Menu
Hurricane Bob heading for New England (1991) In August 1991, Hurricane Bob roared through the Merrimack Valley in synch with an attempted coup in the USSR that eventually led to the Soviet Union’s downfall. I was at my desk listening to news and writing in my notebook. I later published…
Read More »A message on my home answering machine alerted me that the book I had ordered had arrived. The call was just in time because even though I had forgotten the title of the book, I knew the Pollard Memorial Library book club meeting was next week (Thursday, September 1 at…
Read More »Chancellor Marty Meehan has invited the UMass Lowell community and the public to join him and guest speakers to honor members of the campus community lost on 9/11/01 on Thursday, Sept. 8, at 11 a.m., at the site of the UMass Lowell 9/11 Memorial. The ceremony will feature a rededication…
Read More »The front page of the “Home” section of the NYTimes today has an article headlined “The Jack Kerouac of Junk,” which is a profile of the co-star of the popular “American Pickers” weekly program on the History Channel (5.5 million people watch). The “antiques” dealer who started rescuing bicyles and…
Read More »The Moses Greeley Parker Lectures’ new season has already begun. Click here for the 2011-12 schedule. The programs are free and open to the public thanks to the generosity of Mr Parker many decades ago. The series began in 1917. The Lunchtime Lectures require reservations because of food service planning.…
Read More »Burning of Washington 1814 On this day August 24, 1814 British forces invaded Washington, D.C. and set fire to the Capitol and the White House. Most members of Congress and other officials fled from DC when they got word that British forces under General Robert Ross overwhelmed American militiamen at…
Read More »Warren Buffett got the ball rolling in this country with his NYTimes op-ed piece calling for higher taxes on the super-rich—really, going back to brackets that existed not long ago. And now bbc.com is reporting that some ultra-wealthy citizens of France are calling on their government to tax them more…
Read More »Fort Monroe today, with the city of Hampton, Va., beyond it. The star-shaped citadel is the Civil War-era fortress. The Sesquicentennial Remembrance of the American Civil War has engendered a tremendous groundswell of grass roots preservation activism. Many of these activists are hoping to see a new role for historically…
Read More »“Blue Carnival” by Richard Marion (c) 2011 See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »I can’t say I recall hearing the names Nick Ashford or Jerry Leiber before seeing their respective obituaries this week, but I certainly recognized many of the songs they independently wrote. Working his co-composer and then wife, Valerie Simpson, Ashford’s songs include Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Your Precious Love,…
Read More »