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For those of us longing for a Lowell City Council meeting that shared a strategic vision for the city rather than debating which pothole to fill next, Christmas came early this year when Mayor Dan Rourke, at last Tuesday’s council meeting, briefed the council and everyone else on a strategic…
Read More »This past Saturday I visited Western Avenue Studios, which is the largest collection of artists in a single place east of the Mississippi River. The quality of the art on display and for sale was amazing. There was something for every taste and price range. Western Ave will be open…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism by Sebastian Smee is a well-researched account of France from the reign of Napoleon III through the end of his empire, the Franco-Prussian War he had provoked, the radical socialist…
Read More »Paul in Paris By Louise Peloquin Beatles fans, this is for you and is dedicated to the late Malcolm Sharps of Liverpool. The 2023 edition of The Lowell Review devoted an entire section to the Beatles. Charlie Gargiulo’s “Legends of Little Canada” also evokes their magic. (1) The memories shared…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Sorry, folks, but I just don’t buy the argument that it was fine for Joe Biden to have pardoned son Hunter not just for the tax evasion and gun charges for which he was convicted but for…
Read More »In last Sunday’s newsletter, I mentioned a Lowell Sun report that the city of Lowell had imposed a $300 per day fine on the Eliot Church for failing to clear trash from its property. As I predicted, the matter came up at Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting. Councilors self-righteously criticized…
Read More »Notre Dame Inauguration New Flash By Louise Peloquin Barely 24 hours before the ceremony, The Archdiocese of Paris and the Élysée Palace (France’s “White House”) announced that the weather has flipped the December 7th Notre Dame inauguration ceremony set to welcome over 50 heads of state. Several of the main…
Read More »Notre Dame, the Limestone Phoenix By Louise Peloquin Victor Hugo’s bestselling gothic novel Notre-Dame de Paris, published in 1831, roused public interest in the deteriorating cathedral and led to its restoration between 1844 and 1864 spearheaded by architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. Just as, on November 8th, the cathedral’s 8 restored bells tore…
Read More »Crime or Insanity? – (PIP #49) By Louise Peloquin On April 15th 2019, the New York Times featured the following headline: “Fire Mauls Beloved Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.” 95 years earlier, Little Canada’s beloved cathedral would have suffered the same fate were it not for a young woman’s acuity and responsiveness. Here is L’Etoile’s front-page coverage…
Read More »Tuesday’s Lowell City Council was brief with the public portion lasting slightly less than an hour. (The council then went into executive session but adjourned from there, so councilors had to stay longer.) Before getting to the meeting, I want to mention the sad news that Mill No. 5, the…
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