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This article, slightly revised, appeared first in Merrimack Valley Magazine in December 2021 when Covid had become part of daily life. Invited to write a piece about holiday time in the area, I dialed back to my childhood and later college years when downtown Lowell was a magnet for people…
Read More »This essay by Henri Marchand was first heard in 2008 as a radio essay on the “Sunrise” program of WUML, 92.5 FM, at UMass Lowell. Today we continue our tradition of reposting the essay each year at Christmas. The Perfect Tree By Henri Marchand We begin the holiday season engaged…
Read More »This essay by Henri Marchand was first heard as a radio essay on the “Sunrise” program of WUML, 92.5 FM, at UMass Lowell. Today we continue our tradition of reposting the essay each year at Christmas. The Christmas Fruitcake: An Ageless Tradition By Henri Marchand I think there…
Read More »Christmas with the Kanes By David Daniel The exchanging of cards at the holidays remains a quaint, if vanishing, tradition. For a time, it gave ground to the “holiday letter”—pages of cheery mimeographed minutiae. But even those have waned, the impetus to show lives in perfect balance largely siphoned…
Read More »Louise Peloquin reports on the World Cup from the streets of Paris . . . “Grande tristesse, grande fierté” (Great sadness, great pride) By Louise Peloquin Today December 18th, after 1978 and 1986, Argentina won the World Cup for the third time. France will have to wait another four years…
Read More »The 2022 World Cup will be decided by today’s France v Argentina match that begins at 10am Eastern Standard Time. (I’ll update this post after that game is over). **** UPDATE: Argentina defeated France to win the 2022 World Cup in what commentators said was the most exciting World Cup…
Read More »I’m not the only self-professed neophyte soccer fan following the World Cup. Regular blog contributor Louise Peloquin joins me in doing that this weekend, only she’s doing it from Paris. Louise sent the following observations as the city prepares for tomorrow’s championship match between France and Argentina. —RH Waiting for…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. The Scheme by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D, R.I.) is a stunning, sobering and, indeed, chilling account of how the radical right, funded by dark money, has captured the U. S. Supreme Court. It is a well-documented review of the decades-long…
Read More »Living Madly: The Shortest Day By Emilie-Noelle Provost You hear a lot about seasonal affective disorder this time of year. Many people find the lack of sunlight depressing, but I don’t mind December’s dark days. I love how quiet our neighborhood is after the sun sets. No one is outside…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. The holiday season signals a time for relaxation, fewer meetings, fewer blogs, and more time for friends, movies and reading. Here are some recent offerings in the latter category. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, author of Hamnet, draws again on…
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