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My friend and mentor Charles Nikitopoulos of Lowell, Mass., passed away a few days ago. His obituary is here. I want to share my thoughts about what he meant to me as well as to the community and university of which he was a part for decades. He came to…
Read More »My friend Renae Lias, a former colleague from UMass Lowell, is reporting on the presidential campaign in New Hampshire. Renae is a communications professional who has worked in state government and on government relations for higher education. She attends local events in N.H. and exchanges updates with a small group…
Read More »My new collection of poems is published by Brendan Gaylord of SuperLargePrint.com, a specialty publisher of books featuring extra-large print, twice the size of the large-print books available in public libraries, for people with sight challenges. Brendan takes books and parts of books that are in the public domain, meaning…
Read More »I told my co-blogger Dick Howe that I would write a series of posts about the 2020 presidential campaign because everything is connected: national-to-local, coast-to-coast, global-to-regional. When I lived in Lowell I walked across Highland Street to the Rogers School, the James P. Scondras Memorial Gymnasium, to vote in every…
Read More »There’s an interesting event coming up this Saturday night. It’s the debut of Lowell Storytelling which is the creation of Lowell’s Laura Frye. Saturday’s performance will feature six local residents sharing a true story of each of their lives in Lowell. The storytellers will be joined onstage by Renard Boissiere…
Read More »“In the Valley of Poets” is an article by co-blogger Paul Marion in this month’s Merrimack Valley Magazine. Before surveying the nine famous poets and writers profiled in this article, Paul writes “There is a case to be made that our river valley is extraordinary, if not unique, among national…
Read More »Yesterday at noon 80 people gathered at St. Anne’s Church on Merrimack Street in Lowell to listen to and participate in a public reading of “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” a speech originally delivered by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852 to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery…
Read More »“The New Plantation” by Jason Trask Review by David Daniel Rich, wise, and powerfully told, this is the best memoir about teaching that I have read in a long time. What gives it freshness is the author’s recounting of his experiences as a high school teacher in a “school run…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Did we really shift from a Biden-someone to a Warren-Castro to Harris-Buttigieg “winning” ticket overnight? Unlikely. We are at a blip in time. There’s a long way to go. Remember the lack of poll and pundit support Donald…
Read More »This post is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. So now, in time for the July 4th celebration of our democracy, the Supreme Court has ruled that elected officials shall pick their voters rather than the other way around. It’s probably a worse decision that Bush v. Gore…
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