Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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A New Point in Time: A more positive narrative surrounds Walsh’s second homeless census as mayor
Last year, Marty Walsh’s first homeless census as the mayor came months after he closed Long Island, an incident that displaced hundreds of homeless folks and recovering addicts in Boston and led to tough criticism of how he handled the event. To recap, the main access route to the island, a rusty 64 year old…
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Big Talk: Walsh functionally ends veteran homelessness, brags to Obama
This article comes courtesy of Boston Institute from Nonprofit Journalism. “I am so proud to announce: we have ended chronic veterans’ homelessness in Boston.” So said Mayor Marty Walsh in last week’s State of the City address, and in a follow-up tweet copying @WhiteHouse, @FLOTUS, @POTUS, and @SecretaryCastro for good measure. It’s a bold claim,…
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Voices from the Street: A Hidden Violation, Part One
I had been in recovery for approximately four years and was extremely active in what my support groups called H & I, which stands for hospitals and institutions. A few of us would go to speak at various hospitals and detox centers to people who were trying to kick their drug habits and alcohol addictions.…
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Voices from the Street: Ignorance
The other night I watched an episode of “Law and Order” about a homeless man who killed another homeless man. I’ve probably seen it 10 to 15 times over the years, but on this night, the sheer ignorance about homelessness made my skin crawl. The episode touched on every stereotype about homeless people and explored…
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Last Word: John Binari
Photo: Alena Kuzub Being a newspaper vendor isn’t that different from the work John Binari was doing before he came to Spare Change News: he was working as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army in Porter Square. Although the work was okay and he earned $10 an hour, the season only lasted for four…
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Watertown’s Power Café seeks to empower disabled community
From the outside, Power Café is the kind of unassuming store-front that dots many an American Main Street. But this coffee shop, on the corner of Lexington and Main Streets in Watertown, is unlike any other in the area. Power Café, as you may have guessed from the name, refers to empowerment: the coffee shop…
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Veterans Legal Services: Pro-bono legal help for homeless and struggling troops
Photo: Veterans Legal Services Coming back is never easy, but for the hundreds of veterans struggling with legal issues and fighting to stay off the streets, Veterans Legal Services (VLS), the Boston-based nonprofit legal team dedicated to providing pro-bono legal aid to veterans who are currently homeless or at risk of losing their homes, is…
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For Comedy King Sweeney, Poverty Is No Joke
Very rarely do you come across an entertainer who doesn’t want to talk about some current project, their career, what got them started in the industry or some other topic referring to their time in the spotlight. And with someone like Steve Sweeney, the crowned “King of Boston Comedy,” you know there’s a lot to…
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Hollywood filmmakers turn the spotlight on world’s homelessness crisis
Courtesy of INSP News Service www.INSP.ngo / The Big Issue By Adrian Lobb and Steven MacKenzie Richard Gere is one of the most famous faces in cinema but during the making of his latest film, “Time Out of Mind,” in which he plays George, a homeless man living on the streets of New York, he…
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Boston breaks affordable housing record
Photo: Bill Ilott The city of Boston set a new record for creating affordable housing units in 2015, Mayor Marty Walsh’s office said. The city of Boston permitted 1,022 new units of affordable housing this past year, surpassing the previous mark of 862 units in 2004, Mayor Walsh’s office said in a press release. As…
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