Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Climate Crisis: 400,000 March in New York to Urge Action from World Leaders
On September 21, over 400,000 people marched through Manhattan demanding global action against climate change. The People’s Climate March was planned as a response to the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit on September 23 and became the largest climate march to date. Thousands of other activists around the world also took actions in solidarity with…
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Tea
By Arnie King Tea was born at Cambridge City Hospital 44 years ago and lived his entire life in the Metro region. The early education experience began at home with his mother, a teacher for Cambridge Public Schools. Elementary classes were initiated through the Montessori curriculum, with the circular seating arrangement, at the Friends School…
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Frankenstein in Central Square, Part Four
Frankenstein yearns for a shot of heroin. He wants to stop thinking just for a few hours. An eternity of thoughtlessness would be even better, he thinks, and he makes a croaking sound. This is the way he laughs. A dwarf with an overly large head scurries past him and disappears into the coffeehouse. Sirens…
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Farewell to a Friend
Much has already been written and said about my contributions to Spare Change News over the years, and as I prepare to retire from the Board of Directors, the only thing I can think of is my friend, mentor, and fellow Spare Change News co-founder Tim Hobson. Tim passed away on August 19, just a…
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James Shearer: Spare Change News’ Co-Founder Looks Toward What’s Next
James Shearer is perched on the edge of his chair – a red Coca-Cola can in his right hand, his left hand motioning constantly as he speaks. At the moment, he is talking about his life after Spare Change News, and he is excited. “What’s coming next is going to be hard, but it’s going…
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Ride for Food Takes on Growing Problem of Food Insecurity in Boston Area
DEDHAM, Mass.—Starting at 8:15 a.m. on Sunday, September 21, the first of three teams in the Ride For Food will begin their trek. The Ride for Food is a cycling fundraiser to fight hunger. It is sponsored by Three Squares New England (TSNE), a Dedham-based nonprofit. These bicyclists will ride one of three courses starting…
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Criminalization of Homelessness in US Condemned by the United Nations
By Carey L. Biron NEW YORK, N.Y.—A United Nations panel reviewing the U.S. record on racial discrimination has expressed unusually pointed concern over a new pattern of laws it warns is criminalizing homelessness. U.S. homelessness has increased substantially in the aftermath of the financial downturn, and with a disproportionate impact on minorities. Yet in many…
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Former Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn Looks Back on Busing, Forty Years Later
BOSTON, Mass.—Images of protests and violence in response to the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools are so lasting that movies like “The Departed” and the upcoming “Black Mass” still use them as symbols of racial disharmony 40 years later. Depending who you ask, the furor over busing was a fight over preserving decades of…
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Frankenstein in Central Square, Part Three
She runs so fast. Her brown shimmering hair sprays its kinks out behind her in the wake of her own wind. Rogue has never felt so late before. Time slips away. She thinks, it is almost too late. And then she breaks out in laughter and the bubbles of it tickle her cheeks as she…
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