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This poem is from the winter of 1983-84, when I was living in Southern California just south of Laguna Beach. Dana Point was a small coastal town that has since expanded to the extent that there is now a Ritz Carlton there. When I was there it was the bottom edge of…
Read More »These days there continues to be a kerfuffle in certain places when mentions or symbols or images of Christmas make their way into our public schools. While perusing the December 24, 1971 edition of the Lowell Sun, I came across a story about a play presented at Lowell’s Reilly School.…
Read More »“Venice of the North Series: Boott Cotton Warehouse, Eastern Canal” by Richard Marion (c) 2011 See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »Paul McCartney on Tuesday returned to his roots in Liverpool for a concert at the Echo Arena on the dockside along the Mersey River. Read one fan’s report on the concert and hometown atmosphere from the a very active website devoted to McCartney, The Beatles, and their friends. For the obsessives among us,…
Read More »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 town) and Lowell, but, especially as it evolved, the dense array of Christmas decorations in Pawtucketville, between Mammoth Road and…
Read More »One of my favorite Christmas traditions is placing candles in the windows of our home. I still use some triple candles used years ago to light-up the Sweeney home on St. James Street. While the white light is my preference, my mother preferred the soft glow of amber in her…
Read More »This one is for the Bruins fans who watched the B’s shut out the Flyers today, 6-0. “Hockey Players” by Richard Marion (c) 2011 See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »Today December 17 is the birthday of American poet and editor John Greenleaf Whittier – born in Haverhill in 1807. He was also an ardent advocate for the abolition of slavery in the United States. hittier worked in Lowell as an editor for the Middlesex Standard in the mid-1840s. During this time…
Read More »Paul has a terrific review of last night’s visit by iconic performer Billy Joel to UMass Lowell last evening. In his piece, Paul vividly describes how a UML student found his way to the stage to perform a duet of Joel’s song “Leningrad”. Here’s some video of that: [youtube]h39hgyW6fdU[/youtube]
Read More »I drove downtown about 30 minutes ago and stopped near City Hall. In my side mirror, the mid-section of Merrimack Street behind me sparkled. People sometimes say Lowell is a “little big city”—and that’s what it looked like at 5 p.m. with the going-home traffic filling the intersections and the Christmas…
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