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MassMoments reminds us today that the Puritans of Massachusetts led by minister Increase Mather thought the celebration of Christmas a vulgar, pagan-like and “profane and superstitious custom.” Over those early years the custom was never totally stamped-out. In the early 19th century when the revelry – especially drinking and merry-making …
Read More »Buffalo, N.Y., faces the same kind of challenges that most older cities do, but a bright spot is the lucrative local theatre industry built around touring versions of Broadway shows like “The Addams Family,” which earned $995,000 a week in the 3,000-seat Shea’s theatre, according to the NYTimes. Read the article…
Read More »NYTimes reports more than 100,000 people today demonstrated against Russian power-holders including Putin, who assumes he can rule without consent. The NYT today has two other articles about the growing protest movement in Russia, especially among young workers in the cities.
Read More »A group called Mill City Flashmob recently appeared on Facebook. It’s mission: Lowell, the mill city. Socializing with the community. Membership in the group quickly grew (to become a member, go to facebook.com/MillCityFlashMOB). But the true test of any such organization is not how many visitors it can attract on…
Read More »This poem is from the winter of 1983-84, when I was living in Southern California just south of Laguna Beach. Dana Point was a small coastal town that has since expanded to the extent that there is now a Ritz Carlton there. When I was there it was the bottom edge of…
Read More »These days there continues to be a kerfuffle in certain places when mentions or symbols or images of Christmas make their way into our public schools. While perusing the December 24, 1971 edition of the Lowell Sun, I came across a story about a play presented at Lowell’s Reilly School.…
Read More »“Venice of the North Series: Boott Cotton Warehouse, Eastern Canal” by Richard Marion (c) 2011 See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »The entry below is from the Middlesex Community College blog. The story touched me when I read it. Is is wonderful to read such an inspiring story on the holidays. One last post before Christmas, to give a holiday high-five to one of our own, Chris French, 21, of Lexington,…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog The national mourning following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is so staged as to be laughable. Its purpose was to reinforce the idea that people should cope with the “grief” by staying loyal to…
Read More »Computer Science doctoral candidate Zhongli Liu demonstrates “Hawk,” an unmanned mini helicopter-based aerial wireless kit for search, rescue and surveillance that she helped to design with her team Yinjie Chen, Benyuan Liu, and Asst. Prof. Xinwen Fu at the UMass Lowell Center for Cyber Forensics to assist in thwarting cyber…
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