Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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A Diamond in the Rough
Have you ever met someone, that the two of you have lived pretty much the same life but in a different skin? Donald Brown, banker at Boston Private Bank and Trust, is that person when compared to my life; our lives mirror each other. I met Donald during his commute into Boston. Our conversations ran…
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State expands addiction program for women at Taunton State Hospital
Governor Charlie Baker, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, and state and local officials announced the addition of 30 new beds at Taunton State Hospital for woman struggling with substance use disorders July 21, the Governor’s office said in a press release. The new beds are part of the hospital’s Women’s Recovery from Addictions Program (WRAP) which…
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Brockton Tent City Cleared Due to Public Safety Concerns
Mayor Bill Carpenter of Brockton received a call late at night on June 17 from the city’s fire chief. First responders had just extinguished a fire in the tent-filled homeless encampment not far from downtown. Fires in Tent City have become frequent in recent months, but this blaze was adjacent to about 20 tanks of…
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Governor Baker signs transgender anti-discrimination bill into law
Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill into law protecting transgender individuals against discrimination in places of public accommodation earlier this month, the Governor’s office said in a press release. The bill, An Act relative to transgender anti-discrimination, was a compromise between the House and Senate, Baker’s office said. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination will put…
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Boston City Councilor Looks to Help Homeless Families out of the Shadows
We are in the midst of the lazy, hazy days of summer. But when the days start getting shorter, the nights cooler and Labor Day draws near, our thoughts turn to the annual back-to-school traditions. Even as adults, September evokes memories of the excitement and perhaps, the anxiety, of a new year, new friends and new…
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Fire Leaves Family Homeless
Single mother and laundromat worker Marilyn Dalson wakes up every morning and sees the home she used to live in. Dalson lost her apartment unit in a fire weeks ago and has been staying with her neighbor across the street ever since. To make matters worse, her son Ryan Hinds, a recent graduate of McKinley…
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Special Report: Attacks on LGBT people rarely prosecuted as hate crimes
Photo: Ludovic Bertron By Ned Parker and Mimi Dwyer Courtesy of INSP.ngo / Reuters Dionte Greene, a 22-year-old black gay male, was looking for a hook-up. He reached out to an 18-year-old stranger on Facebook. “I’m not interested in smoking weed with you, Travone,” Greene wrote to the teenager, Travone Shaw, in their first exchange.…
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State Senate passes bill combating predatory debt collection
In the years since the Great Recession, the Attorney General’s office has received approximately 1,300 complaints a year about the growing debt collecting industry, according to a press release by State Senator James’ Eldridge’s office. Debt collectors often seek to collect money consumers do not owe, or make errors about the actual amount of money…
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A Tale of Two Bridges: Marty Walsh Sets Priorities with the FY2017 Boston City Budget
On Wednesday June 22, Spare Change News co-founder James Shearer and I participated in a meeting between Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Boston Homeless Solidarity Committee. Our “ask” was unsuccessful, even as I appreciated Walsh’s gracious manner. I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Marty Walsh, who appeared to be carrying the weight of…
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“The Wolf Road” by Beth Lewis: A Book Review
Goldsboro Books, 23–25 Cecil St., London, WC2N 4E2, United Kingdom, S & N Limited Edition/and Crown Publishing Group, A Division of Penguin Random House “Think on why I ain’t killing you.”—Kreagar Elka doesn’t remember her parents. After a war that destroyed civilization, she lives in the wilderness with a man named Trapper. Trapper teaches her…
Got any book recommendations?