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The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. For lovers of non-fiction, two deep dives into the fragility of democracy, here and in the land in the land of its birth. These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore is a mammoth tome, published…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. I have always followed my instincts in choosing books to recommend, so this posting is a little different. The five books explored here were selected by David Moskowitz, a thoughtful and dedicated course leader at Brandeis Lifelong…
Read More »A Wicked Good Book of Poems: Michael Casey’s Millrat A Review by Stephen O’Connor A professor of mine said James Joyce wrote, “of the common man, but not for the common man.” Who but a graduate student in English would ever attempt more than two pages of Finnegans Wake? And…
Read More »It’s a new year. There’s a new Lowell City Council. And I’m trying a new thing, a weekly newsletter on Lowell politics. Some background: The richardhowe.com blog was born 15 years ago. Its mission was to cover “Lowell politics and history” which we did with thoroughness and regularity. But by…
Read More »Please welcome our newest contributor, Nick Cote. Cape Cod By Nick Cote If you are anything like me, born and raised in Massachusetts, you know that Cape Cod is a special place. Not too far from home yet far enough to be the perfect and tranquil vacation destination. Dennis Port…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. The galaxy lost a stellar jewel last night with the passing of WCVB-TV’s bright and talented Mary Richardson. Sadly, her star had gradually lost its sparkle over the seven years in which her dark disease – Alzheimer’s –…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. I like to think of myself as a glass-half-full sort, looking for reasons to be optimistic even when events in this country seem to be circling the drain and democracy seems more fragile than ever. Realism does…
Read More »The Bridge Gregory F. DeLaurier Early December and the trees in the forest had lost their leaves. Walking through it was like being in a cemetery, or among some ancient obelisks a lost people had erected eons ago, with a strange sadness over what once had been green, fully alive.…
Read More »Boarding School Blues: Chapter 27 By Louise Peloquin Ch. 27: Friends The day after Thanksgiving, Blanche spent the afternoon at her friend Cecile’s house. Maman was taking the siblings to Woolworth’s to renew the stock of school supplies and had promised a stop at the soda fountain if behavior warranted…
Read More »The Poetry of Mapmaking: Retracing Maps of Northern Maine and Elsewhere By Christine O’Connor Detail from Phillips’ Map of the ‘Moosehead – Allagash Region of Northern Maine’ (1978) This past summer I visited Harding’s Bookstore in Wells, Maine. It was the first time since the start of the pandemic.…
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