Category: Op-Eds
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Addressing Homelessness with a New Lens
When people look around the Cambridge/Boston area they see great universities, a thriving economy, innovation and new construction. Yet, surrounded by all of this wealth, we often lose sight of the fact that there are many in our community who are struggling. They are struggling to pay rent, put food on the table and pay…
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Opinion: Homelessness service providers need more state funding
Homelessness knows no season. Many people feel compassion for men and women experiencing homelessness during a Massachusetts winter – when mountains of snow and bitterly cold temperatures can threaten the lives of people trying to get by and living on the street. Now that spring is finally setting in, it’s easier to forget that the…
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We’ll be missing you, Nancy
When I was a kid, I loved watching old black-and-white movies with my mom and dad in the winter and doing a 1,000-piece puzzle. We’d sit in front of the fireplace just having fun until around 11, 12 or 1 o’clock in the morning. One person I liked to watch was Ronald Reagan. The one thing I…
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SCN teams up with Student Journalists
Back in 1992, the founders of Spare Change spoke earnestly of “Building a Bridge between the Haves and Have Nots.” This social justice newspaper was conceived of as more than an economic opportunity for vendors to have an alternative to panhandling for a living. The original purpose was to create a space for dialogue to…
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Treatment on Demand
Photo: Zengzheng Wang More and more, we see the opiate epidemic dominating the conversation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. What was once thought to be only an inner-city issue is now affecting every social class in every corner of the state, in every community, whether rich or poor, high, middle or lower class. The need for treatment…
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Sleepless in Seattle
When I flew from Boston to Seattle last week as a delegate for the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) summit, I was expecting rain. No showers to report. Not a drop. However, the outpouring of support for Spare Change News from street paper editors and staffers from across the globe was inspiring. We reclaimed…
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VENDOR VOICES: We spent millions on the Bolling Building in Roxbury. Why?
Mayor Marty Walsh was at the ribbon cutting ceremony on April 18 to officially open the Bruce C. Bolling Building in Roxbury. It was a nice event until I learned more about the building itself. It’s the new home of the Boston Public School Committee and several other organizations geared toward helping the community. They’re…
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VOICES FROM THE STREET: Voices of the homeless
A few years ago, as I was about to become president of the board at the Homeless Empowerment Project, I found myself walking through Boston’s Back Bay to clear my head and think about the huge responsibility I was about to take on. I was making my way through the T station there when I…
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Garret’s Movie Palace: Into the Storm
By Garret Jordan Well, I was not blown away by this movie — pun intended. I thought for sure that this latest tornado-thon would be better than Twister, given the advances in special effects since 1996. The effects were great, but they just weren’t enough. The exposition and rising action of any story are supposed…
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“The Skeleton Twins”: Laughter, Followed By A Punch In The Gut
By Marissa Giambelluca Grade: A At heart, “The Skeleton Twins,” a movie directed by Craig Johnson (“True Adolescents”), is a story of a brother and sister both on the brink of self-destruction. Quite literally, actually. The movie opens with Maggie (Kristen Wiig) about to down a handful of pills, but she’s stopped by a phone…