The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Slain WDBJ reporter Alison Parker’s father, Andy Parker, has become the latest grieving parent calling for gun control. We are all seduced by the notion that simply understanding the impact on real people of the failure to…
John Edward, who teaches economics at Bentley and UMass Lowell, frequently contributes columns on economic issues Actually, President Herbert Hoover was wrong about a lot. He was correct on one topic. When it came to tax policy and the business of America, Coolidge was wrong, but Hoover was right. The…
Jim Peters shares another of this “meanderings” columns: I have been totally driven to explain the early years of the Lowell school system, and I have not taken time to see what is on my mind. My wife, Vicki, who can do anything, is going to help out Jackie…
John Edward, who teaches economics at Bentley and UMass Lowell, frequently contributes columns on economic issues. The Boston 2024 Summer Olympics are dead. A lot of people are disappointed. Some take it as a sign of failure. We need to embrace the positive that can come from this. We can…
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Most weekend mornings, a small group of men gathers at the front table of Peet’s coffee in Newton Center to gab about breaking news, politics and whatever else catches their fancy. It’s hard to imagine the gathering without one…
Yesterday Bill and I were pleased to be a part of the celebratory reception for newly-elected UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney. Despite the severe weather alerts, wind and downpours, a few hundred people, most from UMass Lowell family with some community partners joining them, gathered at University Crossing in Ed and…
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Walter Palmer’s pleasure in life is apparently hunting and killing large animals, legally or illegally. In the last few days, millions of people around the world have come to know that the American “sportsman” has slain Zimbabwe national treasure Cecil,…
Here’s one more outside reading option, the recent “Letter from Iran” by Robin Wright in The New Yorker magazine. I found this helpful in trying to understand what it is like day to day undernearth the bombastic headlines and political artillery shelling here in the U.S. I know very little…
I’m not a huge fan of Thomas Friedman, opinion writer of the New York Times, but his column today offers a useful overview of the state of affairs in the Middle East. Read it here, and get the NYT if you want more of this kind of writing. While this…
State Senator Eileen Donoghue was an early and vigorous supporter of the Boston Olympic bid. Near the start of the process I had a conversation with her in which she made a compelling case for the long term benefits to the entire region – especially Lowell – that hosting the…