Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
-
Heart of Glass: Comic Todd Glass Talks Gay rights, Teaching Empathy
Todd Glass, the Philadelphia-born comic and host of a show on the Nerdist podcast, called “The Todd Glass Show,” is headed out on the road in support of Sarah Silverman and will be touching down in Boston for two shows on June 2 and 3 at the Wilbur Theater. For Glass, this outlet of entertainment…
-
Affordable Housing and Healthcare Facility Opens in Jamaica Plain
For nearly a decade, Jamaica Plain residents grew accustomed to passing by the vacant building at 459 Walnut Ave. until it was given new life by the opening of the Francis Grady Apartments on April 30. Combined with the Stacy Kirkpatrick House, the affordable-housing unit provides on-site health care to its 30 residents, taking an…
-
State Senate budget debate included 18 amendments for homelessness and low-income services
Photo: Emmanuel Huybrechts Statewide senate budget hearings ended Thursday night, with resolutions passed for the 2017 fiscal year beginning on July 1. Eighteen amendments regarding services and care for the homeless reached the senate floor, eight of which have been passed. A $2 million increase for prevention of youth homelessness, proposed by Senator Jason M.…
-
Home for Little Wanderers Hosts 12th Annual Voices and Visions Art Show
Photo: Home for Little Wanderers/Voices and Visions Each May, nearly 1,000 people gather at the Seaport World Trade Center for the Home for Little Wanderers’ annual Voices and Visions fundraiser and art show. This year, the Little Wanderers, who produced the nearly 200 pieces of artwork that were on display, showed audiences what “My World…
-
Just a Kid
On a rainy Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, I was making my way to Shaw’s supermarket to pick up a couple of items in time for a sporting event I planned on watching that evening. On the way out, I noticed a kid who couldn’t have been more than 14, maybe 15. He was…
-
Vendor Voices: My Walk for Hunger
On Sunday May 1, I finally got up the courage to go out and participate in the Walk for Hunger. Granted, this year they’d shortened the walk to ten miles because of all the construction that was going on. But that didn’t matter: the point was that I was really doing it. I’d waited for…
-
The New Prohibition
I’ve been reading articles in the Boston Globe about the massive increase in overdoses almost every day. Then I found myself reading an article about the giant influx of fentanyl, with machines to convert it into pills identical to pharmaceuticals from China. Everybody used to blame Mexico; everybody blames prescription pills that are diverted; everyone blames…
-
CCSC Students lead “Empathy Project”
Photo: Cynthia Abatt For the past four months, I’ve had the privilege of supervising two senior interns from the Community Charter School of Cambridge. Yusef Ferhani and Christy Felix have joined me each Wednesday to figure out practical ways to involve millennials in becoming part of the solution for America’s homelessness problem. Athletic, bright, attractive…
-
HUD Cites Homeowner with Discriminatory Practices Against Families with Children
HUD Secretary Julian Castro is charging the owner of a Springfield rental property for violating the Fair Housing Act by refusing to rent an available unit to a family with a child. The Hernandez family had been residing in a unit with a relative at 27 Loring St. when they were denied the opportunity to…
-
Second Chances: Colorful clothing bins help homeless and low-income citizens
Scattered throughout Somerville and Cambridge are colorful Second Chances clothing donation bins. For a decade, Second Chances has been providing free clothing to homeless and lower-income people in the community with very few hands on deck. “Over ten years, we have never had more than two days a week of staffing,” said founder and CEO…
Got any book recommendations?