Lowell’s Mister Softee

My Life With Lowell’s Favorite Good Humor Man, Mister Softee By Pierre V. Comtois He became a summer tradition. When the sun shone down from blue, cloudless skies and heated up the city sidewalks such that walking barefoot was impossible without burning your feet, there was that familiar jingle that…

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All Over America

All Over America By David Daniel Was it the recent summer Olympics that put it in my mind? Or, somehow, the TV footage of the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan? I’m not sure, but . . . does anyone remember the great high-jumping mania that once gripped the nation? All over…

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Smith Baker Center

The dreaded red “X” recently was posted on the Smith Baker Center. That signals to first responders that the building is unsafe to enter but it also is an indicator that it’s unlikely the building will remain standing for much longer. Given that development, here is some background on the…

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Boarding School Blues: Chapter 20

Boarding School Blues: Chapter 20 By Louise Peloquin Ch. 20: Orderliness That Friday evening in study hall, Sister Roger had special instructions. “A week from today, you will be home eating leftover turkey sandwiches and telling tales of your first weeks here – the friends you have made, the academics,…

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9/11 on richardhowe.com

In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, here are some items on those events that have appeared on this website: Notes from September 11, 2001 By Richard Howe (on Sept 11, 2011) Within days of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, I sat down with a pencil…

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9/11 Then and Now by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. In the early morning of September 11, 2001, a small group of lawyers, engineers, contractors, developers, and architects gathered for a communications seminar on crisis management at the Seaport Hotel in downtown Boston. Their objective was to consider…

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“The Names” by Billy Collins

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, here’s a poem (with some Lowell connections) by Billy Collins that we originally posted ten years ago on Sept 11, 2011.  The Names by Billy Collins Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night. A soft rain stole…

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