Category: Opinion
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Looking in the Mirror: Part One
The other day I was thinking of one of our former editors, the first black editor Spare Change had in over 20 years, when he came aboard he began to take the paper in a new direction. Let’s just say there was a lot more color than the paper was used to, and there was…
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In The World Of The Addict
Upon my return from a wonderful weekend praying and meditating at a retreat center in Vermont I check my phone messages. One of the messages is from a friend in Gloucester, which is where I currently live, telling me that another friend of ours who was in recovery has relapsed and died of an overdose.…
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The Beginning of the End of Free Internet
Do you use Yahoo as your Internet provider? Well, if you do, here’s a heads up for you. Yahoo has been taken over by Verizon and joined with AOL. Verizon acquired Yahoo, joining them with AOL, to form an organization that is ominously named Oath. These companies will have strong access to all of your…
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The Ruins of Pahokee
Suddenly the dreams come. For a second there is the face of Ar Lain Ta laughing and then I am back in Pahokee, Fla., with my wife. She stares at me with her giant eyes, the corners of her full lips are turned down, she is dark with the bite of the tropical sun as…
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Feeling Hopeful: Reflections of the Inspiring March for Our Lives Event
I arrived late to the March For Our Lives event last Saturday. Traffic and errands kept me from being on time, and I couldn’t even find the person I was supposed to meet there. Still, it was inspiring. Let me back it up here for a second. If you haven’t been paying attention, the March…
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Treat Homelessness Like the Health Issue It Is
Last spring a group of students, led by their Professor Dr. Debra Harkins, came up with Bill H.3933, which is based on an idea out of Hawaii that says homelessness should be treated as a medical condition; this could allow doctors to write prescriptions for housing. I know, it sounds far fetched, but when you…
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Free From Heroin: A Daily Fight
I have been drug and alcohol free now for almost 15 years. Does the heroin still call to me? To be honest, at times it does. As a matter of fact, after almost four years clean, I relapsed and used heroin for another year and two months. An eternity in hell. How did that happen?…
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Black or White, They’re All Just Kids
A couple of weeks ago, not long after the school shooting in Florida, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesh made this statement while speaking at the CPAC meeting: “Now I’m going to say something that some people will say is controversial. So I’ll say it slowly so all the people in the back can hear me loud…
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Let Her Rock
She was leaning over the railing at the luggage conveyor. That was the first time I had seen my mother in over two years. I had my luggage in my hand and came around her from behind. Surprised that she hadn’t seen me yet. Wondering why she hadn’t seen me waiting for the luggage…