried that recently because I knew poet Seamus Heaney…
Read More »
Poet Tom Sexton is a great friend of this publication. He sent a poem tonight from the other side of North America, where, in his Alaskan home, he got the news about the passing of poet Seamus Heaney of Ireland and the world.—PM . On the Death of Seamus Heaney…
Read More »
The Fall 2013 issue of “Arts and Ideas” from UMass Lowell is available online here. Note the upcoming Lunchtime Lectures at the UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center with speakers such as Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and new media guru Nicco Mele. Reservations are required for these events and the…
Read More »
Conflict in the Middle East has been a constant for as long as I can remember, and the U.S. in on the verge of taking military action again.—PM Gulf War Notebook (1991) Feb. 15. Iraq’s Revolutionary Command Council says Iraq is prepared to withdraw from Kuwait in compliance with U.N.…
Read More »
The following essay was written in 2005 for the Sunrise public affairs radio program of WUML-FM at UMass Lowell. The weekday morning show was broadcast for a few years under the guidance of executive producer Chris Dunlap. I was reminded of the essay by this week’s news reports about August…
Read More »
The National Park Service is 97 years old today. The following is an excerpt from the law that made Lowell, Massachusetts, part of the system of national parks in America.—PM . Public Law 95-290 95th Congress June 5, 1978 (H.R. 11662) Lowell National Historical Park 16 U.S.C. 410cc. An Act…
Read More »
With his brothers William and Josiah, 26-year-old Micah Hildreth joined Capt. Peter Coburn’s Dracut minutemen when they engaged British troops at Lexington and later fought at Bunker Hill and in the siege of Boston in late 1775. He marched with dozens of Dracut men to Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York…
Read More »