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As part of yesterday’s Juneteenth Festival, the Lowell National Historical Park hosted a Lowell Walk on Black History in Lowell. It was led by Maritza Grooms and Bob Forrant and was attended by nearly 50 people. Here are some photos and a summary of what was said at each stop:…
Read More »Today we observe and celebrate Juneteenth National Independence Day which is the official name of the federal holiday that was formally adopted last year. The name Juneteenth is a combination of June and 19th which is the date of the proclamation issued by U.S. Army Major General Gordon Granger upon…
Read More »Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill which took place 30 miles south of here on June 17, 1775. We are fast approaching the semiquincentennial (or 250th anniversary) of this event so there will be more attention paid to it in the coming years. Before considering the…
Read More »Living Madly – Word from the Bird By Emilie-Noelle Provost When I was in middle school, I spent a lot of time reading dictionaries. I did this for fun. I especially liked the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, a colossal multi-volume publication that, due to its size and expense, I…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Hiding out from the headlines? These non-fiction selections may not transport you above the gloom emanating from the news media, but they may illuminate contemporary themes in a deeply satisfying way. Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder,…
Read More »Boarding School Blues: Chapter 38 By Louise Peloquin Dust Bunnies The next morning, while filing outside for recreation, classmates made sure Blanche saw their hang-in-there-and-stay-strong raised fists followed by love-ya-kiddo puckered-lip smiles. She responded likewise in an effort to simulate stoicism. Actually, she was looking forward to what would lie…
Read More »Our regular contributor Tom Sexton in Alaska has a new poem for our readers, a poem for Spring. Monty Don, host of Gardeners’ World on BBC TV, has this advice on pruning your apple tree: “So through over-zealous and mistimed pruning people often ruin their fruit trees,” he adds. So…
Read More »In honor of Pride Month 2022, here’s a story we first posted in 2014: Moody Gardens By Mehmed Ali and Beth Brassel Between 1950 and 1970, Lowell, Mass., saw its status as an industrial dynamo erode. The textile industry shrank to almost nothing and many residents quit on the city,…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. President Biden ran on the promise to bring out country together. Yet, as Tom Friedman recently pointed out in the NY Times, the President has been more effective at strengthening bonds among our allies abroad than in healing divisions at…
Read More »Enterprises Requiring New Clothes By David Daniel Henry David Thoreau, the Sage of Walden Pond, cautions us to beware of all enterprises that require new clothes. With due respect and affection for the man—and I have tons of both—there are times when new threads are called for . . .…
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