‘Oranges at Christmas’

This composition was first heard as a radio essay on the “Sunrise” program of WUML, 92.5 FM, at UMass Lowell. Executive producer Chris Dunlap assembled writers in the area for the daily essay feature, a  popular component of the morning public affairs show that was broadcast for a few years in the…

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Light Up Lowell’s Canals

One of my colleagues at UMass Lowell, Bryce Hoffman, the executive director of marketing, is still somewhat new to the city. With his fresh perspective, he suggests that we need to do more with our unique canal system, which is a big part of what makes Lowell a distinctive place.…

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Technology in Education

One of the presenters at this week’s Massachusetts Digital Government Summit was Mark Racine, the Chief Information Officer of the Boston Public Schools (and a former 5th grade teacher.  The title of his talk was Education Technologies Today and Tomorrow and my notes on his remarks are below. Yesterday I…

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Lowell City Council meeting: December 2, 2014

Number of votes including one accepting a $1.6 million grant from the Federal government for expansion of the trolley system.  Craig Thomas from DPD gives an update.  One expansion will run from downtown through Hamilton Canal District to the Gallagher Terminal.  The second expansion will connect the North and South…

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Boko Haram: social media gimmicks not enough by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Where has all the outcry gone?  Last April, when the radical jihadist group Boko Haram kidnapped 200 Nigerian schoolgirls, politicians and celebrities here and abroad protested their treacherous act.  “Where are our girls?” became the social media cause de jour, but…

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