Category: Voices from the Streets
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The Band Is Still Playing On: Part 1
Yes, I’m aware that my title for this column is a play on the words of the title to a book and movie about the AIDS crisis, “And the Band Played On.” That film was about how, as hundreds of people became infected with the deadly virus, our federal government pretty much sat on its…
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Writing for SCN: A Vendor’s Perspective
The 2008 economic recession cost me my newspaper distributor job at Boston Now and opened up new opportunities for me at Spare Change News. After selling Spare Change News for two weeks, I answered a posting by then-editor Emily Johnson stating that she was looking for someone to write a story on community gardening. I…
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“Underground Airlines” by Ben H. Winters: A Book Review
Mulholland Books/Little Brown & Company, Hachette Book Group; Goldsboro Books, UK Ltd. Edition S & N. Imagine if President Lincoln was shot before the Civil War took place and then, because of that and the greed of humankind, the Civil War never happened. If you were black and born into a slave state, there would…
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Silence
The party conventions are over and the candidates have been chosen (not the greatest of choices) and we now move on to the campaigns, the debates, the name calling and those annoying TV ads for the next three-and-a-half months. But wait: hear that silence, boys and girls? Crickets chirping? That, my friends, is the sound…
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American Disabilities Act Day
July 13 was American Disabilities Act Day across the USA, and I learned new stuff about myself and my oldest child. I’m an epileptic and my oldest child has Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), which is a high functioning form of Autism. PDD isn’t such a mysterious disease anymore. In fact, Asperger’s disease is more mysterious…
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Solving for Space and Time: Ending homelessness by fixing the DTA and MBTA
Photo: Shinya Suzuki What does improving the food system and reducing vehicle traffic and air pollution (especially in urban areas) have to do with ending homelessness worldwide? Everything. Well then, how can Massachusetts lead the rest of the world in doing this? Massachusetts could first humanize the management system used by the Department of Transitional…
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Social Justice
My name is George Caponigro. I am a human being living on this planet, a citizen of the United States and the world who spent some time without a home. For well over 20 years, I have worked on the frontlines of social justice at the local, state and national level, and I’ve been exposed…
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When Will We Wake Up?
Until now, I haven’t had much to say about the recent tragedies in Minnesota, Louisiana, Dallas or Orlando. Or should I say murders? After all, that’s what they were. Let’s not beat around the bush here: tragedy is someone being killed in a car accident or a natural disaster. These incidents were cold-blooded murder. Someone…
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“Tales of Repairman Jack” by F. Paul Wilson: A Review
“Tales of Repairman Jack,” published by Tor Books, New York, NY 10010, and Isher Books, distributed by the Gauntlet Press, among others. Repairman Jack is one of the most exciting characters ever to come out of the mind of F. Paul Wilson, who in his spare time is a practicing physician in Wall, New Jersey.…
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Why I Sell Spare Change News!
My name is Michael Thistle and I’ve been a Spare Change News vendor since 2007. I’m currently not homeless, but I use to be on and off for many years. I’m an alcoholic who’s been in recovery for 11 years now. Alcoholism took me to many places in my life that I honestly never thought…