Mark your calendars for one of the authentic Merrimack Valley annual events, the Bread & Roses Festival in Lawrence, which is always produced on Labor Day. This year it’s Monday, September 6, 12 noon to 6 p.m. on the Campagnone Common in the middle of downtown. If you go, look…
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David Brooks of the NYTimes is back with another cerebral commentary today. He keeps digging to find out what’s really ailing the nation. I get the sense lately that he is deeply pained by the high level of toxicity in our civic culture and thinks that if he can describe the cause we…
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The press coverage of President Obama’s family vacation on Martha’s Vineyard has been a mixed bag of facts, speculation, jibs and criticism. It’s no surprise that our old friend Glen Johnson offers one of the better takes in this piece for the Associated Press. Another former Lowell Sun writer Mark…
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Pundits are speculating that President Obama really meant it when he said he’d rather be a good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president. How unusual for a politician to stay focused on “now.” The Telegraph online in the U.K. yesterday published an opinion piece by Toby Harnden in which he questions…
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An absolutely gorgeous day on the Cape for the Obama family arrival this afternoon. At 10am temp in the mid-70’s – the sun is shining reflecting like diamonds off the water – there is a wonderfully cool breeze and the light blue sky is clear with a few random clouds.…
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Back in June at the Democratic State Convention at Worcester’s DCU Center, the speech by Vicki Kennedy during the tribute to her late husband, Senator Ted Kennedy, was the highlight of the convention, even eclipsing Governor Patrick’s very good nomination acceptance speech. At the time I remember thinking “is this…
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We sometimes forget that the Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region with deep historical roots. The flow of the mighty Merrimack River has been a unifying force for the culture, heritage and livelihood of its residents since time of the Pentacook tribes through the Industrial Revolution to this modern era of highway,…
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Mass Moments reminds us that on this today – August 12th – in 1834 the Ursuline Convent in Charlestown lay in ruins. The night before a Protestant mob sacked it and burned it to the ground. The rioters were mostly poor Yankee laborers who feared and hated Irish Catholic immigrants. While…
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Next month will mark the 30th anniversary of my one and only visit to a casino. On Labor Day weekend 1980, a group of us drove all night through the desert from Fort Huachuca, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. I may have tossed a few coins in a slot machine,…
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I read Marie’s post about the Coffee Party before I went to buy groceries at the Market Basket at Stadium Plaza, Rte. 38 in Tewksbury (I always think I’m still in Lowell there). Anyway, I was standing in line with my number waiting to be called on at the deli…
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