Spare Change News Online

Some Zimbabweans See Only More Pain as Prices Fall

2009-04-14T16:27:00.002-04:00

By: MacDonald Dzirutwe

After the government of Zimbabwe decided to get rid of the local dollar whose value had been destroyed by inflation, goods have finally begun to reappear in stores and prices are falling. But some Zimbabweans are finding it even harder to make a living because they now have to survive solely off their allowance. People can no longer sell on the black market either, but some are being resourceful and selling the old, worthless Zimbabwe dollars to tourists for as much as $20. The government is seeking $5 billion for long-term recovery, which relies on the satisfaction of Western donors that Zimbabwe is on the road to stability. Unemployment in Zimbabwe is over 90 percent, and three million people have already left the country in search of other jobs.

No Stimulus for the Homeless

2009-04-14T16:18:00.002-04:00

By: James Shearer

The new regulations for homeless families being put into affect by the Patrick Administration are going to cut the budget for families by $4 million this year and $10 million next year. Meanwhile, the federal government is providing $17 million this year and $24 million next year for families with dependent children, but the state had decided not to use this money for the homeless. One beneficial revision to the regulations is that they now allow families to be considered for public housing who had previously left their housing if the families provide a plausible reason. The regulations have also been revised to allow minors to stay in shelters with their families, whereas before they could not.

Shanty Town USA

2009-04-14T16:11:00.006-04:00

By: Adam Forrest

As the financial crisis worsens and people continue losing their homes, shanty towns are springing up across the country. One of the largest tent communities, currently housing 1,200 homeless individuals, is located a few miles from California's state capitol building, on a piece of Sacramento wasteland. Although sleeping here is prohibited, people who have lost jobs and homes have nowhere else to go. Mayor Kevin Johnson is determined to shut down the tent city within the next couple weeks and move the residents into shelters. Another possibility is to set up a legal encampment that would include clean water, and sanitation services.

A Way Out of Rock Bottom: Pat Fina recounts years on the streets and finally leaving them

2009-04-14T15:54:00.002-04:00

By: Adam Sennott

Pat Fina, who has worked at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge for the past 11 years, recounts the seven years she spent in shelters while battling illness. She spent most of her homeless years in St. Patrick's Shelter because it doesn't allow any drugs of alcohol. Although she wasn't guaranteed a bed every night and Pat sometimes had trouble finding a place to stay, once a year she would treat herself to a dinner at Legal Seafoods for her birthday. Fina grew up in Ohio and eventually went to graduate school at Tufts, but after being raped at a theater party, she left school without a degree and with 10,000 dollars in debt. Fina worked off her debt by doing administrative work for schools and hospitals around Boston, but she soon became too sick to work. She was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and it took two years before she fully recovered. Once she regained her health, Fina was hired by the shelter as a janitor, and soon after she discovered the want ads for a tutor at the CLCC.

America's Youngest Outcasts: Homeless Children of America

2009-04-14T15:44:00.002-04:00

By: Amanda Fakhreddine

The "State Report Card on Child Homelessness" was recently released by the National Center for Family Homelessness and describes the conditions of the 17,505 homeless children in Massachusetts. The Report Card focuses on four areas: extent of homelessness, child well-being, structural risk factors, and state-by-state policy and planning efforts. The report only includes children who are a part of families or with a parent, not the unaccompanied youth. Most homeless students around the country score about 16 percent lower on math and reading tests, but homeless children in Massachusetts scored about 20 percent higher than their peers in both areas. Most homeless students are in grades K-8, and those in high school often don't finish, putting them at a huge disadvantage.

2009-03-31T16:37:00.004-04:00

Protesters marched from the Common to Copley Square in response to corporations laying off low-wage workers to cut costs.

Union members protest layoffs of janitors and service workers in Greater Boston.

Photos by Alexis Hauk

Minutemen: Neighborhood-Watch Over Our Border?

2009-03-31T16:00:00.009-04:00

By: Amanda Fakhreddine

The Minutemen are a military-like group formed in 2005 that help patrol the U.S.-Mexican border. The Minutemen outfit themselves in camouflage and night vision goggles and patrol the desert around the fence that divides the two countries. The Minutemen practice on shooting ranges and force themselves to learn to endure various harsh climates. They meet at a certain spot each night and then split up to look for anyone sneaking across the border. Lieutenant Anthony Salazar of the San Diego County Sheriffs Department of Alpine Station emphasized that the Minutemen are not part of the military, they are civilians who simply draw on military tactics. Former President George W. Bush tried to discourage the "vigilantes" but they truly believe they are protecting America and can't be dissuaded. Groups have been formed in opposition to the Minutemen, saying they are trying to prevent the unnecessary deaths of those who attempt to cross the border.

