Archive for March, 2012

March 31st, 2012

Following the tuna fishermen of Gloucester by Marjorie Arons-Barron

by Tony
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Check it out.
Tuna. What I ate for lunch every day in high school. What I ask for these days in sushi. And now there’s Wicked Tuna, a National Geographic series about the lives of Gloucester fishermen who pursue their livelihood in pursuit of these magnificent silvery fish. (Seeing them hooked, harpooned and decapitated might make a vegetarian out of me.) The series starts Sunday night on the National Geographic Channel and was previewed this week at the Wilbur Theatre, with many of the fishermen, friends and relatives in attendance.
The iconic images belie a troubled reality, with pressures coming for them on land and at sea. For the families involved in the pursuit, bluefin tuna are the defining element of their existence and the key to their economic survival. The series follows the struggles of five fishing boats, their captains and crews, revealing the stunning difficulty of their grueling work lives. There’s nothing high tech about the way they fish; it’s rod and reel, strength and determination. It costs about $3000 to provision a boat for a three-day outing on Georges Bank. They need to catch at least one fish just to break even, more than one if they’re small. Their language is salty, to say the least, and their anger at the elements or at each other is unconcealed. But underneath the “man talk” are a grittiness and entrepreneurial commitment to survive and succeed that is impressive.

Such stories are also the subject of a Regis College musical in April based on oral histories of the Gloucester fishermen’s wives. It will be at the college in Weston from the 11th to 14th and at the Cape Ann Theatre in Gloucester the 20th and 21st.

National Geographic’s stated goals are to tell the human stories behind the macro descriptions of the fishing industry and to educate people about the increasing scarcity of bluefin tuna. (According to its press material, the adult bluefin population has declined by as much as 83 percent in the Atlantic since 1950.) Marine biologists say it is a victim of overfishing. Governments have tried to set quotas for fish and regulate fishing methods, creating other problems for the fishermen.

But overfishing isn’t the only threat to Gloucester. Increasingly there are concerns about community gentrification and historic neighborhoods giving way to luxury development. Gloucester seems on the verge of solidifying the home of its 400-year-old fishing industry by marrying it to 21st century activities around marine innovation. It’s still a working class community, and one hopes it won’t become too precious as travelers and high rollers move in. Sadly, if gentrification goes too far, the real endangered species might turn out to be the Gloucester fishermen and families themselves.

I’d greatly appreciate your thoughts in the comments section below.

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March 31st, 2012

Dickens in Lowell National Park

by PaulM

At about 6 pm on Friday, March 30, Chancellor Martin T. Meehan of UMass Lowell spoke to an audience of more than 100 people in the Moody Street Feeder multi-purpose room on the fourth floor of the Boott Cotton Mills Museum. Behind him, through tall east-facing windows of Boott Mill #6, segmented like rectangular-blocked graph paper, behind him the late-day light of early spring gave the rose-red bricks of the Massachusetts Mills a familiar warm glow—and all we could see from that fourth floor height, from a certain angle, was the uppermost sections of the mill and the old Napping building, an industrial ridgeline under the pale blue sky.

Someone listening to the Chancellor talk about the extraordinary partnership between Lowell National Park and the University and how projects such as the new “Dickens in Lowell” museum exhibition enrich the community, this exhibit whose opening we were there to celebrate, someone listening and looking out the windows could imagine the surprise of Charles Dickens when he arrived in Lowell in February 1842 and noted the “fresh buildings of bright red brick and painted wood,” a scene matched by what we were seeing outside the windows in the historic mill district of downtown Lowell, in the middle of Lowell National Park. Dickens visited factories, mills, that produced cotton cloth, carpets, and woolen fabric. He saw the city when it was still new, about 20 years old, the span of time from 1992 to now.

