The weird thing is, I really like Lowell. Since moving to New England I've lived in Nashua, Dracut, Pepperell, Somerville and Lowell, and I like Lowell a lot more than anywhere else.

But when I head out in the rain to go check out a fight at a Broadway Street laundromat, in which an older man attacked several other folks who were washing their clothes, and then see a road-worn, middle-aged woman walking down Willie Street in a hoodie that says "snitches are a dying breed," I've just gotta shake my head.

Meanwhile, three blocks away, my girlfriend is perfectly safe, checking out an opening at a museum. Lowell really is an interesting place.

UPDATE: I might just be weird. I also love New York City, where so far this weekend a building has collapsed, and a drug suspect being transported to a police precinct for booking was shot when the transport van drove through an unrelated shootout.

Lowell just can't compete with that kind of ridiculousness.