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After the Rallies By Rev. Steve Edington Said Joe what they could never kill went on to organize.                                           “Ballad of Joe Hill” by Alfred Hayes As I went home from the two No Kings rallies I attended last Saturday (6.14)—one at Kerouac Park in Lowell and one in my…

Drowning Out the End of Democracy By Bill O’Connell I’d rather trim my grass and sit when I want to than tackle the world gone rogue — Trump’s hawking crypto and missiles in the Middle East, abetting genocide. I’d rather clip a rosebush, plant more peas — I’d rather keep…

Living Madly: New Tricks By Emilie-Noelle Provost Learning a new skill can be difficult, especially if you’re an adult. This is true even for people who are enthusiastic about learning something new. One of the reasons for this, I think, is that by the time most of us are adults,…

Take Me to Church: An Inside Look at the Smith Baker Center By Cameron DaCosta All photographs herein were taken by and provided courtesy of the author. “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” -Mark Twain It has been one of the Mill City’s greatest points of contention for…

Street Wide – (PIP # 73) By Louise Peloquin After the piece on the Bridge Street Bridge in 1924 (1),  here’s another “peek” into Lowell’s infrastructure development. L’ÉTOILE – September 2, 1924 Legal Objections to Widening Aiken Street      The city of Lowell will not be able to continue working on the Anna…

The Lowell City Council met on Tuesday night. What seemed like an innocuous item on the agenda, a vote to accept the draft 2024-2028 Lowell Housing and Housing Production Plan, generated considerable discussion. In his transmission letter to the council, City Manager Tom Golden explained the purpose of the plan:…

Next Tuesday, June 17, 2025, is the semisesquecentennial of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the decisive Revolutionary War fight that took place 30 miles south of here. In honor of this 250th anniversary, I am reposting a story I’ve published several times, followed by another past blog post about those…

The Pleasure and the Sadness of “Owning the Libs”  By Rev. Steve Edington This editorial was originally published in the Saturday/Sunday—June 7-8, 2025 —edition of the New Hampshire Union Leader **** While doing some mall shopping recently I noticed someone wearing a sweatshirt that read “Make a Liberal Cry.” That…

Field Day By Leo Racicot I remember with great clarity, even though it was over fifty years ago, Lowell High School’s Field Day, May, 1968. I don’t know if schools still schedule field days. These were planned festivities in celebration of the end of the school year, usually organized by the…

BAItter Books for a Brave New World By Stephen O’Connor The future of literature in the age of AI could go several ways. Here, the author, utilizing only three pounds of gray matter, eighty percent of which is water and five percent, beer, encased in an admittedly thick skull, imagines…