The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford is a quickly unspooling, cinematic mystery set in the fictional city of Cahokia, during the 1920’s. (The real Cahokia had vanished by 1200 C.E., leaving behind only mounds of grass-covered dirt in Illinois, near the…

During the summer, the Lowell City Council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. That usually translates to a meeting every other week, but this year’s calendar has given us a gap of three weeks between meetings with the next one coming this Tuesday, August 12, 2025.…

Remembering My Father, Robert T. Reilly By Eoin Reilly So my father wrote a lot. He also was from Lowell and ran track with Ed McMahon and Jack Kerouac. Oh…he also had a lot of kids and moved to where he could afford to raise them without crime being involved.…

Remembering 1968 By Leo Racicot Even now, almost sixty years later, when I hear the year 1968 mentioned, my mind instantly goes to April and June of that awful year. In April, the great Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., was gunned down by an assassin, James Earl Ray, on…

The Night I Met the Kinks in Lowell By Charlie Gargiulo One of the greatest memories of my life took place one Saturday night in May 1970 at the Commodore Ballroom, our personal live sixties music shrine, and Lowell’s spiritual counterpart to Liverpool’s old Cavern Club, after serving as our…

Quality Milk from Healthy Cows – (PIP #77) By Louise Peloquin      Third and last in a series on milk and milkmen, this article highlights Lowell’s concern about food quality, hygiene and livestock well-being. The Hood’s ad, published three days after the news story below, was strategically timed. (1)  L’Étoile –…

There was no Lowell City Council meeting this week due to the summer schedule but there are plenty of other things to write about. On Wednesday, UMass Lowell announced an agreement with the Futures Collegiate Baseball League to bring a new team to the University’s LeLacheur Park next season. Although…

Witness from a Terrace By Rev. Steve Edington This essay was first published as an Op-Ed in the July 28, 2025, New Hampshire Union Leader. The French novelist, essayist, diplomat, and playwright Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944) made this observation: “One of the privileges of the great is to witness catastrophes from…

PITCHERS’ DUEL By Terry Downes The pitcher hurled with all his force A fastball blazing true; The batter blinked in disbelief The speed with which he threw. So it went that sultry day The last week in July, No breath of air was moving there A hot sun scorched the…