Category: Columns
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Federal Weed Ban Brings Back Memories
The people of Massachusetts voted to legalize marijuana but now Trump Appointee Attorney General Jeff Sessions is threatening to arrest the suppliers who are gearing up to sell marijuana in our state. It’s a shame that the federal opposition is making it difficult to carry out the will of the people of Massachusetts who approved…
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Bitter Sleep: An Incident at the Boston Public Library
On Wednesday Dec. 27 the National Weather Service has issued its first wind chill advisory in Boston where temperatures are expected to range between five above zero to twenty below zero degrees. Frostbite conditions like this can kill people, and at the Boston Central Library on that day a man was tossed out into them…
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Holidays and Gray Hair
My birthday flew by, squashed between three holidays—Thanksgiving, Christmas/Chanukah and New Year’s Eve. While time was having its way with me, I had to go to the dermatologist to have various blemishes checked out. The older I get, the more I hate going to the doctor, even though, as my wife Mary Esther says, it’s…
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Memories of Thanksgiving on the Street
I enjoyed this past Thanksgiving, probably more than I’ve enjoyed Thanksgiving in quite some time. I got to spend a nice, quiet holiday in my adopted hometown with friends. It was quiet, and I caught up on a lot of sleep and watched movies. I wish I could say that nothing bothered me at all,…
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Indigenous People and Homelessness: a Distinct and Growing Reality
Photo by Paul Fleurent Carole Lévesque is a professor at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) who specialises in urbanization, culture and society. Over the course of two years, she headed a team of six researchers who studied the situation of homeless indigenous people in Montreal and Val-d’Or and wrote a report on…
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Memories of Thanksgiving on the Street
I enjoyed this past Thanksgiving, probably more than I’ve enjoyed Thanksgiving in quite some time. I got to spend a nice, quiet holiday in my adopted hometown with friends. It was quiet, and I caught up on a lot of sleep and watched movies. I wish I could say that nothing bothered me at all,…
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Long Island Shelter Closure Inexcusably Left People Out in the Cold
As the cold weather set in a couple of weeks ago, I posted on Facebook how cold days like this make me think of Long Island Shelter. I wasn’t alone when I posted that. Some people had positive responses, others not so much, but we still remembered the island. It’s only been three years since…
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Voices From Rosie’s Place: Live Your Dreams, Not Your Circumstances
Spare Change News is proud to present the next installment of “In Their Own Words,” which highlights the work of writers who meet at Rosie’s Place. In late 2014, Rosie’s Place, a community center for Boston’s poor and homeless women, started a memoir workshop. The intention was to have the guests, as they call the…
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Racism as Usual at Sports Stadiums, College Campuses
Sometimes I find it truly amazing these days when people hear of racist actions or events and are shocked, as if these things are new to America or as if racism started yesterday. A couple of racist events happened this past week. A white college student in Connecticut did everything she could, including something weird…
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We Never Learn: Mass Carnage Reveals America’s Apathy
I watched the events unfold in Vegas last week with a deep sadness, and then utter disgust as I watched politicians and others on the left (including myself) spout off about gun control once again. I am always amazed how as Americans we react to a situation after tragedy strikes. The same thing happened with…