August 31st, 2010
by PaulM
From the UMass Lowell Office of Public Affairs:
“First-year students are officially welcomed to the university community at Convocation on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at 10 a.m. at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. The keynote speaker is Bill Strickland, winner of a MacArthur Foundation ‘genius grant’ and more than 10 honorary degrees for his work to combine the arts, job training and culture to fuel positive social change.
Bill Strickland (web photo courtesy of mcgyouthandarts.org)
“Strickland began his own personal transformation as an inner-city high school student more than 40 years ago when he saw a talented art teacher spin a mound of clay into a work of art on a potter’s wheel. Strickland, his creativity ignited, used art to inspire other youths from his Pittsburgh neighborhood through the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, an after-school program he founded while still a college student. Today, he leads the Manchester Bidwell Corp., a national model for education, culture and hope that works with both adults and youths to provide market-driven career education and training.
“Convocation also introduces the Class of 2014 to two of the 24 new student organizations founded since the same time last year, the UMass Lowell Gospel Choir and the new a cappella singing group, ‘Hawkappellas.’ A special presentation will be offered by ‘In Your Company,’ in which students will perform spoken word pieces about their life experiences as they navigate young adulthood and life at UMass Lowell. Their stories are used to make connections to the audience by providing avenues to appreciate difference while highlighting commonalities.
“Following Convocation, students are invited to a barbecue outside the Tsongas Center that features a club fair where they can find out about UMass Lowell’s 130 student-run organizations and how to participate.”
Culture, Education, History, Lowell | 
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August 31st, 2010
by PaulM
The National Park Service has opened a $27 million visitor center overlooking the famous “Old Faithful” geyser at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Today’s NYTimes reports on the “cathedral to the shrine of nature.” We can be proud that Lowell is on the same distinguished list of important American places as Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, Gettysburg, and the Lincoln Monument. Read Edward Rothstein’s article here, and consider buying the NYT if you appreciate the journalism. To see a slide show about the new visitor education center, click on this link from the NYT.
web photo by Shasta Greinier courtesy of Yellowstone Park Foundation via NYTimes
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August 24th, 2010
by PaulM
Don’t miss Lowell’s own Shakespeare in the Park experience this Sunday, Aug. 29, at 4 p.m., when the New England Shakespeare Festival brings its populist brand of the Bard’s work to Boarding House Park on French Street. The play is “Twelfth Night,” originally titled ”Twelfe Night or What You Will,” a “madcap comedy of music and revelry, mistaken identity, outlandish characters, and the ‘verie Midsommer madnesse’ of love.”
Thanks to a collaboration between the Lowell Summer Music Series and the Moses Greeley Parker Lectures, this performance is free for all. One thing you’ll notice with this troupe is that the players carry their lines in their hands on rolled up pieces of paper. That’s a historical reference. Think about where the term “role” came from for the actor’s part in a play. Role…roll.
Web photo courtesy of New England Shakespeare Festival
Culture, Education, History, Lowell, Poetry | No Comments »
August 21st, 2010
by Marie
Mass Moments reminds us this morning that on this day – August 21 in 1909 – the iconic Pilgrim Monument on the highest hill in Provincetown was completed clearly declaring that the Mayflower’s first landing was in fact here at the tip of Cape Cape .
On this day - …in 1909, two young girls, using ropes and a pulley, helped haul the last stone into place to complete the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown. The town’s Yankee residents had long been seeking funds to erect a monument to the Pilgrims, who landed on the tip of Cape Cod weeks before they ever laid eyes on Plymouth. It took until 1906 to raise enough money. The following year, President Theodore Roosevelt sailed to Provincetown in a yacht appropriately named the Mayflower to lay the cornerstone of the monument. Three years later, President William Howard Taft spoke at the dedication. 116 steps and 60 ramps lead to the top of the 252-foot tower, which is still the tallest all-granite structure in the United States.
Read the full story here at MassMoments: http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=242.
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August 18th, 2010
by PaulM
John Collins of the Sun today reported on the start of the UMass Lowell/Queens University archaeological dig on the grounds of St. Patrick Church in the Acre neighborhood. Read the article here, and buy a copy of the Sun or consider subscribing if you appreciate the reporting.
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August 16th, 2010
by PaulM
In Lowell, there’s a debate about the future of the Pawtucket Falls Dam. There’s another debate about allowing alcohol to be served at a business adjacent to a temple. Behind the discussion are people’s feelings about the power of place, the meaning of certain special places. The concept of place is all over the news this week. Do you have the same feeling that I have about the Manhattan zoning decision involving the Islamic community center? All of a sudden this is one of those issues where you have to line up and choose your side fast. The President jumped in with a strong defense of religious freedom and then clarified his remarks to say he wasn’t getting involved in real estate decisions, basically. The usual suspects on the far conservative side are beating the issue like a big fat bass drum—against the location, of course. Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe on MSNBC said he was dismayed at the tone of remarks coming from his party, the GOP. Democrat leader Sen. Harry Reid just separated himself from the President’s position, even though the President hasn’t explicitly endorsed the proposed address. The shorthand issue name has become “the Ground Zero mosque,” even though the building would be a couple of blocks from the 9/11 WTC site. What would an acceptable distance be? Five blocks? Ten? Where does the line get drawn? And what other kinds of non-conforming activity will have to be scrutinized now? The symbolism couldn’t be more loaded. If you start to search for facts and context, you find out more about the Muslim organizers of the project, the purpose of the building (13 stories, recreational and social uses, with a prayer room, according to one report), the local background (where did the idea come from?), and so forth. In this hyper-active media age we citizens seem to be expected to take a position on hot-button issues before there’s even a chance to ask questions and think about what we think. Mayor Bloomberg of NYC today said it will be a “sad day” if the opponents of the project prevail in blocking development at the proposed site. Some of the 9/11 family survivors object to the location. They have the personal high ground. Did the project’s organizers and funders see this coming? Were they prepared for this struggle? This feels like a political hurricane that is gathering speed and power by the day.
