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Spurred by our Texas friend Frank Wagner’s essay about meeting Patti Smith in the late 1970s, an encounter with a cranky, thirty-something, tightly wound artist, we’re reprising this review-essay about Patti Smith’s most recent book, Year of the Monkey, just out in paperback. Note that former Lowell Sun journalists Nancye…
Read More »In the following chapter from his urban theory book Exploring the Production of Urban Space, author Michael Leary-Owhin visited Lowell and wrote about the creation of Boarding House Park. Lowell: Producing Urban Public Space and City Transformation By Micheal Leary-Owhin … countries in the throes of rapid development blithely destroy…
Read More »From his home hub in downtown Lowell, writer, scholar, and teacher George Chigas covers a lot of territory on foot. Like Henry Thoreau who “traveled a good deal in Concord,” George will send us occasional reports on his movements and what he sees, hears, and feels. Walking Home from Market…
Read More »Susan April sent us a new essay about a time when she was growing up in Lowell in the Highlands neighborhood. I don’t want to give away the turn in the narrative, so I’ll leave it here. Susan is a past contributor to this publication. Her work has appeared in…
Read More »The Kerouac Book River “The Kerouac Book River is inspired by the legendary Merrimack and Concord rivers, which run through the author’s hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts. At the “source” of the river is the canon of first editions, beginning in 1950 with The Town and the City. Plentiful waters stir to…
Read More »The Revolving Museum was founded by Jerry Back in the 1980s in Boston. At first, it consisted of outdoor art installations but in 1995 it gained a physical space in a vacant building in the Fort Point neighborhood. But as that decade came to an end, real estate prices in…
Read More »In keeping with the education theme this month, here’s an excerpt from a memory book I’m writing. Some sections are built on related, even if partial, recollections—in this case experiences during my college years. At times, memories can be like bits of mica shining in a chunk of stone you…
Read More »Still Learning After All These Years By Henri Marchand It was the last day of August when I began to write this essay, Labor Day when I finished. In my mind Labor Day weekend always meant the end of summer vacation and September first the start of fall even though…
Read More »Friends in the Lowell cultural community will remember Patrick Gentry Pierce from his time in Lowell. His art studio on Middle Street helped create a buzz in the downtown cultural district for several years. This is his first appearance as a writer on this site. I have a good memory…
Read More »Twelve summers ago, Paul Marion discovered Harry de Metropolis, a graduate of Lowell High (class of 1931) and West Point (class of 1939) who rose to the rank of major during World War II, and who later published a collection of his war-time poems. Here is Paul’s post from 2008: …
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