Geoffrey Douglas is an American author, journalist, and former adjunct professor of writing at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. His most recent nonfiction book is The Grifter, The Poet, and The Runaway Train (2019), a collection of his stories in Yankee magazine. Other books include The Game of Their Lives (1996,…
Suzanne Dion: She Loved the Game By Prudence Brighton LeLacheur Park was Suzanne Dion’s summer haven–a place to celebrate the Lowell Spinners’ victories, to grieve their losses and to simply enjoy nearly 20 summers of minor league baseball just 10 minutes from her home. Suzanne was a highly intelligent woman…
Life is all about contingencies. In this story, legendary baseball writer Chaz Scoggins explains how a former major league player, frustrated in his effort to purchase the professional baseball team in Lowell, settled into a scouting job with the Red Sox and helped bring Babe Ruth to Boston. Ruth and…
Still Kickin’ Dust By David Daniel One dark night in my junior year I sat up in my bed and declared, “Since coming to college I’ve lost all interest in baseball whatsoever.” This was reported to me next morning by my roommate. I had no recollection of the incident.…
The arrival of summer doesn’t seem the same without baseball. I confess to not being a regular watcher but I do love to read about the sport. From Casey at the Bat to Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu, baseball stories have long had a special place on my bookshelf. To…
A Review of John Boyle O’Reilly: The Apprentice from Drogheda by Kevin Gallagher (Red Fox Press, 2020). $26 USD/22 Eu By Paul Marion Drawn back from history’s mist in the form of a splendid rose-colored chapbook made in Ireland, John Boyle O’Reilly is a substantial Boston writer who needs a…
This month Trasna is featuring writers participating in Words Ireland National Mentoring Programme. Every year, 22 emerging writers are selected for the program in the areas of literary fiction, creative non-fiction, children’s/YA fiction, and poetry. Each writer is paired with a mentor. Featured this week is poet Enda Wyley, an accomplished Irish literary figure,…
Five years ago Fred Faust contributed a series of blog posts about people in Greater Lowell who have taken initiative and achieved special things. In the following post which first appeared here on October 5, 2015, Fred wrote about Francey Slater and Lydia Sisson, the founders of Mill City Grows.…
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. When I found myself agreeing with President Trump that the media were making too much of his super-cautious walking down a ramp at West Point, I knew I needed a break from media coverage. Yes, he might well…
Linda Hoffman on her blog Apples, Art and Spirit, has a new post on an outdoor art show now on display in Brookline, Massachusetts. Here’s what Linda wrote: For those of you who live in the Greater Boston area, here’s something wonderful to see! See Change is Studio Without Walls’…