Author: David J. Jefferson
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The Worst Place on Earth to be Born
Samantha Bailie Street News Service Most people in developed nations expect to give birth to a healthy baby that grows into a healthy child. Sierra Leoneans however do not enjoy this basic human ‘right’. One in four children dies before their fifth birthday in the West African country, giving it the highest child mortality rate…
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Local Chef Provides Free Meals for Homeless in Somerville
Robert Sondak Spare Change News On the second Friday of each month, homeless and retirees gather for a hot meal created by a local chef. The Hearty Meals For All program, hosted by the Somerville Community Baptist Church, is a collaborating partnership between two experienced social workers (Rebecca Gallo and Emily Bullen) and up and…
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Violating Housing Rights Is Not Just Immoral, It’s Downright Criminal!
Rebecca Brodie Spare Change News An underutilized provision of Massachusetts law allows unscrupulous landlords to face criminal charges, not just civil penalties, for illegally evicting tenants. Facing incarceration, one should expect that landlords would think twice before locking out a tenant or shutting off a tenant’s utilities. Unfortunately, my experience has shown that police departments,…
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The Streets Are Watching
Although the jaggedly outlined black and white globe has been stamped to the left of this column in every issue of Spare Change for years, it’s likely that many readers have never given it a second glance, nor a second thought to the meaning of the words printed below: North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA).…
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Street Logic: A Sociological Novel of Homelessness in Boston
[img_assist|nid=284|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=494|height=640] Steve Sundberg’s recently published novel Street Logic is a self-proclaimed sociological examination of the lives of the countless men and women who have called the streets of Boston home. The story tactfully invokes the need for community involvement to alleviate the woes of those in need, reminding the reader that we can all play…
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Homelessness…Mindfulness and Meditations
[img_assist|nid=274|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=397] Seventeenth century English poet Francis Quarles is credited with having expressed the thought, “Meditation is the life of the soul; action, the soul of meditation; and honor the reward of action.” Now in the twenty-first century, the relationship between meditation and action is being reexamined in the context of homelessness. A June 6th column…
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Leading the Way…to Change?
Mayor Menino and the City of Boston now claim to be “Leading the Way” towards eradicating homelessness from Beacon Hill to Boylston Street and beyond. Last month, the Neighborhood Development department of the Mayor’s office announced the details of a $30M plan to totally eliminate long-term individual homelessness and cut family homelessness by 50%. The…
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Trends in the street newspaper industry and the coming of age of Spare Change News
[Editor’s Note]: In the aftermath of Spare Change’s 18th Anniversary Gala, I’ve been reflecting upon the history of our publication, the street newspaper industry generally, and the future of both. What started as pondering the role of Spare Change in the Greater Boston community ended with extrapolation to consideration of the paper’s role in the…
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18 Years of Empowerment
As the ink birthing these serifed letters dries, Spare Change News celebrates eighteen years of continuous publication in Greater Boston. Amid myriad tumultuous moments—which have included many sterling success stories as well as some disappointing setbacks—the newspaper has unfailingly rolled off of the presses. Although many have passed through the…
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Stemming the "Rising Tide" of Elder Homelessness
David J. Jefferson Picture your grandmother. Gnarled, spotted hands creak, pull an ancient scarf down over wisps of white hair. Cataract eyes peer through cloudy glass, gaze into yours through imagined years intermediary. Call it age or gender bias, but she is a woman envisioned in comfortable surroundings, all overstuffed armchairs and well-provisioned kitchens. Yet…