Tag: Issue 06-23-2010
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Diverting the Homeless for the Sake of Diverson
The other day, an old friend sent me the link to a story from NPR that while not shocking is still sad and a little sickening. It seems that as South Africa was preparing itself for the World Cup, it began to force homeless people from one of the areas in which the event is…
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The Aliens: Watching Black Poison Spread
We had to move our space ship to another part of what you call the Gulf of Mexico. It’s hard for us to believe that, for all the technology you have, you humans haven’t stopped the gusher of Black Death. Upon monitoring your television channels, we see very little about the major catastrophe that is…
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The Dark Night of the Soul
Benny stares through his basement window and he can feel his heart rejoicing once again by the absence of the sun. Sunlight has become his worst enemy since his parents died, his wife left him and his only son was officially declared M.I.A. while fighting the war in Iraq. These days, he hardly leaves his…
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Street Logic: A Sociological Novel of Homelessness in Boston
[img_assist|nid=284|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=494|height=640] Steve Sundberg’s recently published novel Street Logic is a self-proclaimed sociological examination of the lives of the countless men and women who have called the streets of Boston home. The story tactfully invokes the need for community involvement to alleviate the woes of those in need, reminding the reader that we can all play…
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Who is Homeless? The HUD Annual Report to Congress and Homelessness Pulse Project
Counting and categorizing the homeless is a difficult task, both practically and theoretically. Every year or so, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) prepares a report for the Congress—called the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR)—on the state of homelessness in the country. It attempts to do just that: demograph the homeless…
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Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Assisting Boston's Teenagers in Need
Teens on the streets of Boston have very critical needs. Unlike many adult homeless persons, these youths are not necessarily there because of socioeconomic reasons. Instead, most end up on the streets as the result of emotional or family dysfunctions. A local agency that effectively meets the critical needs of homeless and runaway youth is…
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Beyond Crying Over Spilled Oil: How You Can Help
The Gulf of Mexico—the eleven largest body of water in the world—is geographically considered a small branch of the Atlantic Ocean. It houses one of the major bird habitats in the continental United States. The states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida—along with Mexico—share gulf shorelines. The U. S. Bureau of the Census reported…
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Homelessness…Mindfulness and Meditations
[img_assist|nid=274|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=397] Seventeenth century English poet Francis Quarles is credited with having expressed the thought, “Meditation is the life of the soul; action, the soul of meditation; and honor the reward of action.” Now in the twenty-first century, the relationship between meditation and action is being reexamined in the context of homelessness. A June 6th column…