The rose-red structures yesterday, thanks to careful preservation and useful renovation, hardly looked older than those that Dickens saw 170 years ago. The view-shed began above street level, so there were no utility poles, street signs, or moving vehicles to distract from the vista. There may have been a wire or two that I filtered out. It was a view out of time, or timeless, a fitting backdrop for the commentary we were hearing about Dickens and the nineteenth century, about crossing the Atlantic in a small ship in a winter storm, and the boarding house outfitted with a piano. When Florian Schweizer, director of the Dickens Museum in London, spoke to the crowd, his English accent only added to the retro quality of the moment. We could imagine Dickens himself speaking with the Lowell movers and shakers who escorted him around for the half day whose experiences made for the lasting account in the author’s travel book “American Notes for General Circulation.”

Merrimack Prints web image courtesy of Lowell Historical Society

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March 31st, 2012

“Remember the Ladies”

by Marie

  Young Abigail Adams (1766)  Portrait by Benjamin Blythe

We are reminded that on this day March 31, 1876, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John Adams - future President of the United States – as he and other members of the Continental Congress were gathered as the governing body of the Thirteen Colonies.  She wrote:

 ”I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

From the National First Ladies Library’s biographical notes on Abigail Adams :

When John Adams went to Philadelphia in 1774 to serve as his colony’s delegate to the First Continental Congress, Abigail Adams remained home. The separation prompted the start of a lifelong correspondence between them, forming not only a rich archive that reflected the evolution of a marriage of the Revolutionary and Federal eras, but a chronology of the public issues debated and confronted by the new nation’s leaders. The letters reflect not only Abigail Adams’ reactive advice to the political contentions and questions that John posed to her, but also her own observant reporting of New England newspapers’ and citizens’ response to legislation and news events of the American Revolution.

Regarding Abigail Adams’ admonition to husband John – it was nearly 150 years before the House of Representatives voted to pass the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.

Learn more about Abigail Adams here at the National First Ladies Library.

 An older Abigail Adams (1744-1818) … Portrait by Gilbert Stuart

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March 30th, 2012

Dickens and Massachusetts exhibit officially opens

by DickH

UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan

More than 100 people gathered at the Tsongas Industrial History Center at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum earlier this evening for the opening reception for “Dickens and Massachusetts” which commemorates his 1842 visit to Massachusetts which included a day in Lowell which made a deep impression on the famous English writer. The exhibit, which is set up in the first floor exhibit space of the Boott Museum, will be open from 10 am until 4 pm, seven days per week through October. Be sure to visit it – often. Tonight’s festivities also kick-off seven months of lectures, demonstrations, walking tours and all manner of activities – 75 in all – that will take place around Lowell between now and October.

Tonight’s program opened with UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan (shown above) thanking the various institutions that partnered with UML to make this exhibit a reality including the Lowell National Historical Park, the Tsongas Industrial History Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI has a world-class collection of Dickensian artifacts – who knew?) and the Charles Dickens Museum of London. The National Park’s David Blackburn, who co-curated the exhibit and served as master of ceremonies tonight, next introduced his co-curator, UMass Lowell professor Dianna Archibald who thanked all who were involved in the creation of the exhibit. She said that the final days of actually setting up the exhibit made it feel like Dickens had returned to Lowell and that for a scholar who had devoted so much time to studying Dickens, being around so many artifacts from his life was a very special experience. She said the best place in the world to do an exhibit was at the Lowell National Historical Park.

Next to speak was Dr. Florian Schweizer, the executive director of the Charles Dickens Museum of London (shown below). Dr. Schweizer said that this exhibit shows how Dickens influenced America and America him. Schweizer acknowledged that much of the attention on Dickens writings about America were on some of the negativity expressed by the writer but that the time has come for us to re-evaluate the relationship between Dickens and Massachusetts and that this exhibit and all of its ancillary programming will hopefully be the start of such a re-examination.

Dr Florian Schweizer, Exec Director of Charles Dickens Museum of London

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March 30th, 2012

National Trolley Museum, 25 Shattuck Street

by DickH

“National Trolley Museum, 25 Shattuck Street” by Tony Sampas

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March 30th, 2012

In the Merrimack Valley: Merrimack College Dorm in Our North Tewkbury/West Andover Neighborhood?

by Marie

Our North Tewkbury neighborhood is abuzz yet again with talk of  happenings along the River Road Tewksbury/Andover corridor. The road itself is in the final stages of reconstruction and reconfiguration – just awaiting some utility pole removal. The enormous Avalon project on the former site of the Poor Clares Monastery is accepting applications for residency. The nuns you might remember moved across the way into a newer, smaller complex. A few years ago the former Christian Formation Center was bought and renovated to house the Melmark School – a resident and day school for autistic children. Now there is talk of creating satellite housing for Merrimack College students next door at the former seminary.

