Legendary Lowell Sun newspaperman Charles G. Sampas called Joseph V. Kopycinski “tireless” in his work on behalf of his school and city, according to Archivist Tony Sampas of the UMass Lowell Libraries. Tony brought to our attention an impressive page on the UML website recognizing a “Renaissance Man,” one of…
‘Ste. Therese”: An Essay by Paul Marion The second issue of Resonance, a bilingual online journal at UMaine-Orono , has an essay of mine about growing up as a French Canadian-American Catholic. The issue has familiar names, including two others linked to Lowell, Emilie-Noelle Provost, with a short story, “The…
One of our regular contributors, Chath pierSath, is back in Bolton, Mass., after several months in Cambodia. We have light snow today, but with the mild weather this past week Chath was out pruning on the farm where he works. He sent this poem about the seasonal work on the…
Today June 23, 2019 marked the opening of the 49th Annual Celebration Lowell Franco-American Week. Founded in 1970, the celebration emphasizes the Franco-American contributions to the City of Lowell. A variety of events from the City Hall flag raising and traditional dancing to a supper, family Bingo and a Soiree…
On this beautiful Saturday Election Day, 17.6% or 3949 of the voters in Tewksbury turned out to decide two strongly challenged races – a 3-way race for Board of Selectman with the Town Moderator Jayne Wellman Miller challenging two incumbent Selectmen – longtime member Todd Johnson and well-regarded member Anne…
Sarah Sousa: A Fruitful Creative Path I met Sarah Sousa a few years ago at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival in Salem, Mass. She was there with friends from Perugia Press, an independent publishing company in Florence, Mass. Perugia publishes one title a year, a first or second book by a…
Susan April: The Writing Adds Up I’m interested in what writers do to make a living while they do their best to create high quality poems, fiction, plays, and works of nonfiction. Very few literary writers are employed full-time at the keyboard. Journalists, technical writers in business, advertising copywriters, and…
Kassie Dickinson Rubico and Resi Polixa: On Their Writing Trails Our series of year-end updates on writers from the area continues with a past contributor to the blog and a writer who is new to our publication. We’ve had an enthusiastic response to the series both in this space and…
Matt Kraunelis & the Grey Court Poets of Methuen Matt Kraunelis believes in the power of poetry to make a community more vibrant. I’ve known Matt since his days as a founding member of the Robert Frost Foundation in Lawrence, which has brought poets like Seamus Heaney and Robert Pinsky…
Jay Atkinson: Writer in Motion When I asked Jay Atkinson what he’s been up to this year, he gave me a rich summary that included a song-bite: “Take what you need and leave the rest . . .” Jay lives in Methuen, Mass., and Lowell has been one of his…