Category: Profiles

  • The Rise of Women’s Boxing: From Local Gym to Olympic Arena

    Noelle Swan Spare Change News No sooner had the bell rung than Jamie Jacobsen’s fist connected with my nose. Instantly, my eyes welled up with water and a cold chill set in all over my body. By the second round, my nose had swelled up beyond utility, leaving me struggling to learn how to breathe…

  • Workin' For a Living: A Tale of Four Spare Change News Vendors

    By Noelle Swan SPARE CHANGE NEWS Like so many others, Atiqa Mallah came to America looking for opportunity. Life in Morocco was hard, she says. Both her parents died when she was young, leaving Mallah and her siblings to care for each other. When she had a child of her own, she wanted to create…

  • Looking Back

    By James Shearer SPARE CHANGE NEWS It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years, two decades, since Spare Change News was created. Yes, much has happened since then. We’ve had our ups and downs, the paper has more than once been declared dead, but as one of the founders once said, “Spare Change is…

  • The End of an Era: James Shearer Stepping Down as Spare Change Board President

    By Liam Cunningham SPARE CHANGE NEWS A long chapter in the history of Spare Change News will come to a close late this year, when co-founder James Shearer will be stepping down as Board President. Shearer, who has been involved with the paper in a variety of roles since its inception in 1992, has decided…

  • The Early Years of Spare Change News: Insights From Its Founding Organizer

    By Paula Mathieu SPARE CHANGE NEWS Its 20th anniversary seems an apt time for Spare Change News and its readers to look back and reflect on the paper’s early history. “I wouldn’t have predicted this paper would last 20 years,” admits Tim Harris, who in 1992 was the idealistic journalist and homeless organizer responsible for…

  • “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”: Teaching, Learning and the Immigrant Experience, Part II

    Jacques Fleury Spare Change News “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” –Paulo Freire In my previous article, I compared my experiences as a student at a Catholic school for boys in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to…

  • Noam Chomsky: The Spare Change News Interview

    Noam Chomsky: The Spare Change News Interview

    Noam Chomsky’s new book, “Occupy,” is printed as part of the Occupied Media Pamphlet Series and lays out many arguments first articulated at student meetings and in front of gatherings of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) activists. Professor Chomsky’s interest in Occupy is consistent with his support of previous grassroots movements for change and can be…

  • Spare Change News Story Trade

    In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Spare Change News, StoryStream conducted a storytelling session with many of the homeless vendors. They talked about their experiences selling the paper on the streets of Cambridge — what it means to them to be part of the business, what their experiences have been, and their views of…

  • Heroin Addiction: An Illness

    By Marc D. Goldfinger A chill ran through my body as I read of the murder of Barbara Coyne of Boston, 67 years old, allegedly by a young heroin addict known as Timothy Kostka, only 27 years old. Violence always did make me ill, especially violence that was irrational and had no valid purpose. I…

  • A Mom Who Loved Yet Remained Firm

    Anthony Thames Spare Change News It occurred to me that Mother’s Day was fast approaching, and I realized this would be an opportunity for me to give homage to my dear mom and to all the beautiful moms in the world. I recently sat down with my mom, and we talked about her life. She…