The latest on the kid
Lowell National Historical Park is worth a visit
The Front Page
Morning Update
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
By Ken Tingley
At the end of Thursday’s event at the Greenwich Public Library, a woman stood up and said, “The scrapbook idea was brilliant.”
For the better part of two decades as editor of The Post-Star, I advocated the underage drinking issue in our rural communities had to be addressed.
Between 2002 to 2004, eight teens died in alcohol-related crashes. After a double fatal in Greenwich in 2002, I started the scrapbook.
I had a stake in the matter now. I had a 6-year-old son.
WAMC radio host Joe Donahue wondered where the line was for a newspaper. When does community journalism step over the line and become a crusade.
It was a good point. I just didn’t want to cover any more funerals. But maybe most importantly, I wanted that 6-year-old to be safe. So I started the scrapbook without family photos. Instead, it had newspaper clippings of fatal accidents, teenage funerals and young people being sent to jail.
On the day my son got his driver’s license, I explained how I made him read the scrapbook.
“Those kids could be in any of my classes,” he told me that day. They could be his friends.
Those stories I told about my son and family often intersected with what I was doing as a newspaper editor at the newspaper. One of the last questions at my event Thursday night was about my son. The woman wanted to know how it all turned out and how he was doing now.
It was gratifying to know that my family and become part of my reader’s families.
I told her that my wife and I were going to visit him in Boston this weekend.
After graduating from Allegheny College in 2018, Joseph got his master’s degree in public history from West Virginia University. Along the way, he did summer internships with the National Park Service at Gettysburg National Military Park. When he graduated he landed a job at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park where he is doing what he loves to do, interpreting historical times and events.
The final update is just a month old.
Looking to get a little closer to home, Joseph took a temporary four-month assignment at Lowell National Historical Park just north of Boston where he will be working as an educational specialist giving programs on Lowell’s local industrial history.
It didn’t sound like the perfect fit for someone who had showed such passion for World War II and Civil War history, but he has taken to it.
Lowell’s site is housed in an old textile mill where they have dozens of turn-of-the century looms that they still operate.
The site addresses how Lowell was at the forefront of the industrial revolution in the colonies and follows it forward as the northeast became a hotbed for manufacturing that helped to establish a more diverse economy. Later, immigrants and women became integral parts of the work force followed by a labor movement to improve working conditions.
It was information I had not thought about before.
As Joseph took us through the museum and its facilities, you could see the bounce in his step and the passion in his voice. He always said he didn’t think he was cut out for teaching, but he may have been wrong.
We can’t wait to go back again.
And most importantly, I believe he can’t wait to get to work each morning. You can’t beat that.
Please vote
My publisher - Something or Other Publishing - is putting together a collection of stories to be published in the next year. I wrote a short story called “Moving Day” based on a series of Facebook posts I published during a cross country journey by son and I took during the height of the pandemic.
The more votes I get for the story, the more likely SOOP will publish the story. If you could click on the link and type in your email it will get me another vote.
50 is thrifty
Fifty years ago when Mideast oil barons held our country hostage, President Nixon launched a campaign to do something about it. We were urged to dump our gas guzzlers in favor of for fuel efficient cars.
We were asked to simply drive slower on the interstate. Nationally, “50 is thrifty” became the mantra. For all of us complaining today about the pain at the gas pump, we can simply adopt our own “50 is thrifty.” Let’s stop doing 75 to 80 on the Northway and dial it back to 50. It won’t solve the problem, but it will allow each of us to do our part by not having to fill up as often. That will save us money, too.
My husband and I visited the Lowell NP. Loved it. We also took the canal ride that was available. Hopefully you can experience the ride too.
I don't know how you managed it but I'm very glad I'm getting to read your texts as you move along. Very interesting and informative. Thanks for that. Keep on trucking. Regards your basketball buddy.
Tim C.