Resilience

Merrimack Repertory Theatre

Boott Cotton Mills Museum

   Mill No. 5

My first ever Lowell class trip was to the Merrimack Repertory Theater where where we watched a one-man production of the The Lion. At first, I was dreading to sit in my seat for two hours to watch a show with only one actor. I thought to myself, “this is going to be a boring long two hours” but I was completely wrong. As soon as Benjamin Scheuer leapt onto center stage, his presence brought a sense of excitement. The production was about Scheuer’s life story and his transition from boyhood to manhood. He told his story mainly through a variety of different styles of songs. He wrote many of the songs which were composed of different styles such as rock and ballads, with many different tempos that ranged from fast to slow. I noticed that the audience, including myself, were engaged the entire time. He pulled in the audience with a fast song about his relationship with his father and the love of music they both shared. The upbeat song slowly turned into a tragic ballad as the audience was left stunned at his father’s sudden death. The plot had become a tragedy all in the span of ten minutes. In between the songs he would pause and directly speak to the audience specifically about what he went through and how he felt about his experiences.

When my class and I discussed and reviewed his performance, there were several points that came up. We discussed about the the effective use of lighting during the show which reflected and portrayed the emotions that he was going through. For example, when he was singing about his frustrations with his father, his rock and roll edge was complemented with red lighting that lit up the stage. When he sang songs about his cancer and depression, there would be a blue lighting on the stage. The use of lighting helped the audience to empathize with Scheuer. I personally appreciated his ability to pour his emotions into the songs. There were some song stories that were clearly hard for him to sing about which made the show more authentic and original. My favorite part of the night was when the audience sang Happy Birthday in honor of Scheuer’s father who would have celebrated his birthday that night. Benjamin Scheuer’s performance was so outstanding that he received a 5 minute standing ovation. The opening night was a huge hit.

My second required excursion took me to the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in Lowell. It was so fascinating to see how cotton was made during the 19^th century. We had talked about the Industrial Revolution in the United States during class. The heart of the Industrial Revolution started in Lowell, Massachusetts with the opening of several factories many of which were textile factories. These factories were mainly powered by the the Merrimack River. My dad and I walked through rows and rows of cotton spinning machines. The machines still work today and we were able to see how the different types of cotton were made.

Each piece of fabric had a different weave pattern which could be altered simply by switching the gears of the machine. There were a few workers there that day who ran the machines. My dad and I got a chance to talk to one of the ladies that operated the machines. She showed us specifically how the machine worked and how each machine was different from the other. It was amazing to learn how complex these machines were. However, when all the machines ran at once the noise was unbearable. The machines were so loud that I could barely hear what the worker was saying to me as she explained the mechanics of the machine. Many of the workers were wearing ear plugs to protect their ear drums from getting damaged. They wore ear plugs because in the olden days, many workers did not take the initiative to protect their ears. This resulted in many workers losing their hearing at a young age. The machines themselves were also extremely dangerous. The machines had many moving parts that move with such force. You had to be very careful about where you placed your hands. Many workers in those days had severe injuries because they accidentally placed their hands in the wrong place while the machines were turned on. 

In class, we learnt about how there were many young women who came to Lowell from remote places. They would leave their families and come to work in the city. There were many issues that the women faced at the factories. They received low salaries, worked in unsafe and unhealthy environments for countless hours, put up with poor living conditions, did not have enough break time and many other concerns. These women would stand up against the managers and factory owners by initiating strikes. However, the strikes lost effect when the factory owners hired immigrants from different parts of the world such as Irish immigrants to replace the women. The number of women workers in the textile industry declined. I desired to see the women’s boarding house which was located near to the Boott Cotton Mills Museum however it was closed. I really wanted see for myself the kinds of living conditions that these women had. However, the museum provided a lot of information about the history of the industrial revolution and how it influenced the city of Lowell.

