Category: Voices from the Streets

When I was in my pre-teens, I was strung out on comic books. Maybe some of you older folks or even new collectors remember the EC Comics such as The Vault of Horror or The Keeper of The Crypt, just to name a few. Then some wackos decided that comics were the root cause of…

While I’ve been pound¬ing out drug horror stories on my faithful computer, the world has been mov¬ing on. Osama Bin Laden is dead and his compound is now an historical site. When Barack Obama debated John McCain, they were asked if they would go into Pakistan if they were told Osama Bin Laden was there,…

There is a couple that I met, while working in the needle exchange, that I can’t get out of my mind. You might say that I am haunted by ghosts of the past. They were in their early sixties, homeless, and they had come up during the warmer weather. They liked Massachusetts best but they…

In the last issue of Spare Change News I wrote a story about Dominic Cinelli, an inmate that I knew, who became a cop killer after his parole in 2009. Dominic was killed during the shoot-out. That’s the name of the game; I don’t have a problem with that. What I do have a problem…

I knew Dominic Cinelli. You must have read his name at least a dozen times since Christmas weekend. He’s the guy who killed John “Jack” Macguire, a Woburn police officer, age 60, a good cop. I never thought I’d feel sorry for a police officer, but my heart goes out to Officer Macguire and his…

Idris Elba, formerly Stringer Bell in The Wire, is Luther. He is a devoted homicide detective, devoted to the point of obsession but brilliant. If you saw The Wire, one of the best HBO shows ever to hit the screen, you know who Stringer Bell is, the second in command of a vicious drug dealing…

I knew Dominic Cinelli. You must have read his name at least a dozen times since Christmas weekend. He’s the guy who killed John “Jack” Macguire, a Woburn police officer, age 60, a good cop. I never thought I’d feel sorry for a police officer, but my heart goes out to Officer Macguire and his…

It was March, 1993. I don’t remember the precise date. My wife and I were homeless and strung out on heroin, getting sick (withdrawal), and out of money. I was at Porter Square shaking a cup and trying to come up with an idea so we could get fix money to, “get well.” My wife,…

The Chestnut Hill Mall was a comfortable temperature, I noted, as three women passed me, power-walking the length of the mall. They’d reach the end, turn about, and come back, over and over again. As I watched them I noticed a man carrying two battered plastic garbage bags enter the mall. His clothing was somewhat…

It was 11 degrees on the outside thermometer this morning. It is two days after my 65th birthday, December 8th. If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself. I’m actually not complaining. I’m really lucky to be here. It’s Grace, my friends, Grace. I…