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In 1868, Lowell resident Charles Cowley wrote the “Illustrated History of Lowell”, a book filled with fascinating facts about our city. Here’s my fifth weekly compilation of “tweeting” from Cowley’s book: July 3 – Chelmsford always gave tax breaks & land grants to millers, mechanics & traders so they would…
Read More »“Arrangement in Gray: A (self) Portrait of the Painter” James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1872) Just the other day I noted a Lowell connection in the current issue of Yankee magazine – a quote from James A. M. Whistler. And now we note that on this day – July 11, 1834 –…
Read More »This being July, I’m offering section 1 of a three-part poem titled “Colorado,” which I wrote in pieces during the early 1980s, when I spent a fair amount of time out west. I later combined the individual poems because together they made a stronger composition.—PM Colorado 1. Heat flashes over the High…
Read More »Well, it really must have been something to be at Radio City Music Hall the other night when Ringo Starr and friends celebrated his 70th birthday in NYC. The evening ended with a massive sing-along on “With a Little Help From My Friends” and then came the extra candle on…
Read More »NYTimes columnist Bob Herbert weighs in today with thoughts about the role of organized labor in the national conversation, when the rich-poor gap keeps widening. Read him here, and consider subscribing to the NYT if you appreciate the writing.
Read More »Mass Moments – an electronic almanac of Massachusetts history- reminds us today that: …in 1968, four men were sentenced to federal prison for counseling young men to refuse military service. Dubbed the Boston Five, the defendants included famed baby doctor Benjamin Spock and Yale Chaplain William Sloane Coffin. They had…
Read More »Picking up on Tony’s post about Hemingway, I want to add a Kerouac thread to the discussion. Hemingway’s stories influenced Kerouac’s early work. In early 1942, 19-year-old Jack Kerouac was writing sports articles for the Lowell Sun and at the same time conceiving what he pictured as a trilogy of…
Read More »Each Friday, I post an artifact from Lowell politics past. This week, it’s this photo of the 1970-71 Lowell School Committee From left: Bill Collins, Ernest Hermann, Paul Robinson, George Kouloheras, Clement McDonough, Victor Forsley, Seated, Mayor Richard Howe
Read More »In today’s NYTimes, David Brooks weighs the relative merits of informing ourselves and improving our minds through new and traditional means (web v. book). He offers recent study results and wise pronouncements from thoughtful sources. I’m sure he knows we aren’t in an either-or world. It’s an “and-plus” world for those…
Read More »Folk-soul singer-songwriter Amos Lee and Jamaican reggae grandaddy Jimmy Cliff will play at Boarding House Park tonight and tomorrow night, respectively. For details and tickets, visit www.lowellsummermusic.org Next weekend, it’s ’90s alt-rockers Cake and singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading.
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