Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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College Classes for Prisoners: an Inclusive Approach
[img_assist|nid=541|title=|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=400|height=400] Seth Kershner Spare Change News Whether he’s teaching prison inmates or college students, Lloyd Sheldon Johnson — a professor of behavioral science at Bunker Hill Community College — shows the same mix of care and concern that has been a mainstay of his teaching style for over 25 years. Having just finished writing an…
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New Homeless Policy: Advocates Debate How Fast To Go
Tom Benner Spare Change News Under the state’s new Housing First initiative, called HomeBASE: • Families that face homelessness and are served with HomeBASE short-term rental assistance … will pay no more than 35% of their income toward rent and utilities when they are enrolled in the program. Families could also receive assistance of up…
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Educating Homeless Children: Roxbury program gets high marks
Nakia Hill Spare Change News Rachel Strauss, Infant Toddler Teacher, is dealing with preventing her students from biting and scratching, while Carolin Marinez, Toddler Teacher, is reinforcing positive Super Hero behaviors to her students. But what both teachers at Horizons For Homeless Children have in common is they are both extremely proud of the National…
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The Children of the Secret: Claire DeWitt And The City Of The Dead, by Sara Gran—A Book Review
Marc D. Goldfinger Spare Change News I first ran across Sara Gran’s writing in a book called Dope, which was her first. I loved it. Dope was totally authentic in the sense that Sara Gran really knew what she was talking about. She was definitely familiar with the underworld of the junkie. But the book…
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Poetry from Andrew Rosen
Currency Loneliness is our constant currency. No bills, no coins, it circulates with water underground, with wind through avenues. This is human strangeness. Beings coagulate while staying separate. Loneliness springs, withers, and springs against gruff brick, our separate enclosures with openings for the hard-to-forget sun and the more erratic moon, our guardian alone and shining.…
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Editorial: Behind Closed Doors at the State House
The debate over a proposed shift in homeless policy was debated and settled behind closed doors at the State House, among a select few powerful dealmakers. So was a debate over collective bargaining for municipal employees. And proposed immigration crackdown measures. And so was just about everything else in the new $30.6 billion state budget,…
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Boston on Three Dollars a Day
By Gary, aka John Doe I remember watching Rachael Ray going across the country on her $40 a Day campaign. I also remember that it was possible, in theory, if you were OK with stiffing the wait staff on tips, as Rachael would usually leave somewhere in the area of a 2 percent tip to…
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Mass. Wants New Emphasis on Housing over Shelters
By Tom Benner First in a three-part series on the Patrick administration’s five-year plan to eliminate homelessness by 2013 Part One: The shift from shelters to housing Part Two: What the advocates and experts say Part Three: What policymakers say and next steps Housing First is a revolutionary concept in the fight against homelessness. Instead…
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Kip Tiernan Gone, But Not Forgotten
[img_assist|nid=531|title=Kip Tiernan |desc=|link=none|align=center|width=400|height=400] By James Shearer I was watching the news on the morning of July 4th, and the news crew was busy focusing its attention on the preparations for that evening’s fireworks display as usual, when they cut away only for a brief moment to announce that Kip Tiernan had passed away. I never…
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An end to reefer madness is in sight
By Aaron James The prohibition on marijuana prohibition dates back to the mid-1930s with the ‘Marijuana Tax Act.’ This law effectively made possession and distribution of marijuana a felony. Since this time we have made great strides correcting this flaw. Currently, simple possession of marijuana is no longer a felony charge in any state of…
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