Ringo Starr, born Richard Starkey in Liverpool, England, turned 70 years old today. Interviewed by the New York Times for today’s paper, he said he had one request for those who want to wish him well on this day. He started this little ritual two years ago on his birthday.…
Prof. Bob Forrant forwarded the following quote about Jack Kerouac’s influence on the emerging political activist Tom Hayden in 1960. He’s reading a book by James Miller about the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and ther rise of the New Left to prepare for a history course he is…
Downtown Lowell In this month’s official publication of the Lowell Council on Aging, there are suggestions for keeping cool, sfaety tips, a calendar of events and senior trips as well as the lunch menu for the month of July. There is a very nice profile of COA Board member Billy Sheehan …
All this writing and opinion-giving about our economic problems and what’s needed to get the nation out of the financial ditch sent me back to the writings of young Jack Kerouac in the collection I edited, “Atop an Underwood.” In 1941, when he was 19 years old, Kerouac wrote a…
The web isn’t called “the web” for nothing. Like no other tool, the internet both displays and helps us plug in to the vast connectedness of daily life. In recent days the writers on this blog have put their words around the economy, the future of cities, university happenings and…
Speaking of TIME magazine, the new issue has a spread about the summer reading lists of some well known people. Judd Apatow mentions “The Garden of Last Days” by Andre Dubus III, who teaches writing and literature at UMass Lowell. Apatow’s list also includes heavy hitters Dave Eggers and Dostoevsky.
Just to add to the back-and-forth about Andrew’s post on “austerity” and the economic mess, note that the TIME cover story this week is about the power of lobbyists in Washington, D.C., a major factor working against any serious budgetary reform. Remember how Ross Perot was going to lift the…
Boston.com posted a “best” list for ice cream in New England that includes Shaw Farm in Dracut and Kimball’s in Westford, Carlisle, and a NH location. Here’s the link for the Shaw Farm entry. Not on the list, but worth the drive is the ice cream stand at the Brookstone…
“All Lowell” Class of 1960 50th Reunion Committee Did you graduate in 1960? Do you know these people? Are any of them your high school classmates? For a closer look check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22581231@N07/4754940830/ Plan to come to your 50th High School Reunion on October 9, 2010. Get in touch with this…
Yesterday’s national unemployment figures provide further evidence that our nation’s economic “recovery” may be sputtering. The performance of the local real estate market over the first half of 2010 tends to confirm that conclusion. For the ten communities in the Middlesex North Registry District (Lowell and nine surrounding towns), the…