Menu
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger reminds me of nothing so much as Harvard Law Professor Michael Sandel’s course on justice and making ethical decisions, especially when choosing between two, equally problematic alternatives. Holsinger’s novel is set in the era of artificial…
Read More »The Lowell City Council met last Tuesday night. In this newsletter, I’ll discuss several issues that arose at that meeting. **** The Markley Group LLC, represented by former Mayor Bill Martin (who is the last attorney to have served on the Lowell City Council), came before the council with a…
Read More »Kerouac’s Characters: An Introduction By Kurt Phaneuf Of the 600-plus personages in a literary oeuvre Jack Kerouac called his “Duluoz Legend,” over 200 of them are Lowellians. Kerouac’s first novel–The Town and The City (1950)–is filled with his friends and neighbors. His personal favorite works–Visions of Gerard (1963) and Doctor…
Read More »Pulled from an old notebook, here’s a “Time Tunnel” account of a random train ride from Lowell to Boston about 30 years ago. — PM Lowell Line (1994) A long train slides through the Thorndike Street station as I wait for the 9:07 a.m. run to Boston. Doing an errand…
Read More »The Kerouac Commemorative Has Become a Sore Spot By Steve Edington [This article originally appeared as an editorial in The Lowell Sun on September 24, 2025. Visit the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac website for the full schedule of events.] This coming October 9-13 Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (LCK) will present our 37th…
Read More »Nana by Leo Racicot I liked few things better than being with my Nana, sitting beside her in her kitchen, waiting for everything to cook. I can still hear the good heat bubbling up from aromatic casseroles, my whole boyhood exoticized by almonds, the scent of sesame, strong licorice, black…
Read More »What’s on Tonight? By Jacqueline McDonald The sun set in the winter of 1968 on my part-time job as the uncredited TV reporter for the Lowell Sun. The unsupervised job was to copy licensed show summaries and format them for the paper’s TV section. Not much fun in that. Instead,…
Read More »Dry Spell – (PIP #81) By Louise Peloquin Weather news has always ignited readership interest. L’Étoile – October 28, 1924 THE DANGERS OF THE PROLONGED DROUGHT _____ Hunting permits could be suspended in order to avoid the dangers of forest fires. _____ For several weeks now, drought has…
Read More »The entry below is being cross-posted from Marjorie Arons -Barron own blog. Help me out here. I’m struggling with conflicting messages about Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and inspirational leader especially to young, college-age conservatives. In our ever-escalating culture of violence, his horrific assassination has become the latest…
Read More »Last Saturday I traveled to Springfield for the Massachusetts Democratic State Convention, a decidedly niche event for most readers. However, with no city council meeting this week and with the city’s preliminary election behind us, today’s newsletter will look ahead to next fall’s state election. Unless you’re obsessed with politics,…
Read More »