Menu
SCHEDULE NOTE. I’ll be reading poems in the famous Moses Greeley Parker Lectures series on Saturday, April 29, AT 12 NOON (NOT 2 PM), at the Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St, next to Lowell City Hall. The menu will include oldies and new work from books like “Union River”…
Read More »Over the past few years, many people have grown concerned about home title theft. The increased worry is driven mostly by extensive advertising by companies that provide services which, for a fee, monitor home ownership records. This weekend, in “Are title protection services worth the expense?”, the Boston Globe asks…
Read More »Living Madly: Just Friends By Emilie-Noelle Provost In the 1989 film, When Harry Met Sally, Harry Burns, the character played by Billy Crystal, famously says, “. . . men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.” I know some people believe this, but…
Read More »Boarding School Blues: Ch. 56 By Louise Peloquin Ch. 56: An elixir and a frappe Blanche’s head was a Tilt-A-Whirl. Buzzing voices extracted her from stupor. “Andy, get Marieanne! PF’s bleedin’ all over the place. Madeleine, help me turn her over. One, two, three, go!” Blanche didn’t need to open…
Read More »The Moth of Literary Fame: A Tale of Two Writers By David Daniel Emerson likened literary fame to a “flitting moth.” The recent imaginative-biodrama Emily reminds us what an uncertain thing a writer’s legacy can be. Dead from tuberculosis at 30, a mere year after her lone novel appeared to…
Read More »In my Substack newsletter a few weeks ago I suggested the city should conduct an after-action review of its policies for dealing with the Covid pandemic, mostly to learn lessons that might better prepare the city for the next public health crisis. I included an observation that I found it…
Read More »Laid Off By Paul Marion The following story by Paul Marion originally appeared on paulmarion.com with the title, “Laid Off,” a chapter from “Do You Think You’ll Ever Go Back?” (a memory book in progress). ONE OF MY PRE-SCHOOL MEMORIES is a composite of scenes with my father during the…
Read More »Back on March 21, 2023, Louise Peloquin reported on the upheaval in French football, with the coach of the women’s team being dismissed shortly before the start of the World Cup. Today, Louise brings news that the team may have hired its new coach: The French women’s national soccer team…
Read More »While scrolling through the Netflix home page recently, I came upon Notre-Dame, a series produced in France which was “inspired by true accounts from French firefighters” who helped save the historic cathedral from complete destruction in the 2019 fire. While the fire is the through-line of the six-episode series with…
Read More »The United States Veterans Administration (VA) celebrated Women’s History Month with a blog post highlighting women who led the fight for better health care for women veterans. One of those recognized was Edith Nourse Rogers, who represented Lowell in Congress for 35 years until her death in 1960. Below is…
Read More »