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January is National Mentoring Month. I’m so thankful for those who mentored me… first it was the nuns – particularly Sister Mary of Charity, GNSH at the Immaculate (she was from Lowell – a Welch, I think) who saw my potential as a would-be teacher… then it was women professors at Lowell…
Read More »On this day – January 2, 1960 – appearing before the press in Washington, DC in the Senate Caucus Room – Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts – announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. Despite his youth and being seen by some as lacking experience in foreign affairs…
Read More »Here is my own eclectic list of important things that happened in 2011. 1. The local political lineup changed considerably in 2011. Steve Panagiotakos, who was elected to the Lowell School Committee in 1989, the Massachusetts House in 1992, the State Senate in 1996 and had most recently served as…
Read More »South Common Haiku Set . Red bow on blue door sunlit beyond the frost park on a new-year day. . —Paul Marion (c) 2012
Read More »This one is for everyone who will be ordering Chinese food for New Year’s Eve. “Take-Out” by Richard Marion (c) 2011 See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »Niagara Falls and Pawtucket Falls. You wouldn’t think they have a lot in common because of the vast difference in scale, but each of these water features is a defining element of the community that grew where the water rushed by. Read what’s being talked about in Niagara Falls on…
Read More »Last night I wrote about Lowell City Council inaugurations from 1966, 1970, 1990, 1992 and 1994. While the day should be a happy one for all involved, more often than not the election of the city’s mayor, which is the first act of the council after taking the oath of…
Read More »Places gather meaning from the names we give to them. It’s a basic human impulse to give a name to a place. The original gestures pass into history and are sometimes overlooked as we live day to day. People who are new to a place may not know the source of the…
Read More »As talk heats up about the nominees for the Golden Globe and Oscar awards, it seems timely that Mass Moments remind us of the early days of a famous Hollywood movie mogel Louis B. Meyer. The roots of his success can be found here in the Merrimack Valley – in…
Read More »My dad was elected to the Lowell City Council in 1965 and served continuously until 2005 – a term of service that spanned 40 years, 20 elections and 20 inauguration ceremonies. I think I made it to 18 of the inaugurations, missing 1980 and 1982 while stationed in Germany during…
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