Frequent contributor Jim Peters shares the following essay: I have supported Patrick Murphy very strongly for two campaigns now. I must admit that I did not support him when he ran against my sister-in-law, Niki Tsongas, but I did support him two years ago, when he came in eighth for…
(Web photo by Tessa Marshall, courtesy of timeoutchicago.com). This is the sculpture “Cloud Gate” (2004) by Anish Kapoor in Chicago’s Millennium Park, which has been integrated into a new temporary sculptural installation whose colored lights are synched up and change with a related musical track. The light/music design is by Luftwerk, a collaborative…
Last night there was a flurry of farewells instead of white stuff from Cobblestones upstairs to the Talon Room of UMass Lowell’s Tsongas Center as scores of friends, co-workers, and admirers gathered to pay tribute to departing city cultural affairs chief LZ Nunn and National Park Supt. Michael Creasey. The Cultural Organization…
MassMoments reminds us today of the terrible famine faced by the people of Ireland in the mid-1840s. Brought low by the potato blight, harsh winter weather and burdensome taxes, the Irish people were starving and perishing in horrible numbers. Those who could – left their land. The plight of the…
The voter turnout in last fall’s city election was low, but Lowell gets a high rating on its level of civic engagement. Last night, for the second time in a few weeks, more than 100 people packed the City Council chamber to show their interest and express opinions about an…
An overflow crowd of downtown residents, bar owners, community leaders and ordinary citizens descended on Lowell City Hall this evening for the special city council meeting on the alcohol-related problems plaguing downtown Lowell. The meeting opened with a presentation and recommendation from Police Superintendent Ken Lavallee. Next came a long…
“Young Angel Midnight,” the very COOL anthology of emerging artists, writers, musicians, dancers, and other creative types in Lowell, has been nominated for a New England Art Award in the “Book” category. Online voting is highly encouraged. Here is the link. Please vote and share the link to get the…
You can’t read or watch a major news story these days without reference to Twitter, the social networking tool that allows users to broadcast “Tweets” in 140 characters or less. That’s 140 characters – not words – including spaces and punctuation. If nothing else, Twitter teaches economy in writing. But…
We have just set the dates for this Spring’s tours of Lowell Cemetery. In a major departure from recent practice, I’ve decided to split the cemetery in two for touring purposes, covering the Lawrence Street side in the spring and the Knapp Avenue/Shedd Park side in the fall. There will…