Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
-
Y2Y SHELTER: Youth shelter coming to Harvard Square
Y2Y Harvard Square recently unveiled plans to open the nation’s first student-run shelter for young adults aged 18 to 24 at 3 Church Street. This new overnight youth shelter is scheduled to open on November 1 at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church. The shelter will house 20 youths per night, seven nights a week,…
-
CRISIS MODE: Long Island refugees demand state intervention
Advocates marched and rallied on Thursday, April 23 to call for the state to replace the beds and programs that were lost after the city closed the Long Island shelter and detox unit last October. They say that the city has not done enough to help displaced homeless people and recovering addicts. “We’re here to…
-
HOMELESS MOBILIZR: Group connects the homeless with Internet access
In Harvard Square, the paths of the smartest students in the world cross every day the paths of those who spend day and night trying to find a place to stay safe and warm. “One thing that I was immediately struck by was the volume of homelessness on the street,” says Cindy Yang, a student…
-
JIMMY TINGLE: Local comedian is no joke
Jimmy Tingle, much beloved comedian, is a like a favorite son in Cambridge. He has enjoyed a large local and national following for several decades. In fact, he grew up and continues to live in Cambridge. He has long been interested in issues of social justice and is known for his humorous political commentary. Remember 60…
-
OPINION: Need a life? Try saying 'yes'
Some time after 1984, life was good and I was on a roll. I had successfully completed graduate school where they presented me with a shiny new Ph.D. I was on the road to recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. I had a great job, where I wore suits every day and made more money…
-
CONTORTIONIST'S NIGHTMARE: Author Joe Putignano recounts his heart-breaking journey
PHOTO BY SCOTT MARRS Joe Putignano, a 38-year-old native of Brockton, Raynham and Bridgewater, is a former competitive gymnast who began the sport at the age of nine. He trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and later competed in the Junior Olympic National Championships at age 16. He performed in a long-running…
-
VOICES FROM THE STREET: Why the bridge to Long Island blew up
When Victory Program, which runs a variety of types of care for addicts in different stages of recovery, took out a mortgage on a building on Boston’s Long Island, they had no idea that the bridge leading to their drug recovery program would be demolished without warning. So now Victory Program must pay a mortgage…
-
LAST WORD: Beatrice Bell
It’s the morning of Good Friday at Spare Change News, and Beatrice Bell, one of the newspaper’s longest-serving reporters, is telling me an amazing story. At the age of seven, after a terrible asthma attack, she found herself having one of those life-changing experiences that are called, in the literature, “near-death.” For three days, which…
-
DRUG WARS: Heroin and opioid addiction is on the rise
Tom Reily stands before Governor Charlie Baker, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito and a crowd of hundreds and announces that he is two-and-half-years sober. The crowd responds with a fierce applause and in return Reily smiles. “I was a heroin addict,” Reily, a Boston College graduate, says during the final public hearing of Governor Baker’s opioid…
-
JAMES SHEARER: Six months … really?
As I write this, I’ve just returned from a rally at Boston’s City Hall with my compadres from the Boston Homeless Solidarity Committee. For those of you who don’t know, the committee was formed in October by a group of homeless and formerly homeless activists in response to the closing of Long Island Shelter in…
Got any book recommendations?