Some history… Many years ago there was discussion about acquiring the Franciscan Seminary property on River Road for a move and expansion of the Lawrence-located Central Catholic High School – then a school just for boys. In fact, a purchase and sales agreement may have been signed for the 100 plus acre property before a hue and cry arose among some alums to keep the school in the city. Some will remember the seminary as a place resplendant with beautiful lights during the Christmas season – back when the school was in the business of training young men considering the priesthood. The school opened in the early 1930s and closed in the late-70s later evolving into what is now known as  the Franciscan Retreat and Conference Center. The Christian Formation Center - built on adjacent property - served as a busy faith and community activity center – hosting youth retreats,  parish shows, wedding receptions and even political events such as one where Rose Kennedy spoke in 1970 urging support of her son Senator Ted Kennedy! The Poor Clare nuns were moved from their Westford Street location in Lowell by Cardinal Cushing to a very large cloister across from the Sem and the Center – it proved too large, too costly - too much to maintain.

In today’s Eagle-Tribune Jonathan Phelps writes that according to Jeff Doggett, the chief of staff to Merrimack College President Christopher Hopey:

Merrimack College is working on a deal to rent the St. Francis Retreat Center on River Road to temporarily house a growing population of students.

The 2,000-student independent Catholic college is forecasting the need for additional student housing starting this fall… the college plans to only lease the facility for the next academic year. A final agreement still has to be signed…”

The center has the capacity of about 150 students and will be occupied by upperclassman, he said.

While it does seem to be a temporary measure, the impact of traffic is certainly a concern for the area. It does raise the question of what longterm use will be finally found for the large seminary property. The mix of single family residential and leased apartment housing, residential and day students,  cloister, horses, water treatment plant, golf course, cemetery and bird sanctuary appear simpatico for now on this very busy stretch of road high above the Merrimack River through Tewksbury and Andover.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Read the full article here at eagletribune.com.

 

Mrs. Rose Kennedy is applauded by her granddaughter Kathleen Kennedy (R),  daughter of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy as the mother of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy  spoke at the Christian Formation Center on October 4, 1970 in Andover, MA

Read more: http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/Archives/1970/1647/5/#ixzz1qb1iG6tG

CategoryGreater Lowell, History | Comment1 Comment »

March 30th, 2012

File Under: All Sea Roads Lead to Lowell (The Titanic)

by PaulM

Our frequent contributor author Steve O’Connor sent along a bulletin of interest regarding Lowell and The Titanic, that doomed ocean liner much in the news with the centennial of the sinking due next month. Here’s the message received by Steve via a friend who grew up in Lowell and has lived in Virginia for 30 years, and who got the word from his own friend in Manchester, England:

Hi… I thought you may be interested to hear your hometown has been mentioned in our local newspaper—–The Manchester Evening News, in relation to a survivor of the Titanic.  There is a lot of press and television coverage at  the moment with regard to the sinking of the Titanic and the 100 year anniversary on April 15th.  It seems a Manchester born teenager Thomas Whiteley who survived, went on to give ‘value for money’ reviews, dramatic accounts of his experience to theatre goers at the Merrimack Theatre in your hometown of Lowell!!! Hope all goes well.—Mary

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March 30th, 2012

Tour of Lowell City Hall Part 2

by Tony

Below is Part 2 of a video tour of Lowell City Hall given by City Councilor Rita Mercier along with Erica Alarise (host). The show is produced and edited by Crystal Johnson and posted by heels2479.

