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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,…
Read More »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…
Read More »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…
Read More »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…
Read More »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…
Read More »One year after her decisive victory over Scott Brown, Senator Elizabeth Warren invited the most active volunteers from her campaign to a celebration today at the Summer Shack in Cambridge. I asked some of the Lowell volunteers who attended to share their thoughts about this event and about Senator Warren’s…
Read More »Today’s Guardian online in the UK has a long piece by David Runciman in which he digs deeply into the ways a democratic system of government can be exasperating to its citizens. But, as others have said, Consider the alternatives. Here’s the essay. The insights here apply to the system down…
Read More »I am so encouraged by the many photos of campaign volunteers, especially so many younger people, that have been posted during this campaign season in Lowell, Mass. We don’t know what the results will be tonight after 8 pm, but I have to believe that our civic culture has been…
Read More »In the City of Lawrence, Dan Rivera – a current member of the Lawrence City Council – is challenging incumbent Willie Lantigua in his second run for Mayor. Controversies abound – with the Mayor himself in his actions, decisions, style and judgment, with his administrative hires some of whom have been investigated…
Read More »A smiling President Truman enjoys the headline on the front page of the Chicago Tribune that falsely touted the election results of 1948 presidential election – Truman won! In this time of pervasive social media and instantaneous information sharing, the Chicago Tribune headline doesn’t seem possible – but it happened.…
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