Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Research: Tougher Tests Don’t Improve Teaching Quality
New research seems to suggest what many Bay State educators have been saying for a while: the time spent preparing students for testing can degrade the overall quality of teaching. A new study, conducted on two unidentified Massachusetts school districts, found that when tougher tests were used in districts that already had higher quality teaching,…
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Baker Administration Battles Opioid Epidemic With Funding and Legislation
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker recently announced significant measures to provide recovery services and increase access to health care for those struggling with opioid addiction in the Bay State. Baker, a member of the Trump administration’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, is providing up to $30 million annually to expand residential recovery…
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LGBTQ Asylum Seekers Face Higher Hurdles Despite Widespread Oppression
Cambridge’s LGBTQ+ Commission and the Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship co-hosted an event on Thursday, November 9, to highlight the struggles faced by those seeking refuge from queerphobia and the oppression it breeds. The event, titled Challenges, Experiences, Freedom: LGBTQ+ Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, featured speakers who have faced this grueling asylum process, and…
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Cuban Immigration in the Eye of the Storm
Cuban migration to the United States is the great loser under Donald Trump’s hostile policy toward Cuba and creates additional difficulties for citizens of this Caribbean island nation who were accustomed to benefits that their neighbours in the rest of Latin America never enjoyed. In a decision that keeps uncertainty hanging over thousands of people…
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Fight Supremacy: Counter-protesters outnumber permitless white nationalist rally in the Common
Photo: Olivia Deng. On Saturday, a group called Resist Marxism held their “Rally for the Republic” at the Parkman Bandstand in the Boston Common. Surrounded by police for the entire event, the group never received a permit. Resist Marxism’s Facebook description claims they “defend freedom of speech from local government suppression and violent mobs,” but…
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Long Island Shelter Closure Inexcusably Left People Out in the Cold
As the cold weather set in a couple of weeks ago, I posted on Facebook how cold days like this make me think of Long Island Shelter. I wasn’t alone when I posted that. Some people had positive responses, others not so much, but we still remembered the island. It’s only been three years since…
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From Recovery to Revolution: Russell Brand talks addiction and recovery
Photo by Louise Haywood-Schiefer The Big Issues of the United Kingdom and Australia have gone Russell Brand daft in recent issues. In this conversation from a church in central London, the eccentric actor, writer, comedian and activist talks with a group of Big Issue vendors about what drives their addictions and how they overcame them.…
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The Roots of Exodus: Why Are People Compelled to Leave their Homes?
People are leaving their homes. It’s not because they want to but because they have to—to survive. Climate change, food insecurity, war and conflict; these are the root causes of this displacement. But is anyone doing anything to address them? Facts are facts, and one of them is that while everybody talks about the growing…
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Voices From Rosie’s Place: Live Your Dreams, Not Your Circumstances
Spare Change News is proud to present the next installment of “In Their Own Words,” which highlights the work of writers who meet at Rosie’s Place. In late 2014, Rosie’s Place, a community center for Boston’s poor and homeless women, started a memoir workshop. The intention was to have the guests, as they call the…
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Protesters ‘Take a Knee’ One Year After Fatal Shooting by Boston Police
On Saturday, Oct. 29, protesters knelt in front of the State House calling on State Attorney Maura Healy to reopen the cases of police brutality in Massachusetts. “We’re demanding that Attorney General Maura Healy reopen the cases,” said Brock Satter of Mass Action Against Police Brutality, the group that organized the Boston Takes a Knee…
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