A weekly report on things I’ve read, heard and seen since last Wednesday.  Article: From bus driver to professor, he keeps RI workers’ history alive, by Carlos Munoz in Boston Globe, September 27, 2026. This is the story of Scott Molloy, who was hired as a Rhode Island Transit Authority…

Two years ago, Louise Peloquin began sharing excerpts from L’Etoile, a French-language newspaper published in Lowell from 1886 to 1957. At my urging, she has agreed to compile some of her previous posts with added contextual information into a book manuscript to be called, L’Etoile: A Star on Prince Street.…

The Lowell City Council met this past Tuesday, however, I’ll put off discussing most of that meeting until next Sunday so I can review the ballot for next month’s state election. But first, I will discuss the council’s decision to hold the special election to fill the vacant District 1…

Once More to the Mountain By Jim Provencher Now it’s all mixed up. I don’t know what’s true, history or memory or both, but then it seemed clear. It was as I recall or imagine— what now is the difference and who but few care that I walked that day…

Prayers, Pies and Prizes By Leo Racicot I’d be lying if I said our mother looked forward, as did so many of the parents of our Saint Patrick’s School classmates, when the school year rolled around to school community-related activities such as raffles, school fairs, bake sales, paper drives. As…

A weekly report on things I’ve read, heard and seen since last Wednesday.  Book List: The 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century in the New York Times Book Review, September 27, 2026. One of the high points of my weekend is reading the Book Review although I come away…

Two years ago, Louise Peloquin began sharing excerpts from L’Etoile, a French-language newspaper published in Lowell from 1886 to 1957. At my urging, she has agreed to compile some of her previous posts with added contextual information into a book manuscript to be called, L’Etoile: A Star on Prince Street.…

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Seascraper by Benjamin Wood is a 2025 long-listed Booker novel (really more of a novella) suffused with the gray and misty atmosphere of a British seaside village in the early 1960s, animated by fascinating characters, and enriched by…

There was no Lowell City Council meeting this past Tuesday so today I’ll cover some of the things discussed at the council’s September 22, 2026, meeting which I omitted from last week’s newsletter. I found a couple of procedural discussions among councilors to be both interesting and important. The first…