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In 1868, Lowell resident Charles Cowley wrote the “Illustrated History of Lowell”, a book filled with fascinating facts about our city. Here’s my fourth weekly compilation of “tweeting” from Cowley’s book: June 29 – On October 29, 1727 an earthquake caused walls and chimneys to fall throughout the Merrimack Valley…
Read More »All this writing and opinion-giving about our economic problems and what’s needed to get the nation out of the financial ditch sent me back to the writings of young Jack Kerouac in the collection I edited, “Atop an Underwood.” In 1941, when he was 19 years old, Kerouac wrote a…
Read More »I couldn’t resist the urge – this photo of Rachel Maddow – fellow resident of Massachusetts – not “in mufti” needs to be seen as “captioned.” Maddow with her crew and NBC correspondent Richard Engel is currently in Afghanistan where she will spend the next couple of days reporting in and from the field. The…
Read More »I always wished I had been born on the fourth of July…can you just image your birthday being filled with parades, fireworks and barbeques every year?. Who cares that the celebration is not for you…it doesn’t matter. It would be a blast anyway (excuse the pun). Below is a list…
Read More »Yankee Magazine arrived the other day. There are a myriad of stories and articles pertaining to summer in New England. Learn the history and “art of the sail” with Robbie Doyle a Marblehead sailmaker. Follow seasoned kayakers along the Coast of Maine’s Island Trail. Enjoy Rhode Island natives Casey and Garret Roberts’…
Read More »The web isn’t called “the web” for nothing. Like no other tool, the internet both displays and helps us plug in to the vast connectedness of daily life. In recent days the writers on this blog have put their words around the economy, the future of cities, university happenings and…
Read More »The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which…
Read More »Speaking of TIME magazine, the new issue has a spread about the summer reading lists of some well known people. Judd Apatow mentions “The Garden of Last Days” by Andre Dubus III, who teaches writing and literature at UMass Lowell. Apatow’s list also includes heavy hitters Dave Eggers and Dostoevsky.
Read More »Just to add to the back-and-forth about Andrew’s post on “austerity” and the economic mess, note that the TIME cover story this week is about the power of lobbyists in Washington, D.C., a major factor working against any serious budgetary reform. Remember how Ross Perot was going to lift the…
Read More »Boston.com posted a “best” list for ice cream in New England that includes Shaw Farm in Dracut and Kimball’s in Westford, Carlisle, and a NH location. Here’s the link for the Shaw Farm entry. Not on the list, but worth the drive is the ice cream stand at the Brookstone…
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