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Diary in the Time of Coronavirus (8) by Paul Hudon May 31 In Consciousness, his only volume of memoirs, John Updike proposes two life-defining questions. First, Why me? Second, Why here? Identity and place. He paired the right questions, only, being Updike, he put them back to front. Place comes first…
Read More »My co-blogger Marie Sweeney writes about making slumgullion at home. The first time I read that word I knew I had to work it in to a poem. Turns out the dish she makes (and a lot of us make) has a bunch of names. I only knew it as…
Read More »Orchardist and artist Linda Hoffman writes about fruit in this post from her blog on May 31. Blueberries on the way. And here’s her latest post from June 7 about the way water moves on Old Frog Pond Farm in Harvard, Mass. Early Morning Pond View, 2020, watercolor (Linda…
Read More »The weather in Lowell was mostly sunny and warm on Monday, June 5, 1944. Across the Atlantic Ocean, things were quite different. In the English Channel, high winds caused heavy seas and low clouds enveloped the coast of France. The forecast caused General Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, to…
Read More »Shout Out to All the Dads by Chris Wilkinson “What’s happening in the video?” Hey, you know what was a hard conversation for the white father of a brown son? Explaining race-based injustice to an almost six year old (who I’m certain will have struggles in life that I can’t…
Read More »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 are paired with mentors. Featured this week is poet Martina Dalton. On participating in Words Ireland,…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. The lump in my throat won’t go away. It’s not the onset of the coronavirus. It is the result of another terrible disease afflicting this nation, the lethal virus of racism and racial injustice. I close my…
Read More »Here’s a post I did on June 14, 2007, with some background information added at the beginning . . . Background On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court announced its decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (440 Mass. 309). Here are the opening lines of the…
Read More »Jack McDonough had a long career in academic and corporate communications and the media as a writer and editor. He proudly identifies as an “ink-stained wretch.” Our readers know him as an occasional contributor to this blog and as a past essayist for the Sunrise public-affairs radio program at UMass…
Read More »Wapack Hike for the Wild: Two Local Couples Strive to Protect Open Space and Wild Land On June 6, 2020, Emilie-Noelle Provost and Robert Hamilton of Lowell and Suzanne and Thomas Perry of Londonderry, New Hampshire, will hike the entire 21.5 Wapack Trail, which runs north-south from Ashburnham and Ashby,…
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