In taking a look back over the year 2013 in Tewksbury and other Merrimack Valley environs – the issues of politics, economics, quality of life, culture – traditional and pop, education and sports – are all vying for attention. Across the Merrimack Valley the stand-out event – in my opinion…
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With no city council meeting last or this week due to Christmas and New Year’s, there’s not much new to report on politics in the city. That’s good because with this being the final Sunday of 2013, it’s time to review the year in local politics. Here are some observations…
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In some quarters the myth of “the war on Christmas” still lingers even thrives. In truth there was a such a crusade, but it took place in 1659 and it was here in Massachusetts. A minister of that day decided that that the celebration of Christmas was becoming too merry… too profane……
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Our Merrimack Valley sister city of Lawrence, Massachusetts has been much in the news lately. Still struggling, the city weathered a mayoral campaign earlier this Fall that saw the toppling of the controversial administration of William Lantigua. It took a recount and some oversight from SOS Bill Galvin’s elections office…
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Thanks to the more than 50 people who attended today’s Lowell Social Media Conference at LTC which was a co-sponsor of the event. Planning has already begun for the Second Annual Lowell Social Media Conference with a target date of the first Saturday in December. This morning began with a…
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We need beauty. We need it badly. On a day when we grappled with our grief over the enduring evil of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, on a day when we learned more from the media about the heinous attack on a young teacher, Colleen Ritzer of Danvers,…
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The morning began with dark purple clouds bumping in the sky lanes above a sherbet-rinsed sunrise of raspberry and peach. Wind kicked the brittle leaves every which way, and the frigid air made you feel extra alive in your skin. All good for a big day in Lowell. Spirits were…
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I borrowed this title from Joe Donahue’s poem sequence about JFK in his 1989 book Before Creation. I imagine a drawer in an old bureau in the cellar or attic filled with collectibles from the Kennedy years. Campaign pins, scrapbooks, LIFE magazine issues. I still have in my office at…
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Following are excerpts from a seqence of poems titled “Purple Ritual” in Joseph Donahue’s first book of poems, Before Creation (1989). The sequence in much longer and more complex than these passages suggest, but today it seemed important to me to share part of this composition for the record. At…
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At the 25th annual fall brunch this past Sunday, November 10, 2013, the Greater Lowell Area Democrats awarded their 2013 Distinguished Democrat Award to Gerry Leone, the former District Attorney of Middlesex County. The award was presented to Gerry by his former colleague and boss, Martha Coakley, the current Attorney…
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