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Joe Blair is an occasional contributor to this publication. He lives in Iowa but grew up in the Merrimack Valley. His first book By the Iowa Sea: A Memoir (2012, Simon & Schuster) established him as a national voice. This prose sketch first appeared on Facebook in November, 2020. IT…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. The United States, with four percent of the world’s population, has 25 percent of COVID deaths. And, by any measure, this pandemic is only getting worse. Many Republicans, especially Trump supporters, not only disbelieve the outcome of…
Read More »Time to Call 911? By Jack McDonough I wish I had a computer like the ones on TV cop shows. Know what I mean? The lieutenant says, “Officer Suzie. Find out what you can about this guy John Smith. We need it fast.” Suzie, who is a knockout by the…
Read More »November 22, 1963 By Mike McCormick Silent prayers poured from my heart as I trudged through lifeless leaves, walking directly home from St. James School. After dinner, Dad suggested we drive to the River. He downshifted the jeep into the blackness of a vacant lot, killed the engine, lit a…
Read More »Congratulations and thanks to UMass Lowell for erecting four wayside exhibit panels about Lowell’s Little Canada neighborhood. I believe this project is part of the remediation agreement that allowed the demolition of the two surviving triple-decker residences that stood on Pawtucket Street at the Howe Bridge (photo below). The Geography…
Read More »The month of November, with its decreasing hours of daylight and lengthening nights, offers an opportunity to turn inwards. It is traditionally a month in Ireland when we remember those who have passed on, indeed the 1st and 2nd of November are known respectively as All Saints and All Souls…
Read More »Two Kids and Their Dad Attending High School Football By Mike McCormick Even as we stepped out the front door into the welcoming late morning sun to climb into the jeep for the drive to the high school game, Dad, my brother, and I anticipated the hours when we would…
Read More »Cummiskey Alley: New and Selected Lowell Poems by Tom Sexton, a Literary Son of the City A Review by Chath PierSath I am not a native son of Lowell like Tom Sexton had been, but Lowell and I crossed paths serendipitously in 1996. I was looking for a job after…
Read More »The Tipping Point By David Daniel On the Saturday that the official results of the 2020 Presidential election were declared, my wife and I were in Springfield, visiting her brother Tony. The concurrence of the two events was coincidental, the get-together having been planned for some weeks. The weather was…
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