Tag: Film Reviews
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Editorial: The Feel-good Sales Tax Holiday
“We do it, frankly, not because it’s particularly fiscally prudent, but because it’s popular.” That’s Gov. Deval Patrick explaining what has become the annual sales tax holiday, this year’s scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 13-14. In other words: it makes no real sense, but a lot of people are fooled into thinking it’s a…
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Up In Smoke: Marijuana Prohibition Costs Billions
AARON JAMES Spare Change News The night’s air was frigid. He had been at college only a week. Even if it were a two-year junior college, it was in some respects a defeat to be there in and of itself for the young boy. He had fought through many battles with depression and drug abuse…
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Editorial: The Feel-good Sales Tax Holiday
“We do it, frankly, not because it’s particularly fiscally prudent, but because it’s popular.” That’s Gov. Deval Patrick explaining what has become the annual sales tax holiday, this year’s scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 13-14. In other words: it makes no real sense, but a lot of people are fooled into thinking it’s a…
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James Shearer Column: For David
[img_assist|nid=547|title=|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=400|height=400] JAMES SHEARER Spare Change News For David Just a little over two years ago, this old bulldog of a newspaper seemed headed for the scrap heap. We had been through so much over the last few years and when the recession hit, it seemed as if Spare Change had fought its last battle. I…
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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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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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Expanding Supportive Housing in NYC
Common Ground is a renowned, non¬profit organization located in New York City that is celebrated both nationally and internationally for its success in the provision of permanent housing coupled with supportive social services to home¬less and low-income people. Founded in 1990, it has developed and managed thousands of apartments and other resi¬dences for disenfranchised individuals.…
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Home is where the Heart is
The opening lines of John Howard Payne’s 1823 opera, “Clari, Maid of Milan”, begins with, “Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam/Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, 41% of today’s homeless are families. It is these families that are no longer familiar with…
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Q&A With Beth Babcock President and CEO of Crittenton Women’s Union
Beth Babcock is the president and CEO of Crittenton Women’s Union and has studied the effects of poverty on executive functioning. Under Babcock’s direction, Crittenton Women’s Union is currently researching methods of coaching to positively affect impoverished adults. Earlier this month, Chalkey Horenstein spoke with Ms. Babcock, who explained the meaning of executive functioning and…