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    Pandemic redefines ‘essential’ as workers brave coronavirus

    Mario and Dave behind the counter of Downtown Wine and Spirits in Somerville. As the coronavirus spreads its respiratory distress all over the world, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has issued an advisory asking that all “non-essential” workers remain home from work in order to stymie the spread of the virus. The types of workers deemed…

    Refugees sleeping rough on outskirts of EU

    Usually, seeing homeless people is no reason for joy. But in Budapest it is – last year, head of state Viktor Orbán and his right-wing national government passed a law criminalising homeless people for sleeping rough. They are given three warnings and then imprisoned. Thankfully, the law is not enforced everywhere. The criminalisation of homeless…

    Boston to make case for new Long Island bridge to Quincy

    The City of Boston is hoping to convey that rebuilding a bridge to Long Island is the best option for accessing and reopening a recovery campus for addicts during a meeting on Tuesday, May 7,  in Quincy. The public meeting, being held at the Kennedy Center facility for the Quincy Council on Aging at 7…

    Horace Seldon: Fighting Injustice, Celebrating Civil Disobedience

    Horace Seldon was happily lying on his back, waving his hands and feet in the air the first time Shay Stewart-Bouley saw him. Shay was just starting out as Executive Director of Community Change, Inc., the anti-racism non-profit Horace founded in 1968, and she was at the organization’s forty-fifth anniversary party. It also happened to…

    Arts & Culture

    …’To You’

    ” First they came for the Socialists … I did not speak out …    and there was no one left to speak for me.”  —  Martin Niemoller It always closes in on you the same way. When it was about being kidnapped (back) into slavery. Or when peoples have been, are plagued by epidemic…

    …’To You’

    ” First they came for the Socialists … I did not speak out …    and there was no one left to speak for me.”  —  Martin Niemoller It always closes in on you the same way. When it was about being kidnapped (back) into slavery. Or when peoples have been, are plagued by epidemic…

    Champion of the Underdog: An Interview With Dolly Parton

    “As a writer, I have to leave my heart open,” Dolly Parton begins. “That’s why I have always said I never could harden my heart, even against hurt or anything. Because as a writer, if you harden your heart, you’re not going to feel all that emotion you need to feel, and you won’t be…

    ‘Friends’ Star Inspired to Action by Friend’s Homelessness

    David Schwimmer, former star of “Friends,” turned his artistic talent to telling stories that highlight the struggle of homeless people after discovering that his friend had been living on Skid Row, hiding his homelessness even from those who knew him best. Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons “I had a friend who was homeless for two…

    Movie Review: The Rhythm Section

    I apologize if this review screams at you to not see this movie, but my job here is to tell you whether or not a movie is worth seeing, and that means not every review will radiate positivity.So, here we go.Reed Morano (The Handmaid’s Tale) directs The Rhythm Section with Blake Lively, starring as Stephanie…

    Columns

    Sheltering in Place

    These are weird times. The doctors postponed Mary Esther’s spine surgery until June 10 because of the situation. Her lungs are challenged normally, so it’s important that she not get exposed to the coronavirus. This strange thing has put all our lives on hold. My heart goes out to people who are homeless and have…

    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…

    Uncertainties and Impermanence

    My wonderful wife, Mary Esther, and I just returned from a visit with the surgeon who will be operating on her back. It’s much more involved than we thought it would be, and we are meditating every day just to help us cope. We’re trying to keep it in the day, but we can’t help…

    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…

    Sheltering in Place

    These are weird times. The doctors postponed Mary Esther’s spine surgery until June 10 because of the situation. Her lungs are challenged normally, so it’s important that she not get exposed to the coronavirus. This strange thing has put all our lives on hold. My heart goes out to people who are homeless and have…

    ‘I Always Came Back’: A Story of Survival

    “Hey, baby!” Linda Burston, with an illuminating smile and wide eyes, greets every woman who comes through the doors of Women’s Lunch Place. They always know when Linda is in the room; even among the clink clank of dishes being piled high, the scraping of metal fork against ceramic plate, the hum of conversation among dozens of…

    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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