Watching the Merrimack           By Jacqueline Malone Water takes what is given and makes visible the wind, the pull of gravity, time in the constant erosion of riverbeds, the constant   deposit of gravelly isles. Water mixes, transforms, dissolves, and returns silt,…

Snow was general all over Lowell – (PIP #54) By Louise Peloquin      These accounts of winter in New England demonstrate the newspaper’s regard for the local community. The reader shares the city’s concern for its citizens and for its public service employees as they pursue daily activities or revel…

In honor of today’s observation of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, here’s a story of King’s visit to Lowell, Massachusetts. In honor of today’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, here’s a reminder that King visited Lowell on April 12, 1953. Rev. Otto Loverude, the pastor of the First…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak is a large book delicately woven by a metaphor: drop of water falls into the river, whose particles are borne to the sky and fall again to the earth as…

On Tuesday, the Lowell City Council voted to demolish the Smith Baker Center, a former church and community center that sits across Merrimack Street from City Hall. The outcome of the vote was predictable, since for nearly a year a majority of councilors have publicly expressed a preference for demolition…

THE GREATEST HITTER EVER WAS UNDERRATED By Charlie Gargiulo My earliest TV sports memory is sitting with my late Uncle Leo watching the Red Sox sometime during the 1960 season. I was already playing baseball for a few years but the bug about following major league baseball players was just…

Living Madly: Wheel of Fortune By Emilie-Noelle Provost When most Americans hear the term “Wheel of Fortune,” the long-running television game show is probably what comes to mind. But the original Wheel of Fortune, from which the show took its name, dates back to the ancient Romans. Known as Rota…

Late Afternoon on Palmer Street in Spring By Jacquelyn Malone A business meeting over a glass of wine, as papers on the outdoor table lift briefly in a soft breeze. Sudden “Ohs,” then laughter as colleagues dig in again to proposals, budgets, wine. A car rolls over cobblestones, the rumble…

Inauguration Plans – Grandiose Simplicity or Simple Grandiosity? – (PIP #53) By Louise Peloquin Two articles about planning Calvin Coolidge’s inauguration report the flip from desired simplicity to imposed grandiosity. A hundred years later, will the inauguration be grandiosely simple or simply grandiose? L’Etoile – February 11, 1925 Simplicity of…