Since U-Mass-Lowell played such a pivotal role in transforming my entire world-view from that of a 17th Century, French-Canadian “bonhomme de la campagne” with many residual, Quebec attitudes, hopes and aspirations (cultural, linguistic, culinary and ethnic) to a more universally open and science-based set of beliefs related to the Thomas Paine fervor (Age of Reason) from the early days of the American Revolution, it seems most appropriate to dedicate a sizeable chunk of these memoirs to U-Mass-Lowell.
The following anecdotes, sagas and, sometimes, embellished stories will, hopefully, find favor with the reader. Sometimes, life’s perplexing adventures are so curious and interesting that even when all the pieces don’t seem to come together, it is fun to experience the sheer idiocy of it all as the Bard once told us.
There follows next, Macbeth’s sorrowful message for us, the living, to better appreciate as we stumble and fumble in our daily efforts to reach peace, safety and meaning:
“Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”