Category: Social Justice
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Instanbul: Still Rising Up
ISTANBUL, Turkey—As the dust settles, change fills the air in Istanbul. On 28 May 2013, close to 100 people occupied Gezi Park in Taksim Square to protest its government-ordered demolition. When police stormed the park with tear gas and water cannons, the peaceful occupy movement turned into mass demonstrations lasting about two weeks all over…
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Risky Business: Turning to Sex for Survival
When Travis turned his first trick, he still had an apartment in Roslindale and a job as a retail clerk. He was doing “well enough” financially until January 2010, when his shifts were cut to just five hours per week. His housemate helped him pay his rent for as long as she could. He looked…
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Homelessness Representation in Pride Week
Boston Pride Week has grown massively over its forty-year history. What was once a few marchers and ralliers is now a massive celebration that brings people, organizations, churches, local businesses and, for better or worse, large corporations around the rainbow flag. In fact, the 2013 parade saw a record, setting 230 groups march. While Mass.…
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Finding a Place for LGBTQ Homeless Youth
It was a bright summer day in Cambridge when I first walked into the shelter run by Youth on Fire (YOF) near Harvard Square. A program of the AIDS Committee of Massachusetts, YOF provides necessary services to homeless youth ages 14 to 24. As my eyes adjusted to the dimmed light, I was greeted with…
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Marisa Egerstrom: Organizer, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation
There was an infectious restlessness in the air as Marisa Egerstrom climbed the bandstand at Boston Common to address the 300-strong crowd at Occupy Boston’s first general assembly. Egerstrom and fellow faith activists from Boston—they called themselves the Protest Chaplains—had just come from the first days of Occupy Wall Street. A week later Occupy Boston…
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Mariama White-Hammond: Project Hip Hop
Project Hip Hop was started in 1993 and is run out of Roxbury, MA. It is a youth-led organization that aims to re-connect a new generation with the values of the Civil Rights Movement, and to raise people’s awareness of the ongoing struggle against institutionalized racism. Project Hip Hop’s main goal is to teach young…
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Election Round-Up
The Midwest decides against the likes of Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock. Congressman of Missouri—Akins said that women couldn’t get pregnant from a “legitimate rape” because their bodies have a way of “shutting that whole thing down”. Democrat incumbent Claire McCaskill shuts him down. Tea-party-backed Mourdock, State Treasure of Indiana, planned to fill a House…
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Are Female Veterans Being Left Out In The Cold?
After leaving the U.S. Air Force, Staff Sergeant Barbara Barnes spent years living in fear of stray shadows and sudden noises that could trigger flashbacks to trauma from her days of military service. Barnes never served abroad or saw combat. She served as an administrative officer from 1984 to 1990, processing legal documents on military…
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Down and Out in Boston: Massachusetts Women Encounter Great Economic Hardship
Although Cambridge and its sisters Boston and Quincy remain economically prosperous and have a combined population of 830,000 people and 430,000 women, women still have a higher poverty rate than men. Cambridge, the home of Spare Change News, has a population of 105,000 people. The Cambridge household income has almost doubled from $55,000 to $95,000…
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Remembering Gil Scott-Heron
A powerful voice left us at a youthful age of 62 in late May of 2011 when long-term Harlem resident, poet and recording artist Gil Scott-Heron passed away. Scott-Heron was a rapper, poet and musician who was primarily known for his syncopated spoken words, harsh-blunt criticizing poetry performances in the 1970 ‘s and 1980’s expressing…