Category: Last Word
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LAST WORD: Barbara “Susan” Holden
Living in Florida with her partner Walter, who’s also a vendor for Spare Change News, Barbara “Susan” Holden knew to avoid the cops on the last Friday of the month. “ID Friday” is what she’d call it, because that was the day the police would run their IDs, hoping they’d find a record so they…
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LAST WORD: Birdy
His friends may know him as Birdy but the name you’ll see on this vendor’s badge is Odell. How did Odell come by this nickname? Well, growing up, he enjoyed riding his bike, and one day, riding up a steep ramp, he went flying in the air—almost like a bird, his friend said. From that…
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LAST WORD: Walter Stewart
Walter Stewart was born in Gary, Indiana, a city founded by the United States Steel Corporation in 1906. Steel production ran in the blood of Garyites for over a hundred years and still, today, the city produces 7.5 million tons annually. With their combined careers, Walter’s father and grandfather worked in steelmaking for over 70…
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LAST WORD: Marc D. Goldfinger
This week’s Last Word features an interview with Marc D. Goldfinger, Spare Change News’ resident writer and poet and the newspaper’s poetry editor for the last ten years. With the help of the poet Lee Varon, Goldfinger is currently putting together a poetry anthology featuring work published in Spare Change News over the years. Writing…
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LAST WORD: Jerry Harrell
Jerry Harrell is one of Spare Change News’ “old guard.” Alongside Algia Benjamin and James Shearer, he was among the original lineup of vendors who sold the first issue of the newspaper in May 1992. The cover of that issue—a photograph of a man selling catnip for $2 a bag—embodies what the newspaper is all about:…
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LAST WORD: James Shearer
If it wasn’t for James Shearer and the independent news outlet he co-founded in 1992, homeless people on the streets of this city would be seen but not necessarily heard. While mainstream publications like the Boston Globe occasionally run stories on homelessness, their perspective is usually limited to a trip to a shelter and a…
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LAST WORD: Michael Shorey
“You’re interviewing me now?” says Michael, with disbelief in his voice, when I corner him after the weekly vendor meeting at the Spare Change News headquarters. Michael is in the office to pick up his papers and the last thing on his mind is an interview with me. However, when we get started, he has…
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LAST WORD: Gregory Currie
When Gregory Currie said he came from a political family, I had no idea he was the son of Jackie Currie, a woman described as a “Detroit legend” after serving many years as Detroit city clerk and Wayne County commissioner. As he was growing up, Currie sometimes felt like he was being groomed to be…
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LAST WORD: Larry Thomas
Larry Thomas sells Spare Change News in one of Boston’s most bustling spots: outside of the 7-Eleven on Washington Street in Downtown Crossing, across from the Old South Meeting House. The downtown crowd is a colorful blend of Freedom Trail tourists, wealthy residents from the local high rises and groups of homeless people who mingle…
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LAST WORD: Beatrice Bell
It’s the morning of Good Friday at Spare Change News, and Beatrice Bell, one of the newspaper’s longest-serving reporters, is telling me an amazing story. At the age of seven, after a terrible asthma attack, she found herself having one of those life-changing experiences that are called, in the literature, “near-death.” For three days, which…