Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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A Bad Trip, Part Two
I have been homeless before, so I was kind of relieved. And I have slept in worse places than that. After two days of intense work, we had a livable house. We sat back, smoked one of the last few joints and talked about money. Then I started working at Ernie’s Country Store in Corvallis,…
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Random Thoughts
As we sweat through summer, I have a few things on my mind: The Supreme Court The court justices or should I say jesters have handed down some rather insane rulings in the last couple of weeks: stomping all over abortion rights, the Hobby Lobby ruling is just plain stupid, letting employers opt out of…
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Performers Provide the Words, Audience Provides the Scenery in ImprovBoston’s ‘Blackout’
By Marissa Giambelluca The word of the night was “donkey,” and the sketch began with a disgruntled Dunkin’ Donuts worker attempting to make a man and his mule leave the premises. There was a lot of yelling and hee-hawing but the movements were left to my imagination because I was sitting in a pitch-black theater.…
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Melvin Jenkins Remembered by Friends On and Off the Street: Cambridge Homeless Man Dies at 58; Described as Talented, Caring and Loyal
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Alistair Finlay misses his friend. He first met Melvin Jenkins two-and-a-half years ago, and he seemed like the kind of guy worth meeting. They became best friends. Both were homeless, seeing each other at drop-in centers and at Bread and Jam for breakfast. Alistair found Mel a very helpful man and a loyal friend,…
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Gentrification in Chinatown Raises Demand for Affordable Housing
CHINATOWN, Mass.—“It has long been gentrified,” A Chinatown resident exclaimed with a heavy sigh as he walked toward his apartment in Tai Tung Village, one of the early housing projects for low-income Chinatown residents. Tai Tung Village is a gray, medium-sized high-rise surrounded by other rundown-looking apartments. A family of four only needs to pay…
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A Year After Mass Hunger Strike in California Prisons, What Has Changed?
By Victoria Law CRESCENT CITY, Calif.—On July 8, 2013, 30,000 California prisoners launched what became a 60-day mass hunger strike. One year later, however, Luis Esquivel is still sitting in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) in solitary confinement in California’s Pelican Bay State Prison. “Right now, my uncle is in his cell with no windows,”…
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‘Get Connected’ Brings Computers to Those in Need
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Every Wednesday afternoon from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., volunteers gather in the basement of Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Harvard Square to build computers for those in need. They are part of Get Connected – a volunteer-run computer clinic provided by the nonprofit Solutions At Work in partnership with Computer Care and Learning,…
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Isaura Mendes’ Rise Above Grief
In 1990, there were 152 murders in the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. But even though people were dying on the streets near her home, Isaura Mendes did not think about the violence much. She assumed the men she knew were killed because they had done something wrong – maybe drugs or gang activity.…
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An International Twist on a Traditional Bluegrass Musician
For an Americana musician in Boston, Stash Wyslouch certainly brings an international flavor. Born in Switzerland of half Polish-half Colombian ancestry, he holds triple citizenship for the US, Poland and Colombia, all three of which he spends time in. He plays full-time in an original bluegrass/progressive bluegrass band called The Deadly Gentlemen, which tours around…
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