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    Allston-Brighton City Council Candidates Discuss Housing Issues

    At the Allston-Brighton District 9 Candidates Forum on Sept. 14, the dominating theme was affordable housing. Moderated by DigBoston Editor Chris Faraone, Councilor Mark Ciommo, Brandon Bowser and Alex Golonka faced off in a town hall meeting. While Ciommo’s positioning himself as the experienced candidate, Bowser’s running as a community-oriented educator and arts advocate and…

    Fresh Truck Brings Fresh Produce to Dorchester Neighborhood

    Photos By Jordan Frias The Fresh Truck made a visit to the Codman Square Community Health Center in Dorchester on Thursday, August 17, to provide residents, workers and others in the neighborhood with fresh produce, free of charge. Reusable shopping bags were handed to the first 100 customers of the Fresh Truck, with $10 worth…

    Boston Courts to Homeless People: You Don’t Matter

    My column this week was supposed to be about the so-called “Free Speech Rally.” It was supposed to be about the pride that swelled in my chest as my adopted hometown—which has itself faced more than enough issues when it comes to racism—overwhelmingly rejected (to the tune of 40,000 people) the same crap that engulfed…

    How unaccompanied youths become exploited workers in the U.S.

    Border between San Diego and Tijuana. – Wikimedia Commons The Trump administration has released a series of executive orders targeting immigration at the U.S. southern border. Central American families and children traveling alone represent nearly half of all unauthorized migrants apprehended by Customs and Border Protection. The criminalization of immigrants at the U.S. southern border…

    Photo: Zengzheng Wang

    Boston sees continued success housing the homeless, but still more work to do

    Mayor Marty Walsh at the 2014 opening of Southampton Street Shelter. Photo: Zengzheng Wang. On Thursday, Boston officials announced that their push to end chronic individual homelessness has resulted in housing 301 individuals since the start of 2016. This is in addition to the 846 veterans they have housed since 2015. The new numbers reflect…

    Mass. Activists and Politicians React to Trump’s DACA Repeal

    Update: As of Sept. 14, President Donald Trump and the Democratic party have worked closer towards a deal on DACA. Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi announced working on a deal with the President, though the President has both denied and confirmed reports of the deal. The details are murky, though it seems…

    Insane Clown President: Matt Taibbi on Social Justice in the Age of Donald Trump

    Spare Change News was able to track down busy journalist and author Matt Taibbi to talk about President Trump’s potential impact on social justice, healthcare and homelessness. Taibbi also spoke about his new book, released in January, titled “Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus”, which gathers his reporting for Rolling Stone during the…

    Arts & Culture

    Musicians unite to collect Hoodies for the Homeless

    PushMethod, whose lead vocalist, Tavis Eaton, founded Hoodies for the Homeless, takes the stage. All photos courtesy of Hoodies for the Homeless. Give a hoodie and you’ll get to listen to live music at the Middle East in Cambridge. This Thursday, Sept. 14, Hoodies for the Homeless, founded in 2015 by Tavis Eaton, lead vocalist…

    “Strange Weather” by Joe Hill

    Joe Hill knocks a home run out of the park with all bases loaded with “Strange Weather,” four novellas that will twist your mind and make your heart skip two beats a minute. Strange weather, it is, with a major eclipse crossing the United States and an insane clown president with glowing eyes and a…

    Musicians unite to collect Hoodies for the Homeless

    PushMethod, whose lead vocalist, Tavis Eaton, founded Hoodies for the Homeless, takes the stage. All photos courtesy of Hoodies for the Homeless. Give a hoodie and you’ll get to listen to live music at the Middle East in Cambridge. This Thursday, Sept. 14, Hoodies for the Homeless, founded in 2015 by Tavis Eaton, lead vocalist…

    Live Review: Green Day Brings a Revolution to Xfinity Center

    All Photos by Jason Greenough Green Day always seems to have the perfect timing when it comes to their politically charged music. The band of Oakland natives brought the summer leg of their Revolution Radio tour to Xfinity Center in Mansfield on Monday night, and with it, they brought a feverish angst that showed their…

    Columns

    Harm Reduction Exists for Heroin Addicts

    According to Mike Stobbe of the Boston Globe, there is a safe place where heroin addicts can go to shoot up, and it’s been operating underground in the United States for the past three years. The underground safe place opened in 2014 somewhere in New York. The location has not been revealed because it’s not…

    Bizarre Boston: Raising Hell at Harvard

    When I think about college students raising hell, I picture kegs of beer, red plastic Solo cups and loud music. Oh, and maybe a beer funnel or two. In my mind, the phrase “raising hell” is just a metaphor for having a wild time. However, maybe it’s not always just a metaphor. For some Harvard…

    Labor Pains and Growth in Recovery

    Spare Change News is proud to present the second installment of its new monthly feature, “In Their Own Words,” which highlights the work of writers who meet at Rosie’s Place. In late 2014, Rosie’s Place, a community center for Boston’s poor and homeless women, started a memoir workshop. The intention was to have the guests,…

    LAST WORD: Christina Sukghian Houle

    About a month ago, an artist called Christina Sukhgian Houle dropped into the Spare Change News’ headquarters to meet with some of the vendors. Christina has joined forces with the newspaper’s co-founder, James Shearer, with the goal of making a documentary on homelessness in the Boston area. Christina is a relatively recent transplant to Greater…

    Harm Reduction Exists for Heroin Addicts

    According to Mike Stobbe of the Boston Globe, there is a safe place where heroin addicts can go to shoot up, and it’s been operating underground in the United States for the past three years. The underground safe place opened in 2014 somewhere in New York. The location has not been revealed because it’s not…

    Labor Pains and Growth in Recovery

    Spare Change News is proud to present the second installment of its new monthly feature, “In Their Own Words,” which highlights the work of writers who meet at Rosie’s Place. In late 2014, Rosie’s Place, a community center for Boston’s poor and homeless women, started a memoir workshop. The intention was to have the guests,…

    The Avoidable Crisis

    Stanley Forman: 40 Years After the Soiling of Old Glory

    The photo was chilling. Before a crowd of onlookers, a white man appears to be attempting to stab a black man with the tip of a flagpole. “It really showed racism,” said photographer Stanley Forman 40 years after he took the Pulitzer Prize-winning snapshot of an anti-busing protest that had turned violent. “It was whites…

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