Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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MURPHYS’ LAW: Dropkick Murphys’ Matt Kelly talks 2024 Olympics, hometown pride
It’s hard to think of Boston without thinking about the Dropkick Murphys. They’re synonymous with the city today, and rightly so. They’ve worked hard over the last 19 years to get to where they are in the music scene. They’re connected to the biggest punk bands to come out of the city, such as the…
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PHOTOS: Actress Natalie Portman speaks at Harvard
Spare Change News photographer Ryan Miner shot photos of actress Natalie Portman at Harvard. Portman, who scored an Academy Award for her work in Black Swan, will speak at her alma mater on Wednesday, May 27 as the 2015 Class Day speaker for Harvard College. –Photos by Ryan Miner
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BIZARRE BOSTON: Shocking death of James Otis, Jr.
Here’s a morbid question. Do you want to choose the way you die? Personally, I don’t think I want to. James Otis, Jr. (1725–1783), an important figure in the American Revolution, definitely did. And he exited this mortal life in his preferred way, even though it was a rare and dramatic one. Otis was born…
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MR. g AT THE CENTRAL SQUARE THEATER: A witty play about creating the universe
The creation of the universe was quite a job. Creating a play about it is no small feat, either. Mr. g was adapted from the book of the same name by novelist and astrophysicist Alan Lightman. The play’s director, Wesley Savick, wrote the theatrical adaptation, a doubleheader of duties he also implemented with Lightman’s previous…
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VOICES FROM THE STREET: Two dogs and a kitten (part two)
(Part one can be read here. A man comes back from prison and finds chaos at his home. He’s taking his children out to do the laundry after going out for breakfast.) Jeannie wanted to help me put the dirty clothes in the washing machine. Donald wanted to play with one of the kids at…
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VOICES FROM THE STREET: A certain sadness
I, along with millions of others, watched the events that unfolded in Baltimore last week. Like so many others, I was also angered and saddened by what went down. It’s a scene that has become all too familiar over the last year. A young black man was killed by the police, seemingly without provocation. Freddie…
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LAST WORD: Gregory Currie
When Gregory Currie said he came from a political family, I had no idea he was the son of Jackie Currie, a woman described as a “Detroit legend” after serving many years as Detroit city clerk and Wayne County commissioner. As he was growing up, Currie sometimes felt like he was being groomed to be…
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GREAT DONATION: Sixth-graders donate cereal to Pine Street Inn
Have you ever heard of someone wanting or needing 407 boxes of cereal? Well, that’s exactly what we, sixth graders at Pierce School in Brookline, collected in our cereal drive for the Pine Street Inn, an organization that works to provide shelter for homeless men and women. At Pierce School, we would usually collect toiletries…
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HOMEWARD BOUND: Housing chief and adovcates demand more funding
At a Boston City Council budget hearing on May 5, the mayor’s chief of housing and local advocates called for increased funds to the housing budget—albeit in different ways. Councilors first heard from Sheila Dillon, Boston’s chief of housing and director of the Department of Neighborhood Development (DND). Dillon, on behalf of Boston Mayor Marty…
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Beatrice Bell is SCN's vendor/writer of the year
When I first met Spare Change News reporter and vendor Beatrice Bell, she was standing across from the mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, holding her recording device in front of the newly elected politician’s face. It was the opening of the rush-job Southampton Street shelter and she, along with a team of Spare Change News…
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