As part of my ongoing Virtual Lowell Walks series, I have created two new videos on Civil War Lowell. The first, called Lords of the Loom, covers the conflict in Lowell between the interests of the city’s economy which was entirely dependent on raw cotton picked by enslaved Africans in…
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For Andover’s 350th Anniversary in 1996, Julie Mofford wrote a one-woman show based on Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’ Civil War short stories and her autobiography “Chapters From A Life,” with Julie’s daughter, Lauren, portraying the author. Julie also scripted “The Tenth of January,” a play based on Phelps’ story about the…
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We are all hoping to get through to the other side of this virus crisis. We don’t know what the conditions will be. More than 16 million people have filed for unemployment benefits–the real number of jobless people is much higher. There is much pain and suffering ahead in terms…
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The False God of Dow by George Chigas At the height of Cambodia’s economic and military power during the Angkor Period (ninth to fifteenth centuries), when a drought or disease threatened the kingdom’s prosperity and security, the ruler, believed to be semi-divine, a deva-raja or god-king, would summon his high…
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Our new correspondent Sierra DeWalt is in New Zealand on a study abroad program. We asked her to send her thoughts about being overseas during the coronavirus crisis. She is a junior at Chapman University in Orange, California, with a double major in English and Screenwriting. She grew up in…
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A World Crisis Comes to a Small Town in Texas By Frank Wagner UNTIL ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, most people knew about Brenham, Texas, for the ice cream that is made here. Blue Bell Creameries quite rightly promotes their ice cream as the best in the country. The Kruse family…
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The Barbarians Have Arrived After Cavafy by Tom Sexton After a few centuries of patiently waiting outside the city, the barbarians have finally arrived and taken over the Capitol. When did they realize our Republic was rotting from the inside like an overripe pear? Who thought they’d…
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Here’s my first attempt at a true “virtual tour” all on video. It’s a 30-minute trip through historic Lowell Cemetery. It’s posted on YouTube and Facebook. I hope it is the first of many: If the above video viewer doesn’t work go directly to YouTube to see the video.
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John Wooding of Medford, Mass., is professor emeritus in political science at UMass Lowell and the former provost on campus. His next book is a biography of Richard Gregg, champion of nonviolent practice and the philosophy of simplicity. The book is due from Loom Press this fall. He is an…
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Remembering My Illness-Caused Separation, a Semi-Social Distancing By Marie Sweeney (March 25, 2020) Marie Sweeney, photograph by Kevin Harkins THIS MORNING A TWEET from Dan Rather took me way back in time to Spring 1953. I was in the fifth grade—in Sister Mildred’s class—a double-grade that included some sixth graders…
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