In the spirit of Lowell Walks, here’s a reprise of a blog post from March 2009. Michael Creasey, then-national park superintendent, joined me for a hike along the Pawtucket Canal, the western reach. This sketch appears as a sidebar in my book MILL POWER, about the Lowell comeback starting in…
Throughout the month of March, Trasna is featuring Irish language writers. This week, we are pleased to share the work of Doireann Ní Ghríofa. Included in this post is a video of her poem: “Under a Fridge Magnet is a Photo of Grandmother as a Schoolgirl.” The poem is read…
Every month is Black History Month even though February stands out in the spotlight. We’re happy to share news of a special resource at the UMass Lowell Center for Lowell History, based at the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center as well as online. “Untold Lowell Stories: Black History” brings together…
March 17, 2021 – With the pandemic lockdown still upon us, we are deprived of our “traditional” celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. This Paul Marion post from March 17, 2011, captures what Lowell is usually like today. For me, it evokes some nostalgia and brings some hopefulness for the not-too-distant…
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here’s a post from eleven years ago complete with some of the comments left at that time. Even though corned beef is not regularly consumed in Ireland, we eat a lot of it on St Patrick’s Day. But I have a couple of questions:…
Timing is Everything By George Chigas One day last week, I hoofed it up to UML Lydon Library to get a couple of Inter-Library Loan books for an article I’m working on about how Kerouac actually met Neal Cassady at Columbia in December 1946. The basic facts are generally well-known,…
From time to time through the pandemic, I have posted updates to capture the events and the look and feel of that moment in time. Almost exactly a year ago today I did my first. I called it “Covid-19: March 12 edition” never imagining that I should have included “2020”…
ATLANTIC CURRENTS II Enter Your Original Writing—Compete for Cash Prizes Attention, writers! Alumni and students of UMass Lowell and University College Cork are invited to submit original prose or poetry for a writing competition this spring. Winners will be awarded a cash prize up to $500. The competition is…
Throughout the month of March, Trasna is featuring Irish language writers. This week, we are pleased to share the work of Aifric Mac Aodha, an accomplished Irish-language poet. We are also pleased to share the spoken word, two readings, each in Irish and English, by the poet. For many Americans,…
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Former House Speaker Tip O’Neill used to say, “All politics is local.” He might not recognize the world today, in which politics has become increasingly nationalized, and media coverage has gone the same way. Political dialogue for more…