Thanks to Marie on Facebook for this link to This Day in History at history.com with the account of Ted Williams hitting a home run in his last time at bat in his career—in Fenway Park in 1960.
The moment was immortalized by young John Updike writing for the New Yorker. His piece was titled “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.” Read the Updike article here from baseball-almanac.com.
The Bridge Review Special Bread and Roses Issue Seeks Submissions
The Bridge Review will produce a 2012 special issue in support of the Centennial Anniversary of the Great Lawrence Strike of 1912, better known as the “Bread & Roses Strike.” Deadline for submissions is January 11, 2012.
The Bridge Review: Merrimack Valley Culture, an on-line bioregional journal founded in 1997, explores the interwoven concepts of place, nature, culture, and society in our region. Based at the UMass Lowell, the journal includes writing, visual art, music, video clips, and other creative and scholarly work.
The year 2012 offers an opportunity to examine the 1912 strike and the issues surrounding it using poems, short stories, oral histories, creative non-fiction, and the visual arts. The intent of the centennial is to tell the strike story and see it as a lens to discuss relevant contemporary issues. Subjects to consider include work, immigration, the labor movement, occupational health, social justice, city life, technology, industrialsm and post-industrialism, and more.
Submit work for consideration to guest editor Charles_Levenstein@uml.edu
The editors will consider material suitable for electronic transmission to the Bridge Review audience. Works that are substantial in size should be discussed with the editors prior to submission. For more information you may want to consult:
http://ecommunity.uml.edu/
According to Mark E. Vogler’s article in today’s Eagle Tribune – the state Department of Elementary & Secondary Education presented their “District Review” to the Lawrence School Committee last week. The review is apparently replete with findings that members of the Lawrence School Committee and the committee Chair – Mayor William Lantigua – need training, coaching and instruction on how to do their jobs. Highlighting the area of “Leadership and Governance” - the independent consultant review team was looking for accountability, understanding of the importance of the role of the school committee, leadership, effective governance and informed policy decision making. The committee was deemed “in a state of confusion” – in need of remediation.
The report recommended Mayor Lantigua consult with education officials to find training and assistance for him and the rest of the committee.
“It is suggested that the chair work individually with a coach to help him effectively execute his role and responsibilities as school committee chair and the tools available to him to control and redirect inappropriate behavior by any member,” the report suggested.
School Committee members should participate as a group in “retraining,” which would include how members will interact with employees and with each other and “what the boundaries of their roles will be.”
Read the full article here at eagletribune.com.
Culture, Current Events, Education, Greater Lowell, Politics | 
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Corey Sciuto is a denizen of the downtown – an urban dweller – a smart, young and tuned-in observer of the Lowell scene. His wonderful and powerful photographs of downtown and Lowell’s neighborhoods brought him to my radar screen. He and I now serve together on the Lowell Historical Society board where he has helped bring a venerable organization that has a mission of preservation into the world of the new technology. Just days ago under Corey’s tutalege , the Society updated its website and launched a blog – check it out here.
Cory has his own blog where he marks his personal views and observations of that Lowell scene that is so much a part of his life and his family history. A recent post on the University Avenue Bridge seem to me to be timely – given the current demolition actvities – as well as interesting and thoughtful. Here’s a link – what do you think?
Gettysburg National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 3,500 Union soldiers killed in the Battle of Gettysburg.
On this blog we offer many posts about our historic Lowell cemeteries. Cemeteries are an important and intimate part of our lives and our ancestry. Stories abound there about individuals, families, our history and our culture.
As we continue through this year of remembrance for the Sesquicentennnial of the American Civil War the National Parks Service is highlighting some of the national Civil War cemeteries under their care and stewardship.
Creating national cemeteries became a necessity during the American Civil War in order for the United States military to respectfully bury the dead. These National Cemeteries have become national shrines, honoring the sacrifice and valor of the men and women who have served this country throughout its history. The National Park Service’s Heritage Education Services and Federal Preservation Institute, the Department of Veterans Affairs Historic Preservation Office and National Cemetery Administration History Program, and the National Preservation Institute, in partnership with the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, produced this Civil War Era National Cemeteries Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and remember those who served.
Check this National Park Service website to lean more about Civil War Era National Cemeteries: Honoring Those Who Served. See photos of the cemeteries and consider a travel itinerary that would include a visit to a Civil War cemetery.
Flankers
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Trees change at night to rust, orange, brown. On long warm afternoons my friends and I ran downfield, catching perfect spirals, tackling each other as if trying to hurt one another when all we wanted was to be good at what we knew. Red-gold leaves surrounded us. Our dungarees were stained green. We flung ourselves into the test, trying to prove our value—each one measured against the other, but all stacked up against the worst the world could throw at us. It’s not enough to say it was a game. It was about order and chaos, about learning to play by rules, about teaming up to finish a job, about using strength and brains. To say the joy was a type within reach makes it all sound a little fancy, but I can still see the shining faces and hear voices exploding in the open each time something went right. We ran as if our lives depended on it, and who can say they haven’t? The moves I learned back then still drive me through the day.
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—Paul Marion (c) 1993, 2011
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