Category: Profiles

  • Nick Flynn: From Boston’s Pine Street Inn to Hollywood

    Nick Flynn: From Boston’s Pine Street Inn to Hollywood

    Nick Flynn grew up on Boston’s South Shore and spent six years working at the Pine Street Inn, Boston’s largest homeless shelter. Raised by his mother, Jody, who committed suicide when he was 22, Flynn hadn’t seen or spoken to his father in 18 years, until Jonathan Flynn called Nick out of the blue and…

  • Life Interrupted … Almost

    James Shearer Spare Change News I can talk about it now — the pain, the fear, the shock. All gone. On Thanksgiving night, I nearly died. Only those close to me and some within the organization knew about it. This isn’t one of those stories that you see on television — no bright lights or…

  • A Dialogue on Race Relations in America

    Jacques Fleury Spare Change News I recently joined a writer’s group from the website meetup.com. The first day I attended the group, I was considerably late. Upon entering, a la true Jacques fashion with my cyborg glasses, looking like the black guy from Star Trek, the members (who happened to be all white) looked up…

  • Carlos Robinson

    Michael Ahern Spare Change News Upon first meeting with Carlos Robinson, there is an immediate feeling of optimism radiating from him. He wheels his bike around with him and grins when he speaks. And he is ecstatic that he gets to tell his story. Born and raised in Cambridge, Carlos has been selling Spare Change…

  • When Bad Things Happen

    JAMES SHEARER Spare Change News A couple of weeks ago, the editor received a letter from a reader about a story one of our vendors had written about herself. The letter was critical of the decisions this vendor, who is homeless by the way, made. Not only was he critical of her, but of all…

  • Desmond Tutu writes a letter to his younger self

    If you could write a letter to your 16 year old self, what would you say and what advice would you give? South Africa’s beloved Archbishop Desmond Tutu picked up his pen and took a trip down memory lane. Desmond Tutu The Big Issue UK As a teenager I looked like my mother – stumpy…

  • An Appreciation Deferred

    Anthony Thames Spare Change News On April 4, 1968, the day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee, I was a five-year-old boy, unable to fully grasp the enormity of the situation. I do remember the somber mood both in school as well as at my home. I distinctly recall my mom…

  • The Death of a Homeless Man

    Peter Osgood Spare Change News About 13 years ago I had reason to go to Boston’s Back Bay on a regular basis in the morning. For one thing, I could find good coffee and a bagel to start my day. I have done that pretty much daily ever since. Then about 10 years ago I…

  • Michael Shorey Vendor Profile

    Larissa Butrimowicz Spare Change News Michael Shorey was born in New York, but moved to Salem, Mass. with his adoptive parents, who then decided to move to York, Maine, when he was 11. He was one of six adopted siblings and had an idyllic childhood. He worked at a restaurant in Kittery, Maine for 12…

  • Grateful For a Shelter, But Life Still Isn’t Easy

    Mary Felix Spare Change News I am a mother of three. I was homeless in 2001 and got pregnant in 2002 for the first time. Six months later, I got my housing. But I had to give up my housing because I was in a violent domestic relationship, and I was afraid the man was…