Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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I Know What I’m Doing: Jen Kirkman talks activist entertainers, class inequality, new book
Photo: Robyn Von Swank Don’t listen to Jen Kirkman. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. At least that’s how she sees it. The stand-up comedienne and author, who hails from Needham, didn’t have an epiphany, an “awakening”, about wanting to become a comic, nor did she have influences like many others do. It wasn’t even…
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Advocates push for city-funded housing voucher program
The Boston City Council held a public hearing to explore the possibility of a city-funded housing voucher program. The hearing comes in the wake of diminished federal funding for housing assistance, and housing advocates have actively proposed a model similar to D.C.’s program. Specifically, advocates are pushing for the city to spend $5 million of…
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Homes not Jails: Santa Cruz City Council votes to continue the sleeping ban
The crackdown on the homeless took another ugly step in Santa Cruz, California. On March 8, 2016, the city council voted 5 to 2 to continue to criminalize sleeping. This follows votes to implement harsh stay-away orders from parks and beaches for people engaging in activities like sleeping at night, smoking or being in a…
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Gloria Steinem: Clinton “has to be” president
By Antonia Charlesworth, courtesy of INSP.ngo / Big Issue North. Fresh from college in 1957, then aged 22, Gloria Steinem headed to India to avoid her engagement to a man she describes as good but wrong. En route, she found herself in England, waiting for her visa. “It was here I incidentally discovered I was…
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Last Word: Dawn
Photo: Alena Kuzub I met Dawn on her first day back at Spare Change News after a six-year absence. Based on the big smile on her face and her camaraderie with the paper’s staff, it was obvious she was glad to be back. One thing about this newspaper is that even when Dawn was away,…
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We’ll be missing you, Nancy
When I was a kid, I loved watching old black-and-white movies with my mom and dad in the winter and doing a 1,000-piece puzzle. We’d sit in front of the fireplace just having fun until around 11, 12 or 1 o’clock in the morning. One person I liked to watch was Ronald Reagan. The one thing I…
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Boston Puts Tech to Use in Ending Homelessness
Green River, a Cambridge-based software company, will build the web application for Mayor Martin Walsh’s action plan to end chronic and veteran homelessness. The application will provide a way to match homeless people with housing opportunities and resources. Currently, every shelter in Boston has its own way of figuring out where the best place is…
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Fare Increase… Again?
It’s been a while since I’ve spoken ill of the MBTA. In fact I haven’t spoke about them at all, mainly because there’s been little to talk about, at least with me. After all, given the heat they took last winter, what could I possibly add to that? But, as we all know, it’s only…
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The Church of The Coveted Glen (Conclusion)
Read part one here. Lucy practically moved into his residence. Greta, at first, took great umbrage at the Lucy Pharr invasion. This, in itself, was extremely unusual. Most of the congregational women that had fallen under the spell of the passionate minister had not even registered the flicker of an eyelid belonging to the now…
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The Power of Unity and Awareness: Reflections from the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference 2016
When looking for a solution to a problem as big as youth and family homelessness, it’s obvious that we cannot think small. As an advocate, I don’t often see youth and family homelessness addressed at the same event. However, it’s important that they are. Think about it for a moment: the only difference between a…
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