Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Can We Completely End Veteran Homelessness?
Veteran homelessness has been a consistent problem in the United States dating as far back as World War II. While 17 percent of our entire homeless population is made up of veterans, just 8 percent of Americans claim veteran status, according to Green Doors, a homelessness organization in Central Texas. Earlier this year it was…
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Landmark case to set precedent on Illinois’ Homeless Bill of Rights
A court case in Chicago will set a precedent on how effectively the state’s Homeless Bill of Rights Act will defend the rights of the homeless. Three years after Illinois’ Homeless Bill of Rights Act passed, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless took Chicago to court over allegations that city employees mistreated Robert Henderson. This…
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Thousands of Boston students face homelessness as school approaches
As Boston Public Schools (BPS) students gear up for the excitement and pressures of another school year, over seven percent of the district’s youths are facing the additional stresses of homelessness. The approximately 4,000 homeless students in the public school system represent almost one fifth of the state’s homeless students—a staggering figure that has climbed…
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Life on Skid Row
(Photo: Zengzheng Wang) 1890 was a good year for California oil baron Lyman Stewart. His company had merged with Sespe Oil and the Mission Transfer Company to form Union Oil, Paul Rood, adjunct professor of political science and history at Biola University, said. At the time it was the largest oil company in California, responsible…
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My Spare Change Experience
My name is Pat Dixon, and I’ve been selling Spare Change News since 2001. I first became interested in SCN after I saw one of my neighbors selling the paper in Harvard Square. His name was Bill and he said I should sign up as well. He’s since passed away, and I now sell in…
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Suboxone: A Positive Alternative to Heroin Addiction
Addiction is a mental illness that has been misconstrued and stereotyped, especially since the early 1900s when it was criminalized. Addicts are often represented as bad people rather than sick people. In 1914, the Harrison Narcotics Act was passed into law, immediately criminalizing people suffering from substance use disorder. Ironically, the Bayer company, famous for…
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The Band Is Still Playing On: Part 1
Yes, I’m aware that my title for this column is a play on the words of the title to a book and movie about the AIDS crisis, “And the Band Played On.” That film was about how, as hundreds of people became infected with the deadly virus, our federal government pretty much sat on its…
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Writing for SCN: A Vendor’s Perspective
The 2008 economic recession cost me my newspaper distributor job at Boston Now and opened up new opportunities for me at Spare Change News. After selling Spare Change News for two weeks, I answered a posting by then-editor Emily Johnson stating that she was looking for someone to write a story on community gardening. I…
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HUD offers $2 million in grants to help students living in assisted living pay for college
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) made it a little easier for students living in low-income housing to attend college earlier this month. HUD announced in a press release on August 2 that it is making $2 million in grant funding available to these students through its Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency (ROSS)…
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Wendy Oxenhorn on co-founding Street News and her life helping those living in homelessness and poverty
By Adam Kampe and Eric Falquero Courtesy of INSP.ngo / Street Sense In 1989, Wendy Oxenhorn was approached by a rock musician to find a way to help people experiencing homelessness in New York City. Hutchinson Persons wanted to organize a large concert that would function as a canned food drive. He had heard of…
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