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Magnesium Nights and Hummingbird Mornings (Isolation Scenes III) By Doug Sparks One: Landlines On Thursday night, I got a call from my mother’s assisted living facility. She is running a fever, I was told. They are testing her, again. My mom has had dementia for over a decade. When it…
Read More »Ill Wind by Jacquelyn Malone The wind whines wild and compulsive, spreading instability across the land. Shamelessly it contradicts itself, whipping—demented—in one direction, then reversing itself along an already trashed path. No one can forecast a steady state: the wind, a pompous blowhard, has no firm compass, diving into low…
Read More »Historian Paul Hudon sent us the latest from his Diary in the Time of Coronavirus. This week he invites readers into his room overlooking Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River. Diary in the Time of Coronavirus By Paul Hudon *26 April, 2020 Lord Manor, where I write this, sits on…
Read More »In mid-March I made some observations about the pandemic and how it was affecting life around us. Back then – on March 12 – school was a day away from being cancelled and no restrictions had been imposed on businesses (they came that Sunday, March 15, when Governor Baker closed…
Read More »On the Thirtieth Day of Isolation (Covid-19) Marie Louise St. Onge Just over four weeks now, no store no pharmacy no haircut no meetings no movies no museum no protests no handshakes no hugs no gym simply solo walks along the shore. Respite indeed when I pull in…
Read More »Jack McDonough, a returning contributor to our blog, lives in Tewksbury, Mass. His writing is included in the anthology of the first ten years of RichardHowe.com, HISTORY AS IT HAPPENS: CITIZEN BLOGGERS IN LOWELL, MASS. (Loom Press, 2017). For many years he wrote and edited publications in the UMass Lowell…
Read More »This is the second week of “virus” diary entries by Paul Hudon of Lowell, scholar and teacher and keen observer of the locale and wider world. He is the author of The Valley & Its People: An Illustrated History of the Lower Merrimack and All in Good Time, a book…
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Read More »Isolation Scenes II By Doug Sparks ON AN EARLY Saturday morning in April, I wake up to snowfall. The sight saddens me, because I know how many people are looking to the earth for some transcendent message that will help make sense of our current situation. And it saddens me…
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