Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Moving Forward Without Forgetting Those We’ve Lost
Hello dear friends, supporters, and advocates of the Homeless Empowerment Project! My name is Mimi Bouchouar, and it is with great pleasure and joy that I introduce myself to you as the new Executive Director of the Homeless Empowerment Project, publisher of Spare Change News. I am ecstatic and grateful to be a part of…
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Did ‘Old School Justice’ Catch Up to Whitey Bulger?
When I heard the news about James “Whitey” Bulger being savagely killed in his new prison in West Virginia, it came as no surprise. For years he ratted on the New England Mafia to increase his own crime organization’s control of the Boston area. I grew up in New Jersey and started using cough syrup…
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Income-Restricted Housing Report Shows City Outpaces Others in Affordable Housing Goals
The affordable housing stock in Boston outpaces that of any other major city in the U.S., a new report released by the city’s housing department found. The report released in early November by the Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) captures all income-restricted housing in Boston and found that more than 54,000 units out of 283,000…
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How caring for homeless cats healed a homeless woman
Connie Porter is a Street Sense Media vendor based in Washington D.C. who has become known to locals as “The Cat Lady”. For the last five years, she has been taking care of the city’s large feral cat population and working alongside the Humane Rescue Alliance to have the animals trapped, neutered and re released.…
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Hotel Strike Ends With Better Contract For Workers
After being off the job for more than a month, employees of Marriott-owned hotels in the city reached an agreement and voted to return to work the weekend before Thanksgiving. Members of UNITE HERE Local 26 overwhelmingly voted in favor of ratifying their new contracts, which guarantees better working conditions and more job security, according…
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Work Intensifies to Keep Guns Away from Animal Abusers
A conviction for domestic violence in the U.S. strips a person of the legal right to possess a gun. It doesn’t matter if the conviction is a misdemeanor or a felony. The rationale for the federal law: Domestic violence is a red flag for future violence – including potentially deadly violence with a firearm. Scientific…
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They don’t care about us
By the time this issue of Spare Change hits the streets, this country will have voted, the mid-terms will have passed, and we will know whether checks and balances have been somewhat restored in Washington, or if a runaway congress led by a tyrannical racist buffoon will continue to be the order of the day.…
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Homeless children program hosts women’s breakfast
Nine-year-old Christian and 12-year-old Miguel received a standing ovation from 1,200 people after performing a moving cello and violin piece at the 20th Annual Women’s Breakfast at Boston Marriott Copley Place. They are both alumni of Horizons for Homeless Children early education program, a non-profit serving more than 1,600 homeless children in Massachusetts each week.…
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Mayor Walsh speaks at national poverty conference
On Friday, Nov. 2, Mayor Marty Walsh spoke to a crowd at the Disrupting The Poverty Cycle Conference, hosted this year at the University of Massachusetts-Boston Campus Center. The conference, held biennially by Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath), attracts researchers, community organizers, policymakers, and lower-income families to connect and discuss over two days new and innovative…
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Boston law firm sues gas company over death of Lawrence resident
On October 25, a Boston law firm announced their plan to sue Columbia Gas for the death of a teenger during the fires and explosions that rocked the Merrimack Valley in September. The Sheff Law firm will represent the estate of Leonel Rondon, an 18-year-old Lawrence high schooler who was crushed by debris when visiting…
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