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Web photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org One of midsummer’s visual signals in the Merrimack Valley is purple loosestrife. While some people frown upon its spread as an invasive species, I’ve always enjoyed the distinctive color in the landscape at this time of year. The following is an essay that is returning…
Read More »On the Lowell Walk on Saturday, June 30, 2018, Kerry and Wayne Jenness told 214 people about several historic crimes in Lowell. Those on the walk were delighted by the stories and many who could not be there in person have asked that the stories be shared online for all…
Read More »On the Lowell Walk on Saturday, June 30, 2018, Kerry and Wayne Jenness told 214 people about several historic crimes in Lowell. Those on the walk were delighted by the stories and many who could not be there in person have asked that the stories be shared online for all…
Read More »Next Monday marks the 30th anniversary of the dedication of the Jack Kerouac Commemorative in Kerouac Park on Bridge and French streets. On the dedication day, some 200 people gathered for the celebration, joined by journalists from the Sun, Boston Globe, New York Times, New Yorker magazine, CBS-News TV, and international…
Read More »Today at the Centralville Veteran’s Park in Lowell, a new monument was unveiled in honor of Normand Brissette of Lowell who died in the atomic bomb blast at Hiroshima. A survivor of that blast, Shigeaki Mori, who was 8 at the time of the explosion, devoted his life to uncovering…
Read More »Here are the remarks I delivered yesterday at the Greater Lowell Veteran’s Council Memorial Day Ceremony at Lowell Memorial Auditorium. I serve as the Council’s historian. One hundred years ago today, the Allied armies in France faced a crisis. The new Soviet government in Russia had signed a peace treaty…
Read More »I am introducing a new writer to our blog readers. He’s not new to writing, but we haven’t featured his work here before. I met Mike McCormick through Tom Sexton, one of our regular far-flung contributors who is a mutual friend. That would be Tom Sexton, the poet and retired…
Read More »On this day 157 years ago, April 19, 1861, two young men from Lowell, Luther Ladd and Addison Whitney, were killed by hostile fire while serving in the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, making them, and two of their comrades – Sumner Needham of Lawrence and Charles Taylor of Boston…
Read More »We have a brand new poem by Tom Sexton, our far-flung contributor and faithful reader who is in Alaska this time of year. Tom, as many of our readers know, is the author of several books of poetry including “A Ladder of Cranes” (Univ. of Alaska Press, 2015) and “Bridge…
Read More »It’s about ten days early in the month for the timing of this post about a 2010 canal-side hike that appeared first on this blog and was reprinted in my book Mill Power. The weather is warming, and soon enough we’ll be into the days of preseason Lowell Walks and…
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