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Laid Off By Paul Marion The following story by Paul Marion originally appeared on paulmarion.com with the title, “Laid Off,” a chapter from “Do You Think You’ll Ever Go Back?” (a memory book in progress). ONE OF MY PRE-SCHOOL MEMORIES is a composite of scenes with my father during the…
Read More »Who dropped a whole truckload of fizzies into the varsity swim meet? Who delivered the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner? Every Halloween, the trees are filled with underwear. Every spring, the toilets explode. Dean Wormer Animal House Back in 1978 when I first saw the movie Animal House,…
Read More »In view of the foregoing facts I find myself compelled to report to your Honorable Board my firm conviction that there is danger, both constant and grave, in the water of the Merrimack River at Lowell.” William T. Sedgwick Professor of Biology at MIT Biologist to State Board of Health…
Read More »Mark Cote, a regular contributor to this website, recently shared the following essay which he wrote 23 years ago when he served as the Chair of the city of Lowell’s Hunger/Homeless Commission. The essay originally appeared in the Lowell Sun on December 21, 2000, under the title, “Real tragedy of…
Read More »When Lowell received its town charter in 1826, the “domestic” water needs of most people – water for drinking, cooking, and washing – were met by wells that were scattered throughout the area. Also, anyone living near a river, a stream, or even a canal, could and did draw water…
Read More »Dancing at Holy Ghost Park By Susan April Can’t dance. Never could. First school dance, September, 1969, I tried. Thank God, the lights in the gym were dim. Every boy who asked me ended up shuffling over to a different dance partner, leaving me alone. What was wrong? Were my…
Read More »Back in December 2012, 56 people from Lowell came together to recite “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clark Moore. If the embedded video above doesn’t work HERE is a link to the video on YouTube.
Read More »This article, slightly revised, appeared first in Merrimack Valley Magazine in December 2021 when Covid had become part of daily life. Invited to write a piece about holiday time in the area, I dialed back to my childhood and later college years when downtown Lowell was a magnet for people…
Read More »This essay by Henri Marchand was first heard in 2008 as a radio essay on the “Sunrise” program of WUML, 92.5 FM, at UMass Lowell. Today we continue our tradition of reposting the essay each year at Christmas. The Perfect Tree By Henri Marchand We begin the holiday season engaged…
Read More »Chaz Scoggins on Leaving Baseball By David Daniel On a cool weekday morning in October, looking comfortably rumpled in jeans and T-shirt that reads “Brooklyn Wonders, Players League 1890,” Chaz Scoggins sits in the Purple Carrot café on Merrimack Street in Lowell and talks baseball. The MLB season isn’t over…
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