Menu
Lowell
‘164 Orleans Street’ by Richard Marion
“164 Orleans Street” by Richard Marion (c) 2013 [drawing, c. 1980] See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »Lowell Social Media Triggers Memories and More…
For quite a while now there has been a Facebook page – along with some similar versions – devoted to remembering Lowell. It’s now called “You know Your from Lowell When…” It has linked “Lowellians” from far and wide to friends, classmates, old neighbors, school alums, former fellow workers,…
Read More »Library of America Publishes John Updike Stories
The prestigious Library of America series now includes two volumes of the short stories of John Updike. Born in Pennsylvania, but a long time resident of our region of Massachusetts, John Updike was awarded an honorary degree by UMass Lowell (University of Lowell) in the 1980s. He also gave a…
Read More »Lowell voter demographics
I spent some time this weekend with the Lowell voter database. Here are some numbers as of January 1, 2013: Total registered voters – 54,943 Number of male voters – 26,771 (49%) Number of female voters – 27,978 (51%) Democrats – 22,005 (40%) Republicans – 4,827 (9%) Unenrolled – 27,731…
Read More »More on Public Art and the City
One more bit of commentary about the notion of distinctive cities or particular heritage sites as works of art in themselves. Cultural critic Lucy Lippard mentions Lowell’s national park in her book about the power of special places, The Lure of the Local. The following passage is from my manuscript…
Read More »‘Yellow Arches’ by Richard Marion
” “Yellow Arches” by Richard Marion (c) 2013 [drawing, 2008] See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »Public Art and the City
Dick’s post about public art in cities prompts me to add this thought from my book-in-progress about the origin and impact of the national park in Lowell. In the early planning phase, advocates used the term urban cultural park for what they were envisioning for Lowell. That terminology changed when…
Read More »Who Was Martha, Anyway?
Two more bulletins from Martha’s Vineyard by our far-flung correspondent Ray LaPorte. So, the handy Wikipedia tells us that English seaman Bartholomew Gosnold ventured near the Atlantic coast in 1602 and named a smaller island near today’s M.V. for his young daughter who had died—and historians say the name migrated…
Read More »The Place of Public Art in a Community
Last month I had the good fortune to spend a week in Berlin, Germany. It’s an amazing city and its multitude of iconic buildings and public statues make it resemble one giant museum although it has plenty of those, too. It’s almost as if during the Cold War when there…
Read More »