An additional location that I visited was Mill No.5. Mill No. 5 was an old abandoned mill but the building is currently used by offices and businesses that have taken up space in different floors of the mill. The main attraction of Mill No. 5 is the market place located on the fourth floor. As soon as I arrived there were people setting up to do a live performance. Once I went past the stage, I faced a long hallway. There were rows and rows of shops and booths set up along both sides of the hallway. There was a variety of different stores and booths that sold interesting trinkets and souvenirs. Each shop and booth was unique and different from the booths on either side. There was even a sit-in café that served warm beverages and other baked goods. I walked the full length of the hallway, and once I reached the end, I came across a huge sign that read ‘The Lunar Theatre’. The theatre was screening a variety of different shows, and I wanted to explore inside the theatre. However, I had arrived in between the screenings of a show and I was unable to watch any of the shows. My favorite part of visiting Mill No.5 was walking on the famous long spiral staircase. Just looking down from the top of the stairs made me feel dizzy. It was amazing to witness how an abandoned mill had transformed into a modern day market place.

All these events and locations were very different from each other. Each had its own unique characteristics and different past experiences. However, one thing that I noticed in common among all these excursions were that despite their difficult history, all these places seemed to show resilience. Benjamin Scheuer sang about his incredibly tragic past. However, to watch him perform live on the opening night of his tour was so inspirational. He showed incredible strength through his songs and he gained tremendous success for his smash off- Broadway hit show. Scheuer’s story did not end with his tragic experiences. Similarly, the end of the Industrial Revolution in Lowell was not the end of the Boott Cotton Mill. It has now turned into a museum and has become a historic landmark that represents the Industrial Revolution in Lowell. Locals can still see how the mill functioned and how cotton was produced. It has become a place full of information and rich history. Likewise, Mill No. 5 was an old abandoned mill. However, there were investors that believed that the building could still be put to good use. Now it is a place thriving with local businesses and stores. Each of the excursions had a grim and dark history but their resilience to continue to move forward had caused them to thrive in the city of Lowell. It well represents a city that was once declining but is now thriving due to the community’s resilience.

My Unexpected Pilgrimage to Michalopoulos Square, Lowell MA

I have been a church girl my whole life. I’ve always attended Church Service with my family every single Sunday, with the exception of the Sundays when I was deathly ill and couldn’t move, or if it was a Snow Day and there was no service. However, I’ve always only attended Protestant churches or churches of other denominations. While New England Protestant church buildings have standard architectural designs such as a cross on top of the roof or a brightly lit up pull pit, Catholic churches surpass all other denominational churches in terms of their architecture. I’ve always been intrigued and fascinated by the attention to detail, the gothic designs and the intricately designed sanctuaries that I’ve only ever seen in pictures. To step foot into a Catholic Church and to witness the architecture for myself was always on my bucket list.

Lowell is home to many different churches, temples and other religious places of worship. I searched online to see if there were any intriguing religious institutes in Lowell that I could visit. I came across an online image of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. I was in awe of the beauty of the architecture and the bright lustrous golden dome of Holy Trinity. My mind was set on visiting the the Greek Orthodox Church but my dad suggested that we visit St. Patrick’s Parish. After doing some research on St. Patrick’s Parish, I discovered that it was Lowell’s first Catholic church that was established in 1831. However, a grand fire had burnt the building and caused the church to be rebuilt in 1906. I was very interested to see if the church retained any of its beauty after the fire and decided to make my journey to St. Patrick’s instead which was located at Michalopoulos Square.

I had only ever seen the regions of Lowell that consisted of the University’s campuses. However, as I drove towards Michalopoulos Square with my dad, I saw a very different side of Lowell. Unlike the University buildings on South Campus, which were mostly remodeled or brand new, a lot of the buildings on the way to St. Patrick’s were old and torn down. My dad pointed out that “these buildings are so old that the paint and the plaster is peeling off of the buildings and falling onto the street.” We drove down Suffolk street and parked near the curb. But as we got out of the car, we couldn’t even see the church. My dad suggested going down the street to an old building which he thought was the church. “No dad, that regular old fashioned building can’t be the church I’m looking for.” As I lead my dad down the other side of Suffolk Street, the roof of the church came into view over the low rise buildings. I kept walking towards the end of the street and there it was… St. Patrick’s Parish. It was truly nothing like I have ever seen and it honestly far exceeded my expectations.

