While doing historical tours of downtown, I’ve often said that Lowell was the Silicon Valley of 19th century America. Back on September 16 & 17, 2017, I provided some evidence for that assertion during the Creaticity Art and Maker Festival in Downtown Lowell when I joined with Olu Ibrahim, the…
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In a reversal of roles two weekends ago, I became a tour attendee rather than the tour giver when I experienced the Boston/Cambridge Innovation Trail. Inspired by the well-known Freedom Trail, the Innovation Trail is a grassroots initiative consisting of 21 stops beginning at Downtown Crossing in Boston and ending…
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A Lowell Evolution By Steve O’Connor “I can’t wait to get the f*** out of Lowell.” How many times did I hear those words spoken in the smoke-filled bars of my youth? How many times did I say them myself? Even then I saw the setting sun that spread roses…
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Butterscotch Caviar By David Daniel In his younger days my cousin Curt traveled widely and he’d tell amusing stories of his adventures. He always had fond names for people and things. Like his high school girlfriend, for whom he carried a torch for years. Apparently (this was before they split…
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The third annual issue of The Lowell Review is available for purchase. It contains 200 pages with 55 devoted to climate and nature, and contains stories, essays, and poems by area writers and from contributors from across the United States. Also included are photographs and brilliant cover art by Nancy…
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Living Madly: Blessings By Emilie-Noelle Provost My husband, Rob, and I moved to Lowell nearly twenty-four years ago with our then eleven-month-old daughter. For the previous four years, we’d been living in a rural area of western Massachusetts. The nearest grocery store was fifteen miles away. We liked it there,…
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The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Toxic politics, anti-democratic nativism, uncivil behavior and willful stupidity – all dominate our sense of life in the United States today. But every once in a while, something happens that renews one’s faith in the human condition. One…
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Boarding School Blues: Ch. 57 By Louise Peloquin Ch. 57: We can work it out During the days leading up to the weekend, Blanche was confined to the infirmary. The slightest noise prompted her to pretend sleep. She didn’t feel like talking or praying out loud with Sister Marie-Ange. And…
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The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. I remember when the U. S. Supreme Court was held in high esteem.Today less than a third of Americans polled view SCOTUS even somewhat favorably. Justice Clarence Thomas is a poster boy for why that is so. With a…
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