Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Never give up
When I first met author Joe Putignano, he was two years sober and headlining in the touring production of Cirque du Soleil’s Totem. In the show, he was known as Crystal Man and, after he heard me share at a 12-step meeting, he walked up to me with a sweet, almost shy grin. “You’re writing…
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SIX MONTHS: Activists rally outside of Boston's City Hall
On April 8, six months to the day after the city of Boston closed the Long Island bridge, homelessness and substance abuse treatment activists rallied outside city hall and scored an impromptu meeting with the chief of health and human services. The rally and a follow up press conference was organized by the Boston Homeless…
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CENTER STAGE: Big Fish at Boston’s Speakeasy Stage Company
1998 was a very lucky year for David Wallace. After writing five unpublished novels, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions was released into the world and instantly sold to Hollywood. The perfect director was then found for this fable-laden gem of a novel: Tim Burton. Wallace’s heartfelt vision of a magical dad and a…
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SOLIDARITY SOLDIERS: Boston group advocates for the traditionally marginalized
Nearly 60 years old, Cleve Rea never imagined he would become homeless until the moment he was laid off by a medical-device manufacturing company last year. The reason: two major angry outbursts. While many people expect to make a lot of money in software development, buy a decent car and take a couple of trips…
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BOOK REVIEW: 'Gun Work' by David J. Schow
David J. Schow is one of those writers not enough people have heard of. But those readers who are in the know have read his “splatterpunk” stories. One of his best novels, and he has a few, is called Gun Work. There’s this guy named Carl Ledbetter who did a tour in Iraq with a…
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VOICES FROM THE STREET: Too Young
As I was walking in Harvard Square the other day, I noticed a young girl who was homeless. I had seen her many many times before, but, for whatever reason, on this day I really saw her. She couldn’t have been more than 14, maybe 15. Of course, she asked me if I had any…
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QUEEN'S JOURNEY: How Project Hope helped her reinvent her life
It’s still hard for Queen to talk about her brother. They were very close growing up. She had 15 siblings, but Shein was her only biological brother. When they moved to Boston from Florida, they moved together. And when he moved to Florida, she followed him there. In school they used to call her “Shein’s…
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LAST WORD: Mark G.
Selling Spare Change News provides an obvious financial reward for the newspaper’s homeless, formerly homeless or financially strained vendors. But for some, the reward has an extra therapeutic dimension, which proves beneficial in their transition from the streets, as the story of this week’s profiled vendor, Mark G., makes clear. Anyone who’s experienced addiction to…
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EDITOR’S NOTE: God shots
Looking back at the issues I’ve produced as the editor-in-chief of Spare Change News, I’m surprised by the nuggets of wisdom hidden within the profiles of our vendors and other homeless men and women featured in the pages of our bi-weekly newspaper. I call them “God shots”—those moments of clarity that leap from the page…
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BIZARRE BOSTON: Who Is buried In John Hancock's Grave?
Boston’s history is full of Revolutionary War heroes. Sam Adams and Paul Revere both lived here and their graves in the Old Granary Burying Ground on Tremont Street are popular tourist attractions. John Hancock, who is best known for his elaborate signature on the Declaration of Independence, also rests in the Old Granary. Or, at…
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