The NYT on July 16 reported that Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen will donate half of his $13.5 billion of personal wealth to various charitable causes. His announcement is tied to a nationwide challenge by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to the mega-rich, asking them to pledge half their fortunes to…
Better known for his drawings, paintings, and ceramics, my brother Richard has been putting some of his recollections and observations into words lately. Following is a “movie memory” that he wrote with Suzanne Cromwell in mind. He refers to her as “Suzanne Movie” for her work with the Lowell Film…
“Brilliant” author Jane Brox said “thanks” for the blog post about her book the other day and also said that she was “as surprised as anyone to see the mention [in TIME magazine].” She credited her publicist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, whom she says is treating her very well. Jane noted that there’s…
There’s an Op-Ed in today’s Globe by Carlo Rotella, a professor of American Studies at Boston College, that uses Lowell’s Micky Ward as the prime example of how popular culture, mostly in the form of movies, has embraced Massachusetts as a place where “traditional forms of masculine virtue still thrive.”…
We know her. Jane Brox, now living in Maine, but who will always be connected to Dracut and the Merrimack Valley, has a new book, “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light,” which is featured this week as one of TIME magazine’s Short List “Picks for the Week.” Here’s the recommendation: Jane…
Writer Jay Atkinson of Methuen reviewed the new volume of letters by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg for the Boston Globe. Jay’s most recent book is “Paradise Road: Jack Kerouac’s Highway and My Search for America.” Read the review on boston.com here, and consider subscribing to the Globe if you…
John Wooding of UMass Lowell and the COOL Board of Directors is a regular at the Lowell Summer Music Series. He sent us this instant review of Joan Armatrading’s performance at Boarding House Park last night, which sparked a cross-Atlantic memory for him. —PM “Another great night at Boarding House…
The Boston Herald is carrying an AP story on-line this afternoon asking this question – “Didn’t get enough of the World Cup?” An annual World Cup-style soccer tournament aimed at fostering better relationships among Massachusetts immigrant groups is set to begin next month in Lowell and is expanding to include…
CHICAGO by Carl Sandburg Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders: They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen…
The NY Times’ Maureen Dowd continues to challenge the moral authority of the Vatican on the issue of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy. In her latest column, she condemns the self-righteousness of the Vatican leadership that she sees on display in the recent statement on Church policy about sexual assault. She has written several columns on…
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