Menu
Reporter Patricia Cohen in today’s NYTimes described how folksinger Woody Guthrie will finally get his due in the place of his roots, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Local activists kept the tribute flame alive for the past many years, and now the Kaiser Foundation, based in Tulsa, has put up $3 million to…
Read More »Under the title “Dissolves,” the new sections of Joe Donahue’s long poem “Terra Lucida,” are due in January from the publisher Talisman House in New Jersey. Joe is on long-term leave from Lowell, based at Duke University, where he researches eternal questions. The reading public rarely catches up to a visionary poet in…
Read More »CNN analyst and Kennedy School big-wig David Gergen offers his latest take on the President’s prospect for re-election. Like many other commentators, Gergen feels that he must throw in a side whack at the Washington DC Democrats for balance as he makes the case about GOP failings on national and…
Read More »Frequent contributor Jim Peters offers another of his essays: There is not a great deal to write about on Christmas Day. If I say that there is too much emphasis on commercialism and profitability, I attack the capitalistic experience that makes the holidays such an important part of rebuilding the…
Read More »Buffalo, N.Y., faces the same kind of challenges that most older cities do, but a bright spot is the lucrative local theatre industry built around touring versions of Broadway shows like “The Addams Family,” which earned $995,000 a week in the 3,000-seat Shea’s theatre, according to the NYTimes. Read the article…
Read More »NYTimes reports more than 100,000 people today demonstrated against Russian power-holders including Putin, who assumes he can rule without consent. The NYT today has two other articles about the growing protest movement in Russia, especially among young workers in the cities.
Read More »A group called Mill City Flashmob recently appeared on Facebook. It’s mission: Lowell, the mill city. Socializing with the community. Membership in the group quickly grew (to become a member, go to facebook.com/MillCityFlashMOB). But the true test of any such organization is not how many visitors it can attract on…
Read More »This poem is from the winter of 1983-84, when I was living in Southern California just south of Laguna Beach. Dana Point was a small coastal town that has since expanded to the extent that there is now a Ritz Carlton there. When I was there it was the bottom edge of…
Read More »These days there continues to be a kerfuffle in certain places when mentions or symbols or images of Christmas make their way into our public schools. While perusing the December 24, 1971 edition of the Lowell Sun, I came across a story about a play presented at Lowell’s Reilly School.…
Read More »