The official website of St. Patrick’s Church states that the Catholic Church was built and founded in 1831. It was considered as the first established Catholic Church in Lowell. It was primarily established to serve the large population of Irish and the French immigrant parishioners, who migrated to Boston to work as laborers on the Pawtucket and Merrimack Canal. Today, beyond the Irish and French population, the church also includes to serve the greater Hispanic, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Burmese Catholic population of Lowell. The reason that the church is so inclusive of the majority of the immigrants in Lowell is because Saint Patrick was also an immigrant to Ireland when he migrated to preach the Gospel. According to the website, the Church along with the American “nation has a proud history of receiving immigrants and [they] are doing [their] best to continue this effort.”

As I walked past the wall and up the pathway to the church, I marveled at the incredible height, and the amazing layout of the stone building. As I got closer to the entrance, I heard echoes of voices. I realized that I had stumbled upon the 6pm Spanish Mass. My dad and I walked through the wide opened doors and found a statue of St. Patrick in the foyer. We both peered through the doors that led into the main sanctuary. It was the most beautifully designed inner sanctuary I had ever seen. It was enormous and brightly lit with a few church members sitting in the rows and rows of pews.  I noticed that although the priests wore robs which was expected, the rest of the congregation was wearing regular casual clothes. I assumed that people were always supposed to be dressed up for Mass. However, I realized that the congregation consisted of regular middle and lower class people. It showed me that the church welcomes people from all different backgrounds. I wanted to go inside and ask the priests a few questions about the church. However, I hesitated to go for fear of disrupting the Mass.

 I read from a blog called Forgotten New England that on January 11, 1904, that an overheated smoke pipe in the boiler room had caused the fire to burn up the church. The fire had spread quickly and threatened to burn up the nearby buildings too. It cost $160 765 to repair the damages and it took 2 years for the church to be rebuilt. I wanted to find out more about the burning so I talked to one of the administrators for St. Patrick’s Church. She described that the church “burnt down from the choir loft all the way to the social hall. It took a lot of fixing and remodeling in the span of the 2 years.” Despite the loss of the sanctuary, Mass still continued every week and it was conducted in the downstairs hall until it was completely rebuilt. I was amazed at the resilience, and the perseverance of the community in the face of adversity.

As I walked around the front yard, I came across a statue of Mary. After gazing at the statue, I looked across the street, and there it was… Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. I immediately left my dad and briskly walked across the street to admire at the beauty of the structure of the building.  The setting sun rays reflected off the huge shiny domes and it shone like pure gold. Unlike the Catholic Church, Holy Trinity was unfortunately closed, and I was unable to thoroughly explore it.

I had walked back and forth from St. Patrick’s to Holy Trinity several times to take good pictures of these fascinating buildings. It was not until I walked back the third time that I realized that I was walking over a bridge and right under my nose was a canal. The bridge was dedicated to Stephen J. Kearney who was a city engineer for Lowell who had served for 51 years.

I could not believe that I had seen so much more than I had expected to see. I had expected to see St. Patrick’s Parish but I had not expected that it would be opened and that I would be able to witness a Mass in session. I was disappointed that I would not be seeing the beautiful golden domes of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church but I had not expected to see it standing right across from St. Patrick’s Parish. I most definitely did not expect that a bridge over a canal would connect these two unique religious institutions. I asked the Parish administrator if the Parish and the Greek Orthodox Church had any relationships. She sadly said that they “don’t do much together but [they] still keep good relations.”  My final question to her was “What draws you to St. Patrick’s, what do you love so much about it?” to which she replied “I love that there is so much culture and diversity. My hobby is to interact with different cultures.” The amount of culture in such a small space is evident within these two institutions. You will find cultures and communities such as the Irish, French, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Hispanic, Greek, Burmese, and English.

As I drove off with my dad while the sun was setting, I noticed a bunch of young boys who were riding on their skateboards. They seem to have come to an abrupt stopped in front of St. Patrick’s Parish’s entrance. I saw them curiously gazing into the building just as I did an hour earlier. Maybe there were many others who had made the same unexpected pilgrimage I did and maybe there will be many more who do the same in the future. My unexpected pilgrimage to visit a Catholic church such as St. Patrick’s Parish, had unexpectedly allowed me to see Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church and the Stephen J. Kearney bridge. All of which were right here in Michalopolous Square.