Culture, Education, History, Lowell | 15 Comments »
August 15th, 2010
by PaulM
Read this Toronto Star report about this month’s celebration of The Beatles in their hometown of Liverpool, England. The events include a special version of the annual Mathew Street Music Festival (Aug. 29-30), which is billed as “Europe’s largest free music festival.” That description should sound familiar to Lowell Folk Festival people, as in “largest” and “free.” Mathew Street is the address of the famous Cavern music club where The Beatles first played in Liverpool under that name on August 18, 1960. This year’s Festival will include tribute bands from around the world playing every song on every Beatles’ album in a marathon session. Liverpool, after some narrow-minded objections by some local politicians in the late 1970s, is all the way on The Beatles bandwagon these days and reaping benefits for the city. Liverpool has destination sites with exhibits, daily tours of downtown and the neighborhoods, the National Trust-preserved homes of John and Paul in their youth, merchandise in many shops, a theme hotel, bus graphics, the summer festival, Paul McCartney’s “fame school” (Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts), a master’s degree program in Beatles Studies at Liverpool Hope University (7,000 students), and more. This robust infrastructure of places and programs holds a lesson for Lowell when thinking about our city’s world renowned author.
Culture, Education, History, Lowell | 1 Comment »
August 14th, 2010
by Marie
We sometimes forget that the Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region with deep historical roots. The flow of the mighty Merrimack River has been a unifying force for the culture, heritage and livelihood of its residents since time of the Pentacook tribes through the Industrial Revolution to this modern era of highway, environmental and technology connections.
The cross-valley and cross-state connection manifests itself in many ways - including politics, the economy, shared traditions, sports and other rivalries, deep family and ethnic relationships, transportation, tourism, education, causes, culture, the arts and recreation.
Over the next year I’ll be writing about these Merrimack Valley connections from an historical, political, practical and personal point of view.
Today I’ll note the practical - a sharing among Merrimack Valley law enforcement veterans is noted in a story from the Manchester NH Union Leader. The subject is a problem with gangs and gang fighting which is on the rise in Manchester. Lawrence Police Chief John Romero and Lowell Deputy police Superintendent Arthur Ryan have shared their experiences and strategies with Manchester as well as Nashua.
Both Romero and Ryan in offering advice said their cities’ gang problems are far from solved but for the time being are relatively under control. Read the full article here at the UnionLeader.com.
“This is an age-old story,” said Ryan, referring to youth considering the possible benefits of joining a gang. “You’re looking down the street and you see who has all the toys and who’s getting the respect. It’s the bad guy.”
Stay tuned for more from and about the Merrimack Valley.
Culture, Current Events, Education, Greater Lowell, History, Poetry, Politics | No Comments »
August 13th, 2010
by Marie
Five of the twelve top colleges in the most recent rankings by Forbes Magazine – including the highest ranking – are located in Massachusetts. These institutions are: Williams College (1), Amherst College (3), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (5), Harvard University (8) and Wellesley College (12). Here are the top twelve:
| Rank |
Name |
State |
Cost |
Total Student Population |
| 1 |
Williams College |
| MA |
49,530 |
2,072 |
| 2 |
Princeton University |
NJ |
49,830 |
7,330 |
| 3 |
Amherst College |
MA |
50,230 |
1,697 |
| 4 |
United States Military Academy |
NY |
0 |
4,553 |
| 5 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
MA |
50,100 |
10,299 |
| 6 |
Stanford University |
CA |
51,760 |
17,833 |
| 7 |
Swarthmore College |
PA |
50,381 |
1,490 |
| 8 |
Harvard University |
MA |
50,250 |
26,496 |
| 9 |
Claremont McKenna College |
CA |
50,990 |
1,212 |
| 10 |
Yale University |
CT |
51,400 |
10,192 |
| 11 |
United States Air Force Academy |
CO |
0 |
4,537 |
| 12 |
Wellesley College |
MA |
50,026 |
2,498 |
Check out the methods used for ranking the colleges here and look at the full list of “America’s Best Colleges” here at Forbes.com.
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August 12th, 2010
by PaulM
An apple a day is the right thing. An apple plus a carrot is even better. Writing in the NYTimes, Natasha Singer looks into “prescription produce” and the sickness prevention benefits of real food, i.e., fruit and vegetables. Massachusetts public policy gets high praise in this article. Lowell and the surrounding towns offer farmers’ markets of various types. Look for local products on stands, at farms, and in orchards throughout the region. Read all about it here, and consider subscribing to the NYT if you like what you read.
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Education, History, Lowell, Science | No Comments »
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