Dana Gioia, poet and former boss of the National Endowment for the Arts, many years ago wrote a book titled “Does Poetry Matter?” The inside back page essay in yesterday’s NYTimes Book Review by Robyn Cresswell (poetry editor of The Paris Review) had this to say about “Egypt: The Cultural…
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Sarah George Bagley (1806 – 1884) Sarah Bagley – Lowell mill girl, writer, labor activist – was born in New Hampshire on April 19, 1806. Historian Tom Dublin writes of Sarah Bagley – “she was one of the most important labor leaders in New England during the 1840s. An outspoken advocate of shorter…
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Last year, Harvard undergraduates organized the first Harvard Thinks Big, an opportunity for ten professors from different departments to give talks on a subject they care about. The event was based on the famous TED Talks and was a great success. Harvard Thinks Big 2 was held last Thursday. While…
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Forbes’s columnist Rick Ungar writes about the Koch brothers and their money in the Wisconsin struggle. Thanks to Nomi Herbstman on Facebook for the link.
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David Corn in Politics Daily skewers Speaker Boehner (R-Ohio) for mangling the truth and showing no mercy for those about to lose jobs due to federal budget cuts. Corn has a surprising wrap up to his column that he titled “Naked Lunch.” Here’s the opinion piece, which I picked up…
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This Civil War ballad – ‘The Slain at Baltimore” – was sent to us By Martha Mayo – Director of the UML/Center for Lowell History and longtime member of the Lowell Historical Society. The ballad was made available to the public as a Civil War penny-song sheet or as a broadside.…
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President Obama recently appeared on FOX’s Bill O’Reilly Show…of course, Saturday Night Live didn’t waste time giving us a look.
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These ten districts will be downsized in to nine districts as a result of the 2010 Census. (Note: Include Middlesex above with Essex.) A headline in yesterday’s MetroWest Daily News asks: ” Is there political gamesmanship in Mass. redistricting?” Redistricting in Massachusetts – and elsewhere – is always political – it’s the nature…
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Read E. J. Dionne’s latest column from the Wash. Post, which I picked up from realclearpoltics.com. He says US Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, the one not running for re-election, is a rare political bird, a Jacksonian Democrat who measures the health of the society from the bottom up not…
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Some might wonder about how elected officials take up certain topics. Lately here’s been some buzz about Senator Susan Fargo’s push to name the iconic Rex Trailer as the Commonwealth’s official cowboy. Now it’s a regional school sports league on a legislator’s radar sceen. There’s a story in today’s Eagle Tribune…
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