Spare Change News

Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • ‘All I Do is Meditate:’ Surviving a Boston Winter on the Streets

    BOSTON, Mass.—When the weather gets cold, most people simply stay inside with the heat turned up. But what about homeless people? Where do they go? Most homeless people go to shelters, such as the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter (HSHS), at the Lutheran church on Winthrop St in Harvard Square. The shelter stays open from 7…

  • Annual Census Shows Rise in Boston’s Homeless Families

    BOSTON, Mass—On December 16, 2013, the Emergency Shelter Commission, cooperate with 350 volunteers, conducted their 34th annual census of Boston’s homeless population. The census found that there are 7,255 homeless people in Boston, including men, women and children. This is a 3.8-percent increase from the 2012 census, during which 6,992 homeless people were recorded. The…

  • No Place Like Home: Housing for LGBTQ Homeless Youth

    There’s a book called “Youth in Crisis: What Everyone Should Know About Growing Up Gay” edited by Mitchell Gold, that contains a series of interviews with young people. There is a story in there that is heartbreaking: The Trevor Project, an American nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and…

  • Radio

    While I was working at the needle exchange, there was a couple I still cannot get out of my mind. They were in their early 60s, homeless, and they had come up for the warmer weather. They liked Massachusetts best, but they wintered in Florida. Snowbirds. That’s the expression people have for those who have…

  • Where Will It End?

    In the last issue of SPARE CHANGE NEWS, there was a news article by Alex Ramirez on sequester cuts: how will they affect federal funding for programs that service the poor and the homeless? For one, housing vouchers (like Section 8) which subsidize rent for those who cannot afford the full price, will be greatly…

  • Power and Privilege in the Anthony Weiner Sex Scandal

    From looking at mainstream coverage of Anthony Weiner’s ongoing scandals, it would seem there are only two possible positions to take on the embattled politician. On one side are those who denounce Weiner’s sexting and lies as disqualifying him from office. On the other are those, mostly liberals and progressives, who argue that Weiner’s behavior…

  • Politics as Unusual: Mayoral Candidate Dan Conley’s Troubling Record of Clearing Cops Who Kill Minorities

    Word on the street is that the acquittal of George Zimmerman might catalyze a meaningful dialogue about race and power. In cities coast to coast, a conversation has already manifested, with the biggest protest crowds since Occupy uniting to express outrage and to honor the memory of Trayvon Martin. Around the Hub, it’s anybody’s guess…

  • Before Trayvon Martin

    “Fruitvale Station” directed by Ryan Coogler Significant Productions, 85 min., in theaters now The award-winning film “Fruitvale Station” shows the true story of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III on the day of his death. The timing of this movie could not have been better. Following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the murder of Trayvon Martin,…

  • When Art Imitates Life and Gets It Right

    “Orange is the New Black” created by Jenji Kohan Netflix, 51–61 min., 13 episodes The moving Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” is based on a memoir of the same name by Piper Kerman—the fictional Piper Chapman on the show—a highly-educated woman in her 30s who was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison…

  • Three Poems

    A Good Man quietly inside of me remembering — always remembering the capon my mother cooked to please the man she loved, a man that came home every night put on his slippers and smoked his pipe they’d sit and chat and watch TV Gunsmoke, Ed Sullivan, Lawrence Welk and always Dad’s favorite – Edith…

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