The Presidential Penchant for Golf

 President Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. president, is shown playing golf in 1916. He played more golf than any other president, before or since. With the comments from some quarters about the time President Obama spends playing golf,  I thought a comparison was in order. After a bit of research I found…

Read More »

Usually I save my poetry postings for Facebook. But the beauty of this day brings me to this verse. An excerpt from the Prelude to “A Vision of Sir Launfal” by James Russell Lowell: And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days;…

Read More »

Lowell Then: Model Cities Program (1968-72)

From 1968 to 1972, Lowell participated in a new urban redevelopment program that had been launched as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” legislative broadside. The federal programs were intended to lift up the many Americans facing dire economic and social challenges. Lowell Mayor Edward J. Early, Jr., moved…

Read More »

Why we crave sugar

In a New York Times Op-Ed yesterday, Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard, offers an evolutionary explanation for our obesity epidemic and provides some context for the ongoing debate over limiting or taxing portion sizes of sugary soft drinks and other sweets. The essay is not…

Read More »

The Mill City Triathlon

From the video description: The Mill City Triathlon is a great event held at the Lowell Beach on the Merrimack River in Lowell Massachusetts. The swim is an out and back in the Merrimack River. The bike course is a rolling course in Lowell and Tyngsboro followed by an an…

Read More »

June 6, 1944 – D-Day

I didn’t want the anniversary of D-Day to pass without comment. Below is a repeat of the post I did today for the LowellDeeds blog. Above and far below are photos from a family visit to Normandy back in 2004. The Allied invasion of Normandy – D-Day – occurred 68…

Read More »

‘This Is Dalton Jones’

Last Friday, I received a surprise call at my UMass Lowell office. I was in a meeting off campus, so was not there to pick up the phone. Later in the day, I got an email message explaining what had happened and telling me to check the voicemail. I joined the…

Read More »