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Northern Canal in winter
With these views of the Northern Canal, Tony Sampas reminds us that spring remains beyond the horizon
Read More »BeatleJuice at Middlesex Community College
I’m excited and here is why…BeatleJuice is coming to Middlesex Community College. I must admit I love the Beatles. On February 9, 1964, they began what became known in music circles as the “British Invasion”. The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, and Gerry and the Pacemakers joined the Beatles…
Read More »Third Annual Community Haiku Project: Coming in April
All writers, non-writers, and anti-writers, please take notice. This estimable hyper-local blog will host the Third Annual Community Haiku Project in April as one of Lowell’s contributions to National Poetry Month. Start your creative engines, and put on your haiku shoes because we’ll be looking for the choicest of the…
Read More »MassMoments: Birth of the Gerrymander
MassMoments tells us that on this day – February 11, 1812 – the political weapon known the “gerrymander” was born with the stroke of Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry’s pen. The practice of gerrymandering in America predates the invention of the term, but it was this Massachusetts law that gave rise to the…
Read More »Uncle Dave on the Real Terror Threat: the Nat’l Debt
NYTimes columnist David Brooks today has a stark warning for all readers: We are on track to be financially consumed by our own federal government debt. I’m copying a large chunk of his column below because he spells out the situation clearly. Reading this, I’m reminded of the late Paul…
Read More »Link-to-Cell telephones
Outside the house, I routinely carry my cell phone just about everywhere and enjoy using it to stay in touch with people and the net. Some may see it as a tether, but I find the omnipresent cell phone liberating. You can go anywhere at anytime and be confident that…
Read More »Happy to be Unlisted: Forbes’ Most Miserable Cities in US
See Forbes Magazine’s recent list of the 20 most miserable cities in the US. Lowell didn’t make this list. California looks bad here. Number one on the list is Stockton, Calif., where I lived for about six months in 1967 when my father was working as a wool grader for Cal…
Read More »UML Provost Abdelal Comments on Egypt for WBZ Radio
UMass Lowell Provost Ahmed Abdelal checking news from Egypt. (Web photo courtesy of CBSBoston.com and WBZ Radio) UMass Lowell Provost Ahmed Abdelal has been following the news from Egypt closely. He was born in Egypt and has relatives and colleagues in Cairo. UMass Lowell will be hosting an exhibition of contemporary…
Read More »Civil War 150: 1861 Peace Conference Failed
A depiction of the failed 1861 Peace Conference in the Willard Hall of the Willard Hotel. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) From the Washington Post: “As part of the Civil War Sesquicentennial, historians are gathering at the Willard InterContinental hotel to remember the failed, and largely forgotten, peace conference…
Read More »Green Reasons to Live in a City
Harvard economics scholar Edward Glaeser today looks at the environmental pros and cons of city life in a column in the Boston Globe. Read his column here, and get the Globe if you want more. Glaeser’s new book is called “Triumph of the City.” He’s on the list for an invitation…
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