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March 29th, 2012

Greater Lowell Bar honors Hon. Paul Chernoff

by DickH

Hon Paul Chernoff with Clerk of Courts Michael Sullivan in foreground

The Greater Lowell Bar Association held a retirement celebration for the Honorable Paul Chernoff today at the Lowell Superior Court. Judge Chernoff, who has sat at the Lowell courthouse more than perhaps any other Superior Court judge over the past decade, had officially retired several years ago upon reaching age 70 but had been recalled to duty due to a heavy caseload and personnel shortages. Judge Chernoff was presented with proclamations by retired Supreme Judicial Court justice Judith Cowin on behalf of Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and by Superior Court Chief Justice Barbara Rouse on behalf of State Senator Eileen Donoghue. State Representative Kevin Murphy and Lowell City Councilor Kevin Broderick, both practicing attorneys, were present with citations from their respective bodies.

In his farewell remarks, Judge Chernoff spoke eloquently and affectionately about Lowell. He said that with his seniority he could have opted out of sitting in Lowell for at least the last two decades but that he always chose to come here because of the lure of the staff and attorneys who populate the Lowell Superior Courthouse. He always felt like part of a family when he was in Lowell. He called the late Brian Dunigan, Michael Brennan and Joe Mahoney (all of the clerk’s office here) his three Irish brothers and went on to compliment judicial secretary Bonnie Dineen.

Judge Chernoff said that the court staff and the lawyers make Lowell different than anywhere else. He’s not sure why; perhaps people in Lowell “have a better understanding of the human condition.” He also said there is a “higher level of civility here than elsewhere” which was something he learned “at the knee of Elliot Cowdrey, Cornelius Kiernan and David Williams in the Lowell District Court” (where Chernoff frequently sat from his appointment to the District Court in 1976 to his elevation to the Superior Court in 1984).

As his final day of service neared, Judge Chernoff said the court officers frequently said he couldn’t leave because there were still too many cases to be disposed of. To that sentiment, Judge Chernoff turned to Robert Frost for a response, reading the first few lines of Frost’s poem, “After apple picking”:

My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.

As for his decision to leave now, Judge Chernoff said he had concluded he should leave before he started feeling burned out and before other people thought he was becoming burned out. He closed with a portion of another Frost poem which he said should be in the mind of all judges. The poem was “Fear of God”:

If you should rise from Nowhere up to Somewhere,
From being No one up to being Someone,
Be sure to keep repeating to yourself
You owe it to an arbitrary god
Whose mercy to you rather than to others
Won’t bear to critical examination.

As a fellow occupant of the courthouse, I can say that Judge Chernoff will truly be missed. His demeanor was always cheerful no matter what the circumstances and he was in some ways affectionately unpredictable. Summer mornings before the building opened to the public, I was often startled by the sight of Judge Chernoff clad in shorts and protective helmet wheeling his bicycle through the metal detector after having ridden it here from his home in Concord. I understand he once came via the Concord River in a canoe. But my favorite Judge Chernoff story comes from years ago, back when I was practicing law. Opposing council and I both ventured into the Judge’s chambers for some type of pretrial conference. It wasn’t a very contentious case nor a busy day and the topic of summer vacations came up. Judge Chernoff remarked that his most interesting summer vacation was the year he and his wife both volunteered to spend a month on active duty with the Israeli Army. When they first arrived, the assignment officer began quizzing them. Mrs. Chernoff was a dental technician so she was immediately assigned to the base infirmary. The officer than turned and asked “what do you do in civilian life, Mr. Chernoff?” – “I’m a judge.” – “Do you have any useful skills?” – Judge Chernoff spent the summer in the motor pool and he clearly relished sharing the story which I think illustrates what a special person Paul Chernoff is.

Judge Chernoff with Laurie Hogan and Debra Dewitt of Gr. Lowell Bar Assoc.

CategoryCurrent Events, Lowell | Comment1 Comment »

March 29th, 2012

Andrew Jackson, Charles Dickens and Lowell

by DickH

Within a single decade, two of the most influential men in the early eighteenth century, Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickens, both visited Lowell. What they saw here greatly influenced their views of the coming age of industrialization. On the eve of the grand opening of the Dickens and Massachusetts exhibit at the Lowell National Park’s Boott Cotton Mill Museum, read all about the visits to Lowell by President Jackson, by Dickens and by numerous other dignitaries of the age in my latest article in the Local History section of Howl in Lowell.

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