Culture

George S. Boutwell, Radical Republican, 1865

In the film “Lincoln,” during the scene in which the roll is being called for votes for and against the adoption of a Constitutional amendment to ban slavery, I couldn’t help wondering who was representing Lowell in the US Congress at that moment. According to the ever-useful “Cotton Was King”…

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“Lincoln” movie review

Taking advantage of an early Thanksgiving dinner with family and a late Patriots game, we ventured to Tyngsboro for a 3:50 pm screening of Lincoln, Steven Spielberg’s new film about our 16th President. If you have any interest in American history or politics, you will immediately judge the movie a…

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‘Desire Lines’

This is a revised version of a poem of the season from my second full-length collection of poems, “Middle Distance,” published in 1989. The setting is drawn from the view across fields in Dracut, off Mammoth Road looking toward Lakeview Avenue.–PM . Desire Lines . At Runaway Hill, where a horse…

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Frank Rich Lives

Frank Rich, illustration by Gary Bedard (web image courtesy of garybedard.blogspot.com)   Read this New York magazine analysis of the election and national political culture by Frank Rich, former columnist at the NYTimes. His acute observations are refreshing compared to the misleading neutrality of so many mainstream media types. To give my Facebook friends…

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Ballot Questions

Besides all the elective offices, there are three ballot questions that will be decided in Massachusetts tomorrow. I’ve made up my mind about two but am still struggling with the third. Question One -“Availability of Motor Vehicle Repair Information” – Full info on this question from the Secretary of State’s…

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