January 21st, 2012
by Marie
The editorial in today’s Nashua Telegraph poses an interesting question – “Has the grand tradition of the New Hampshire primary come to an end?” Noting that the three candidates – Jon Huntsman, who bragged about holding 150 events in the state, Rick Santorum and Buddy Roemer (Buddy who?) – who campaigned in New Hampshire relentlessly fell way short in the New Hampshire primary* while Mitt Romney (albeit a New Hampshire landowner) and Ron Paul triumped in slots one and two. It seems that the retail politics enjoyed by New Hampshire voters over the last 60 years has been scooped by technology – the like of Twitter, Facebook and blogs – and definitely by Fox News and its endless candidate debates. The editorial posits:
It started with Nixon, or more accurately, with the 1960 televised debate between a handsome and charismatic John F. Kennedy and a sweating Richard Nixon, whose 5 o’clock shadow made him look like a crook.
Technology continued to change presidential election campaigns, and it’s doing so in ways that are likely to soon make New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary irrelevant. Worst of all, there may be nothing New Hampshire can do about its diminished importance but grin and bear it.
One wonders as well about the importance of Iowa and those caucuses!
Read the full editorial here at nashuatelegraph.com.
*Sidebar:
The state of New Hampshire has held a presidential primary since 1916, but its current importance didn’t emerge until 1952 when – after the state simplified its ballot access laws in 1949 seeking to boost voter turnout – General Dwight Eisenhower demonstrated his broad voter appeal by defeating Senator Robert A. Taft – widely known as ”Mr. Republican” – who had been favored to win the nomination and on the Democratic side when Senator Estes Kefauver defeated incumbent President Harry S. Truman – leading Truman to abandon his campaign for a second term of his own. In 1968 Senator Eugene McCarthy nearly defeated President Lyndon Johnson – sending a strong message that had Johnson declaring: ”I shall not seek, and will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”
Current Events, Greater Lowell, History, Politics | 
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January 21st, 2012
by Marie
MassMoments reminds us that on this day – January 21, 1861 – the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia was formally organized. In early January 1861, as civil war approached, the men of Massachusetts began to form volunteer militia units. Many workers in the textile cities of Lowell and Lawrence were among the first to join a new infantry regiment, the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, when it was formally locally organized on January 21, 1861. The men met regularly to drill. In March, they were issued uniforms and Springfield rifles and told to be ready to assemble at any time. When Fort Sumter was attacked on April 12th, the men of the Massachusetts Sixth knew their days of drilling were over. And the rest is history – the history that is being remembered now as the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War. There have been many posts on this blog about Lowell and the Civil War as part of the remembrance.
…in 1861, the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia was formally organized. With war approaching, men who worked in the textile cities of Lowell and Lawrence joined this new infantry regiment. They were issued uniforms and rifles; they learned to drill. They waited for the call. It came on April 15th, three days after the attack on Fort Sumter. They were needed to defend Washington, D.C.. The mood when they left Boston was almost festive. When they arrived in the border state of Maryland three days later, everything changed. An angry mob awaited them. In the riot that followed, 16 people lost their lives. Four were soldiers from Massachusetts. These men were the first combat fatalities of the Civil War.
Read the article
here at MassMoments.com.
History, Lowell, Politics | No Comments »
January 20th, 2012
by Marie
On this day – January 20, 1961 – John Fitzgerald Kennedy – son of Massachusetts – was sworn-in as the 35th President of the United States. As an eighteen-year old Irish, Catholic, Democratically-raised, Lowellian and avid Kennedy supporter, this was an important milestone in my life – details and impressions ever-remembered.
From History.com:
On January 20, 1961, on the newly renovated east front of the United States Capitol, John Fitzgerald Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States. It was a cold and clear day, and the nation’s capital was covered with a snowfall from the previous night. The ceremony began with a religious invocation and prayers, and then African-American opera singer Marian Anderson sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and Robert Frost recited his poem “The Gift Outright.” Kennedy was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Earl Warren. During his famous inauguration address, Kennedy, the youngest candidate ever elected to the presidency and the country’s first Catholic president, declared that “the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans” and appealed to Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Read the full article here at history.com.
History, Politics | 1 Comment »
January 19th, 2012
by Marie
Edgar Allen Poe Lowell, Massachusetts, late May to early June 1849 Daguerreotype
On this day – January 19, 1809 - American short-story writer, poet, critic and editor Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe poularized the short-story and his tales of mystery and horror gave birth to the modern detective story. Among his best known works are his short stories “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and his poems “The Raven,” “Annabel Lee” and “The Bells.” Poe died on October 7, 1849 in Baltimore at the age of 4o. As I noted in a blog post last fall – Poe visited Lowell, Massachusetts in the Spring before he died – to lecture on American poetry. See the blog post here. Read more about Poe here at wikipedia.com.
