Archive for January 31st, 2011

January 31st, 2011

In the Merrimack Valley: Democratic Caucuses Scheduled for Saturday February 5th

by Marie

The window for holding the caucuses to elect delegates to the 2011 Democratic Convention on June 4th in Lowell opens this Saturday February 5th and closes on Saturday February 19th. Here is a list of the first group of local  Greater Lowell/Merrimack Valley area caucuses:

Saturday February 5th:

Andover – Saturday, February 5th at 10am, Marland Place at 15 Stevens Street

Bedford – Saturday February 5th at 9:30AM, Lt. Job Lane Element. School at 66 Sweetwater Avenue

Carlisle – Saturday, February 5th at 9:30AM, Town Hall, 27 School Street

Groton – Saturday, February 5th at 2:00 PM, Town Hall at 173 Main Street

Lawrence – Saturday, February 5th at 9:00am, Lawrence Heritage State Park at 1 Jackson Street

Lowell (all wards) – Saturday, February 5th at 10:00 AM, East End Club at 15 West Fourth Street

Pepperell – Saturday, February 5th at 2:00 PM, Charles Lawrence Library at 15 Main Street

Tewksbury – Saturday, February 5th at 10AM, Town Hall on  Main Street/Rte. 38

Tyngsborough – Saturday, February 5th at 10:00 AM, Multi-Service Center at 180 Lakeview Avenue

Look for other caucus dates and locations here at the MassDems.org website.

CategoryCurrent Events, Greater Lowell, Politics | CommentNo Comments »

January 31st, 2011

“Neither slavery nor involuntary…”

by Marie

As the Sesqucentennnial of the Civil War is remembered, History.com reminds us that on this day January 31, 1865,  the U. S. House of Representatives passed the Thirteenth Amendment – abolishing slavery in the United States.

The U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States. It read, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Read the full article here.  Read more on the Thirteenth Amendment here: http://13thamendment.harpweek.com/HubPages/CommentaryPage.asp?Commentary=05Election1864

CategoryCulture, History, Politics | CommentNo Comments »

January 31st, 2011

Review of “The Town”

by DickH

Not to be confused with the play (“Our Town”) I wrote about yesterday, “The Town” is the 2010 Ben Affleck film about a gang of bank robbers from Charlestown. I ordered it from Netflix, mostly to try to discover why “The Fighter” was winning so many awards while “The Town” was being ignored. About one-third of the way through I had my answer: “The Town” wasn’t all that good. It did get better towards the end. Hundreds of bullets flying and many things blowing up will do that to a movie. Because it was filmed on location, you get to see high speed car chases through the narrow streets of Boston which was pretty unique and the local accents weren’t too bad. In one respect, “The Town” was superior to “The Fighter.” The former had many wide shots of Boston which established a sense of place for the various scenes while “The Fighter” showed Lowell only close up. The wide-view, both good and bad, was lacking from the screen. The high point of “The Town” for me had to be Lowell-native Jack Neary’s performance. He played one of the robbery victims and, while he didn’t have a speaking role, he conveyed absolute terror through his facial expressions.

Below is the trailer. It wasn’t the greatest movie of the year, but it was a pretty good action flick which, when added to its local setting and color, makes it worth seeing:

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CategoryCulture | Comment2 Comments »

January 31st, 2011

Senate Race: Coming-in at #6

by Marie

Over on the POLITICO blog, David Catanese writes “from the Campaign Trail” about what he sees as the 10 most competitive Senate races for 2012. This will be a posting updated monthly. He ranks the Virginia race (for now) at #1 – coming in at #6 most competitive:

6. MASSACHUSETTS – Even considering Sen. Scott Brown’s sparkling approval ratings and flush bank account, Democrats will be poised to try to swipe back the seat long held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.  Rep. Mike Capuano is the only Democrat willing to acknowledge he’s actively considering a Senate bid and is viewed as the candidate most likely to take the plunge.  Rep. Ed Markey has $3 million stockpiled in the bank, allowing him a longer timetable, though some Democrats doubt he’ll ever pull the trigger.  State party chair John Walsh tells POLITICO he doesn’t expect announcements until later this spring and he isn’t sweating it.  “If we got to June and there was nobody declared, then I’d say, oh we’re running behind schedule.  I hadn’t even met Deval Patrick at this point in the [2006] cycle,” noted Walsh, who served as the governor’s campaign manager.

Who Won January: Brown

Latest Poll:  Brown 52%, Capuano 36% (Public Policy Polling 11/29-12/1 500 voters)

Read his full article here at POLITICO.com.

NOTE: Reporter Hillary Chabot also weighed in on the 2012 Senate race here in the Boston Herald this morning.

CategoryPolitics | CommentNo Comments »

January 31st, 2011

Signs of Winter

by DickH

Tony Sampas preserves views that are all too familiar to us these days.

CategoryLowell | CommentNo Comments »

January 31st, 2011

Education, Creativity, Tiger Moms, Facebook

by PaulM

See this nugget over at Cliff’s place in which Larry Summers takes on the Tiger Mom-mom Amy Chau on the topic of strict study-and-learning practices vs. creativity.

CategoryCulture, Current Events, Education, History, Lowell | Comment1 Comment »

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January 31st, 2011

MFA Boston: Do You Want Fries with That?

by PaulM

Big. Huge. Vast. Jumbo. Massive. A cornucopia of American art.

My wife and I met two friends for Sunday brunch at the Museum of Fine Arts. We hadn’t been to the MFA since the opening of the new Art of the Americas Wing and Shapiro Family Courtyard last November. To their great credit the folks at the MFA succeeded in making themselves the next new thing in Boston, not a small achievement for an organization that has been around as long as the MFA has. There’s something very un-Boston in the way the MFA emphasized size and quantity in the retooling of the visitor experience. We’re more accustomed to places that are compact gems, like Fenway Park and the North End. In the new courtyard and wing there is a “wow” moment around every other corner.

This is a super-sized MFA, from the spaciousness of the glass-enclosed courtyard with its ground-level eatery to the stunning presentation of certain paintings amid related sculptures, furnishings, and other pieces of decorative art. Displays run from dense salon-style galleries to near-scenic vistas featuring massive landscapes, historical narratives, and portraits. One painting, “The Passage of the Delaware” with Gen. Washington on horseback, measures 17 x 12 feet. Thomas Sully’s painting was commissioned in 1819 for the North Carolina State House, but miscommunication between the Governor’s Office and the artist led to the creation of a work too large to fit in the State House. The painting wound up on display in Boston. Now it fills a prime spot in the MFA’s new wing, coming in at about half the size of a drive-in movie screen.

“The Passage of the Delaware” by Thomas Sully (1819). Web photo courtesy of boston.com

While expansive as a whole, the new wing contains many mid-sized galleries, each with a prominent name inscribed high on one wall, a model of naming-opportunity fundraising. These are filled with works that I don’t recall seeing in my years of visiting the MFA. And if I’ve seen them, the way they are encountered now makes for a sense of discovery. The American folk art gallery appeared to be all new. Unexpected wall colors like burgandy and royal blue give paintings and art objects a fresh look. Old favorites like “Watson and the Shark” (1778) and “The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” (1882) take their places like family elders.

If you have been to the MFA in Boston 20 times before and haven’t been for a while, you should consider going to see the new and improved MFA. I doubt that you will be disappointed. This is a spectacular addition to Boston. We are fortunate to be so close to such a treasure.

“The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” by John Singer Sargent. Web photo courtesy of csmonitor.com

CategoryCulture, Education, History, Lowell | Comment1 Comment »

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