Author: Amanda Gomez
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SEX TRADE: CEASE Boston combats local sex trafficking
A sex trafficker, a pimp, will go to the mall in search of a group of girls. When he finds one, he’ll scan the group to see which girl he perceives has the lowest self-esteem. For this, he’ll rely on analyzing their body language. He won’t go for the conventionally attractive one or the least…
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DRUG WARS: Heroin and opioid addiction is on the rise
Tom Reily stands before Governor Charlie Baker, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito and a crowd of hundreds and announces that he is two-and-half-years sober. The crowd responds with a fierce applause and in return Reily smiles. “I was a heroin addict,” Reily, a Boston College graduate, says during the final public hearing of Governor Baker’s opioid…
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FEMALE TROUBLE: Advocates address feminine hygiene
Brittany sat under an alcove in Harvard Square, sign in hand and a cup of loose change in front of her. She sets up there nearly every day, she says, with the same sign but with a different Dunkin’ Donuts cup. Her blue-dyed tips peek out of her yellow, owl-printed bandana. Kal stands next to…
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ACTS OF KINDNESS: Ugandan father risks it all to give his daughter the gift of hearing
Elaine’s favorite class is Spanish. She’s only in third grade and is already learning a second language. Elaine Asaba’webwa is also deaf. The expectation was that she would learn no verbal language at all, her father Eddie Mukaaya says. Especially considering the fact that Elaine is from Uganda, where the word for deaf—”kasiru”—literally translates to…