Category: Opinion
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EDITOR’S NOTE: No place like home
When I first applied for affordable housing in Somerville three years ago, I had no idea the dream of having my own place would eventually become a reality. It was a long shot. I submitted forms for the AVA Somerville complex slotted for Assembly Square and I quickly dropped off the required paperwork. I crossed…
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VOICES FROM THE STREET: A certain sadness
I, along with millions of others, watched the events that unfolded in Baltimore last week. Like so many others, I was also angered and saddened by what went down. It’s a scene that has become all too familiar over the last year. A young black man was killed by the police, seemingly without provocation. Freddie…
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Beatrice Bell is SCN's vendor/writer of the year
When I first met Spare Change News reporter and vendor Beatrice Bell, she was standing across from the mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, holding her recording device in front of the newly elected politician’s face. It was the opening of the rush-job Southampton Street shelter and she, along with a team of Spare Change News…
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VOICES FROM THE STREET: Well, Charlie?
In my zeal to crucify the Mayor Marty Walsh administration for what happened with Long Island shelter and its aftermath, it was brought to my attention and also to the attention of other activists that, while we were busy roasting the mayor, the state had emerged unscathed from our criticism. Well, for my part, let…
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Lessons from Jimmy Tingle
When I returned to Boston in 2007, I was a mess. I was struggling to find work and, after securing an apartment in Somerville’s Davis Square, I responded to an ad on Craigslist for a job that would introduce me to the man gracing our cover, Jimmy Tingle. Tingle’s Off-Broadway Theater was a haven for…
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OPINION: Need a life? Try saying 'yes'
Some time after 1984, life was good and I was on a roll. I had successfully completed graduate school where they presented me with a shiny new Ph.D. I was on the road to recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. I had a great job, where I wore suits every day and made more money…
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VOICES FROM THE STREET: Why the bridge to Long Island blew up
When Victory Program, which runs a variety of types of care for addicts in different stages of recovery, took out a mortgage on a building on Boston’s Long Island, they had no idea that the bridge leading to their drug recovery program would be demolished without warning. So now Victory Program must pay a mortgage…
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Never give up
When I first met author Joe Putignano, he was two years sober and headlining in the touring production of Cirque du Soleil’s Totem. In the show, he was known as Crystal Man and, after he heard me share at a 12-step meeting, he walked up to me with a sweet, almost shy grin. “You’re writing…
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VOICES FROM THE STREET: Thinking of U Baby Girl
By the time you read this I will have had my first fundraiser for my new project. Am I excited about it? Yes, but at the same time there is a sadness: I sorely wish that someone was here to share it with me. My daughter Jasmine would have been 21 in February. You would…
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A question or two for Mr. Mayor
A few days ago, I stood in protest in front of Symphony Hall in Boston with members of the Homeless Solidarity Committee, the United School Bus Union Workers and Black Lives Matter supporters while Boston Mayor Marty Walsh prepared for his first state of the city address. Unfortunately, these bones can no longer withstand the…