Culture, History, Lowell, Poetry | No Comments »
January 19th, 2012
by Marie
Harvard University just celebrated its 375th anniversary. But the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War is also of importance to Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust. A noted historian and scholar of the Civil War, Faust will speak in April at the Boston Public Library as part of the Lowell Lecture Series. Her lecture will focus on the latest of her six books “This Republic of Suffering,’’ which examines the effects of the war’s enormous death toll. There’s a quick interview with Faust in a recent Boston Globe book section where she talks about her own reading habits. Check it out here at boston.com. I love that fact that she’s a detective story addict – she started with Nancy Drew!
Culture, Education, History | No Comments »
January 16th, 2012
by Marie
Elizabeth Warren in Lowell, November 2011
In the January/February edition of Mother Jones Magazine, writer Tim Murphy talks about the revenge of Wall Street and its target Elizabeth Warren and her campaign for the U. S. Senate in Massachusetts. For her sin of taking on the banks, Warren is unrepentant and unbowed by the attack-mode and notes:
“I’ve gone toe-to-toe with some of the most powerful corporations out there in this country,” she says. “Toe-to-toe with the largest financial institutions. And toe-to-toe with people in our own government.” She pauses for effect and gives the table a light rap with her fist. “I don’t plan to stop. Ever.”
Read the full article here at motherjones.com.
Election 2012, History, Lowell, Politics | No Comments »
January 15th, 2012
by Marie
James Whistler “Nocturne, Blue and Silver: Battersea Reach” – Whistler’s emphasis on sensation and atmosphere over detailed description has been compared by some to the philosophy underpinning Gardner’s whole museum. “I see the entire museum as a correlative to these shadowy tone poems,’’ wrote the poet and critic Wayne Koestenbaum of Whistler’s nocturnes.**
Don’t miss the Special Issue “The Gardner Grows” in today’s Boston Globe. Isabella Stewart Gardner – the cultured, unconventional, collector, icon and “Queen of Fenway Court” – would undoubtedly have loved to rule over the expansive and revitalized Isabella Stewart Museum. Famed for its history, collection, its founder and of course the “robbery,” the Museum is about to enter a new and exciting phase – allowing more of its collection to be shown, inviting a broader commitment to its musical heritage and nodding to the real artistry of garden and landscape architecture. Longtime supporters and admirers of the Gardner must tip their hats to Museum Director Anne Hawley for her creativity, foresight, commitement and tenacity and excellent stewardship. Anne Hawley is known to local cultural activists for her years of oversight over the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities (now known as the Mass Cultural Council) where she with the support of Senate President William Bulger brought cultural funding to its height.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner museum reopens on Thurday January 19, 2012.
Read and view the full special edition here at boston.com.
**Note: This work of the Lowell-born artist is considered one of the ten best paintings in the Gardner collection. (see these 10 best on pages 42-43 of the special issue.)
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January 15th, 2012
by Marie
There is an article in today’s Eagle Tribune on what the headline writer calls “accident alley” - Route 114 in North Andover. It is a busy road carrying all manner of traffic – at all times of the day and night. The area is layered with commerce, eateries, office parks, business, service and medical destinations. It houses the extensive campus of Merrimack College. It marks a crossroads of convergence and access from city to town to suburb and the rural – from local and side roads, parking lots and driveways to highways and by-ways. So many of us in the Valley access that area regularly – including me as it’s where three of my docs practice – that I thought a reminder of the importance of driving carefully was worth calling attention to the article.
The lessons on driving safely, paying attention, following the rules of the road, noting the particular hazards of a roadway, being courteous, having patience, avoiding the distractions of phone calls and texting and wearing your seatbelt hold true whether driving on Route 114, Route 495, Andover Street or on the Hunts Falls Bridge.
Read the Alex Bloom article “Accident alley: Rte. 114 turns from rural to deadly” here at eagletribune.com.
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January 14th, 2012
by Marie
An article by Scott Helman in tomorrow’s Boston Sunday Globe Magazine – and on-line today – about the redistricting process and the results accepted by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Patrick is well worth a read. As someone who testified at one of the regional hearings (Lawrence) and who has been relocated as a constituent from the 5thCD – now the 3rdCD - into the 6th CD – I find this article an interesting look at the process and what it might really mean about the current state of politics in the Commonwealth.
From the article:
For the first time in decades, the Legislature managed to create new state legislative and US congressional districts that, by and large, put the voters’ interests above the politicians’.
Read it here at boston.com. – “Mass. voting maps reflect State House evolution”
Take a look at our past blog post and comments from MassMoments on the history of the gerrymander: http://www.richardhowe.com/2011/02/11/massmoments-birth-of-the-gerrymander/
Greater Lowell, History, Politics | No Comments »
January 13th, 2012
by Marie
I took this photo a year ago trying to give a sense of that crazy winter weather to family and friends living in Florida and elsewhere. Remnants of the snowfall of December 26, 2010 through January, February, March and April of 2012 lasted well into Spring.
Greater Lowell, History | 2 Comments »
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