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Bob Dylan’s Vocal Chords for Susan O. By David Cappella The speech pathologist sits on the icy aluminum bench beside me, as we watch the hockey game, chilly in the refrigerator cold of the skating rink. Outside squats a New England heat wave, one of those cursed Bermuda highs that…
Read More »Nancye Tuttle shares with us the following remembrance of the late Lowell native Olympia Dukakis who passed away on May 1, 2021. Nancye’s story was first published in the Lowell Sun on May 5, 2021, and may be viewed here. Remembering Olympia Dukakis By Nancye Tuttle An interview with Olympia…
Read More »This week on Trasna we are very pleased to present writer, Nuala O’Connor, reading an excerpt from her most recent novel, NORA. The eponymous Nora was, of course, Nora Barnacle, lover, wife and soulmate to writer James Joyce. In her novel O’Connor gives us Nora’s distinctive character, voice and original…
Read More »A painting by Chath pierSath One of our regular contributors, Chath pierSath of Bolton, Mass., who one time lived in Lowell and earned a master’s degree in community social psychology from UMass Lowell, is featured in a review of his latest book, ON EARTH BENEATH SKY, in the South Asia…
Read More »That’s me taking a swing for Dracut High baseball in 1972 in a collage in one of my notebooks. That’s Yaz coming in to score for the Sox and at bottom left Gerry Cheevers kicking out a shot for the Bruins. Nice peg, Dave. Oh, man, I like…
Read More »David Daniel reminds us that it’s time for baseball with these memories from local sandlots: Triple Play By David Daniel Chatter Surround sound. C’um baby C’um baby No batter No batter On the mound it reaches you from behind, an infield arc of voices. Chuck hard, baby, chuck hard From…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips is a first novel set in the isolated Russian peninsular community of KamChatka, after the demise of the Soviet Union. It’s hard-scrabble living even in its principal city of Petropavlovsk. The story grabs…
Read More »Yesterday I wrote a profile of Gustavus Fox, a Lowell resident who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War. In composing that article, I came across a letter from Montgomery Blair to Fox dated January 31, 1861. Blair, who Lincoln would appoint to his cabinet…
Read More »Gustavus Vasa Fox (1821-1883) was born and raised in Massachusetts and spent much of his life in Lowell. He was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and served as an officer in the Navy from 1841 to 1856. After his resignation from the service, he returned to Massachusetts…
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