Spare Change News

Category: Voices from the Streets

  • Angels in the Snow

    A frigid wind stung Bobby’s face as he pushed open the door of the package store. Sleet beat a staccato rhythm on the window of the store as he handed the man cash for a bottle of respite. Out the door, back into the yellow-jacket wind. Bobby clutched the bottle right against his body as…

  • Does It Really Matter?

    Does It Really Matter?

    So the elections have come and gone, and for the first time in eight years here in Mass. a Republican will be in the State House. I voted this past Tuesday, but like thousands who stayed home I wondered if it would make a difference. I mean, really, does it matter who is in the…

  • The Bridge To Nowhere

    I am sitting in my comfortable office chair with a Suboxone dissolving under my tongue as I write about the fellow addicts who have been sent into the dark night. It is all because of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ despicable planning and the sudden closing of the bridge that was leading so many addicts and…

  • A Pissing Contest

    A Pissing Contest

    In the May 2 issue of Spare Change News carried a cover story called “Infrastructure Inequality” by Alex Ramirez about the Long Island Bridge, which connects Boston’s homeless to the city’s Long Island Shelter via a bus route through Quincy. The bridge is old and rickety and has been in decay for years. It is…

  • The Secret to Life

    As I age, I reflect more and more on the forces that shaped my life, I feel incredibly lucky to be alive, to be me, just turned 67, happily married and feeling at peace with myself. The journey was difficult. It took a lot of hard work to trudge through alcoholism, depression, multiple suicide attempts,…

  • Frankenstein In Central Square, Part Six

    Ar Lain Ta taps his shoulder. Moshe Dean’s head snaps up and he opens his eyes. “I was paying attention,” was what he said. “I was just thinking about something else,” he said as he wiped the soup casually from his forehead and ground a soft potato into his thinning hair. A car alarm blares.…

  • Sparing the Rod

    Sparing the Rod

    Like most of us, I’ve been following the mess that is the National Football League this season. I’m not talking about the games themselves. I’m talking about the controversy. The Ray Rice situation is pretty cut and dry, and yes, count me among those who believe the league knew all along about that tape. But…

  • A Lost Friend

    This is the face of a friend who was homeless and died a senseless death in Fenway. When I first met Shawn, it was a warm Summers day and he’d been drinking with a couple of buddies. He started over-vocalizing his opinions on life to me. I was nice to him, despite feeling annoyed by…

  • Frankenstein In Central Square, Part Five

    When the wind blows like dragon-song in her ears, Rogue knows she is suspended in time. At times like this she thinks of her mother. She remembers her first awareness of being in the womb. The knowledge of her mission. And she opens her mouth, howling into the wind of the void, the place of…

  • Labels and the Immigration Problem

    Labels and the Immigration Problem

    A few weeks ago, the Mayor of Lynn was explaining how the flood of immigrants has affected Lynn’s economy in a not necessarily good way. She said the city is spending more on education, and most of the new immigrant children don’t know English well enough to get a proper education in the school system.…