Web photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org One of midsummer’s visual signals in the Merrimack Valley is purple loosestrife. While some people frown upon its spread as an invasive species, I’ve always enjoyed the distinctive color in the landscape at this time of year. The following is an essay that is returning…
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As our July weather heats up later this week and as we await the start of Democratic and GOP conventions, look for a heat-up on the Merrimack Valley campaign front. The presumptive Democratic nominee for President Hillary Clinton has a big event planned for Portsmouth NH on Tuesday. Expect many…
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Web photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org With purple loosestrife spread across the region, I thought I’d re-post this prose poem from years ago.–PM . Long Purples People write letters to writers, and sometimes the mail is a gift. Not long ago, Bill Martin wrote to tell me that he’d read a…
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The following is excerpted from a notebook in which I wrote about the first Iraq War or Gulf War. With talk of a third Iraq War, I went back to look and decided to share these fragments from 23 years ago.—PM Gulf War Notebook (1991) Feb. 15. Iraq’s Revolutionary Command…
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Such an incredible day at the Everett Mill today! The Lawrence History Center welcomed nearly 200 people for a full day of scholarship and dialogue about the new immigration into Lawrence and similar communities. We’ll report out with more photos and stories from the day, but here’s one of our…
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“1249 Hildreth Street” by Richard Marion (c) 2014 [original c. 1960] A view of the back yard of the Marion home at 1249 Hildreth Street in Dracut around 1960. The painting was made by Richard Marion when he was a student at Massachusetts College of Art. See more artwork at…
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Today is the last day to register at the lower rate for the Immigration History Symposium this Saturday, April 5, in Lawrence, Mass., hosted by the Lawrence History Center. Panels, film, poetry, photography, smart people, fun people, at a great venue. Why pay extra—register today!(Registering now helps us order the…
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UMass Lowell history professor and economic analyst Bob Forrant yesterday contributed an op-ed essay to the Eagle-Tribune newspaper of Greater Lawrence. In the piece, Bob makes a case for this being a turn-around moment in Lawrence based on positive facts, which are chipping away at the standard negative perception of…
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Thanks to journalist John Collins and the Sun newspaper for reporting on artist Vassilios “Bill” Giavis’s gift of a print of one of his classic paintings to the Town of Dracut. The original painting was based on a poem of mine. Read the story here. A Hundred Nights of Winter…
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At her Lunchtime Lecture at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center this past Monday, Jane Brox distributed a list of “Works Mentioned” in her talk about “Reading, Writing, and Sense of Place.” The books about Sicily are included because Jane is preparing for a trip there in the fall. By…
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