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Former City Manager Charles Gallagher was an active participant in a writing program at Willow Manor Nursing Home in 1992 that was led by Bill Roberts, now a professor emeritus of English at UMass Lowell. Gallagher was a university student at the time, assisting Prof. Roberts. The community writing project was…
Read More »The following is the first of a series of excerpts from books about Lowell that I will share in this new year. These brief passages about people, places, and happenings remind us of our community’s rich history and may help us notice the soon-to-be historic elements of our experience right…
Read More »“City Hall” by Richard Marion, 1983 drawing, (c) 2013 See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »Dust of Snow By Robert Frost (1874–1963) . The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And saved some part Of a day I had rued. . According to the Robert Frost encyclopedia online, this poem was first…
Read More »Joe Donahue (Joseph Donahue of Duke University in North Carolina and the literary constellation Lowelliana) has a poem in the Dec. 24 issue of The Nation magazine, one of the few remaining nationally distributed publications that regularly make room for poets–and thus a fantastic location for widespread viewing of literary compositions.…
Read More »I don’t agree with the opinions in the regular essays by Ross Douthat in the NYTimes, but he makes a useful point in his new column when he encourages citizens to at least try to read or listen to political and policy views that come from way over on the other…
Read More »Is New Year’s Eve the biggest Chinese-take-out night of the year in Lowell? What is your favorite Chinese take-out place? “Take-Out” by Richard Marion (c) 2012 See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »1. Lincoln 2. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen 3. Skyfall 4. Argo 5. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 6. Men in Black 3
Read More »A Christmas Eve memory in this excerpt from the 1957 essay “Not Long Ago Joy Abounded at Christmas” by Jack Kerouac: “. . . Christmas was observed all-out in my Catholic French-Canadian environment in the 1930s much as it is today in Mexico. . . .When we were old enough it was…
Read More ». “The Christmas Fruitcake” by Henri Marchand . I think there is no yuletide tradition so endlessly lampooned and so deliciously mocked as the once esteemed fruitcake. Everyone loves chestnuts roasting on an open fire and even plum pudding gets an annual endorsement by the beloved Cratchits, but mention fruitcake…
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