Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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RISE ABOVE: ArtLifting project empowers Boston's homeless
Jeffrey Powers, an undeniably talented artist whose work has been shown in galleries on Newbury Street, was also homeless for nearly four years in Boston, living in shelters and on the street where he found places to keep as warm as possible during the frigid winter months. Powers is also a former Spare Change News…
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C.O.P.E. HOPE: Group uses social media to mobilize acts of kindness
It was Easter Sunday, 2014, and Joan Bennett was driving through Rockland when she saw a young man holding a sign that read: “I just need enough money to buy a tent.” Bennett approached the man, who introduced himself as Joey. He told her that he suffers from mental illness, lives in the woods and…
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Valentine's Day
It’s the Thursday night before Valentine’s Day and, as I walk home from my office at Spare Change News, I witness an assault of a young, homeless woman in front of the Harvard Square “T” station entrance. She’s clutching a red suitcase and has a bruise on her face. It looks like she’s trying to…
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UNSHELTERED DANGERS: Where do Boston's homeless go and is it safe?
A group of six takes up an isolated corner of South Station’s food court, on the second floor, talking loudly, joking and keeping warm. The group takes up two tables, four men, two women. All six are homeless and unsheltered. One couple in the group has a tall wire caddy filled with trash bags. Despite…
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ACTS OF KINDNESS: Ugandan father risks it all to give his daughter the gift of hearing
Elaine’s favorite class is Spanish. She’s only in third grade and is already learning a second language. Elaine Asaba’webwa is also deaf. The expectation was that she would learn no verbal language at all, her father Eddie Mukaaya says. Especially considering the fact that Elaine is from Uganda, where the word for deaf—”kasiru”—literally translates to…
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BOSTON 2024: Mayor addresses Olympics and homeless-related issues
Citizens voiced concerns, hopes, supports and opposing opinions at the first public meeting for Boston 2024 last Thursday. Among the concerns many citizens have about Boston hosting the Olympics were future treatment of the homeless and the availability of affordable housing. Cleve Rae, a homeless member of the Boston Homeless Solidarity Committee, raised two concerns:…
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LAST WORD: SCN vendor Jon Denning
If you’ve ever passed through Harvard Square on a national holiday, you may have noticed a Spare Change News vendor in his early 20s carrying a holiday-inspired, cardboard sign. That’s Jon Denning. When we posted a picture of Denning with his last sign on the Spare Change News Facebook page—a message inspired by Martin Luther…
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WICKED SMART: Amy Poehler receives the 2015 Woman of the Year award
For hellraiser Amy Poehler, there’s no place like home. Well, kinda sorta. “When I was growing up in Burlington, Harvard University used to be a group of buildings we threw rocks at on our way to a real job,” she muses on stage while receiving the 2015 Hasty Pudding Award from the Hasty Pudding Theatricals…
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LOVE LESSONS: Warm centers open in Boston and Cambridge
Nine round tables are strewn across the hardwood floor at First Church Cambridge, with a pitcher of water in the center of each and a couple of people at each table—mostly men this early afternoon—enjoying warm soup prepared by a local restaurant. The room is quiet at first, but as more people walk in off…
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EDITOR’S NOTE: God bless you
The night before Blizzard Juno wallops our city, I’m running around Harvard Square looking for one of our younger vendors, Jon, to make sure he’s OK. The forecast looks scary, and people like our newly elected governor, Charlie Baker, are slinging around words like “historic” and “snowmageddon.” I find Jon shivering in front of the…
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