DSS: Helping Children Lost in the System

2009-03-31T15:50:00.002-04:00

By: Kore Van Baldwin

The Department of Social Services does it's best to place kids who have been pulled out of violent or unstable living situations into foster or adoptive families. However there are so many kids in the system that many continue down an unhealthy path and end up on the streets or abusing drugs anyway. The DSS is well meaning but not as helpful as they could be. What kids need is to be re-taught how to be social, how to fit in, how to move forward and how to motivate yourself. Many of the kids are psychologically and socially scarred, and above all they need to be taught to hope again, that they do have a future ahead of them.

Downturn, Debt Dulls Diamond Sector Sparkle

2009-03-31T15:39:00.002-04:00

By: Philip Blenkinsop

The diamond industry is experiencing a recession due to less demand, falling prices and lender reticence. Since a few diamonds are worth an large amount of money, the industry operates on debt, and the debt is crucial to funding $50-60 billion of trade in the stones. But the debt is becoming more than the industry can bear as trade levels are at one-tenth of their usual levels. Diamond industry leaders are discussing possible joint marketing efforts to ease the problem. The market of the super-rich has completely dried out, while jewelry sales in the U.S., which accounts for 45 percent of the market, have fallen by 20 percent.

Food Contamination, part II: How You Can Shop Locally and Rest Peacefully

2009-03-31T15:30:00.002-04:00

By: Robert Sandak

It is important to buy locally grown food to get the best quality, put money back into the regional economy and support farmers. All Whole Foods stores carry locally grown food; they even have signs that inform the consumer as to where it's from and if it's commercial or organic. Whole Foods also invites local farmers to their stores to do demonstrations. The Harvest Cooperative Market (in Cambridge and Jamaica Plain) also carries local produce. The Porter Square and Sidney Street Star Supermarkets have the largest selection of local produce. From June through October, local produce and fruit is also available at the 30 Middlesex Farmer's Markets across the state.

Thai Community Organizer Kovit Boonjear on Squatter Communities, Housing Rights and Community Empowerment.

2009-03-31T15:18:00.002-04:00

By: Katherine Foo

Kovit Boonjear is a native of Thailand who works to organize squatter and scavenger communities that deal with housing rights and self-sustainable income. He works to help the poor by emphasizing participatory education. Boonjear said that homelessness in Thailand is caused by the fact that the government solely supports the industrial sector, completely ignoring the agricultural sector. So people are selling their land and moving into the city to find jobs. Once in the city people find that land is extremely expensive, so they squat on the public land owned by the Railroad Authority of Thailand (RAT). Since the land is government owned, it is only available for rent, which is expensive. It is helpful for the people to come together and form groups, but there are no shelters available for the squatters who can't afford rent. The Assembly of the Poor helps to organize the squatters into groups. Boonjear is currently on a trip in North America to talk about his experiences and share them with others.

Cambridge Census Reveals Sharp Increase in Homeless Families, Individuals

2009-03-31T15:11:00.002-04:00

By: Julia Waterhous

The recently released tenth annual 2009 Cambridge Homeless Census Report, a joint report between Cambridge and Somerville, showed a 33 percent increase in the number of homeless in Cambridge since a year ago last January. The number of homeless families increased significantly while the number of homeless individuals dropped 7 percent. In January, seven teams led by CASPAR's First Step program went throughout Cambridge and Somerville in the early morning to find as many unsheltered homeless as they could. Fred Berman, planner with the Cambridge Department of Human Service Programs acknowledged that the numbers were unsettling but said they could be misleading too. The number of homeless families in Cambridge may have appeared to increase because the state has been housing homeless families at the Cambridge Gateway Inn; so there are more homeless families in Cambridge.

Food Contamination: Everything You Should Know

2009-03-17T15:30:00.005-04:00

By: Robert Sondak

In the three years from 2006 to 2009 there have been three major food- borne illnesses that have taken a toll on the U.S. food system. In 2006, California bagged spinach tested positive for E-Coli; in 2008, the United States Department of Agriculture issued a food advisory on salmonella contamination in tomatoes; in March 2009 the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Nutrition and Food Safety issued a recall of all Peanut Butter Corporation of America peanut butter products due to salmonella. E-Coli, as found in the California spinach in 2006, is a highly toxic bacteria strain that can cause severe food poisoning or death. The E-Coli was found to be a result of growing the spinach in the same region where cattle was farmed. The 2008 finding of salmonella in tomatoes was found to be the result of cross contamination with peppers from Mexico. The FDA website and Whole Foods website have more information on the peanut butter recall and past recalls.

Mauritians Also Competing for Land in Africa

2009-03-17T15:23:00.002-04:00

By: Inter Press Service

Mauritius, a net food importing country, has had to start growing its crops in other African states where there is more land and labor. Some are turning to Mozambique where it is easier to find people for hire. Mauritius traditionally grows vegetables, its top products being potato, onion and garlic. Mozambique also provides a climate where food can be grown year-round. What stands in the way of Mozambique accepting the Mauritians are political instability and poor sanitary conditions, but the two countries have ancestral relations that make them more open to each other.

China's Jobless Migrants Loath to Return to Countryside

2009-03-17T15:15:00.002-04:00

By: Simon Rabinovitch

The economic downturn has affected the number of jobs available in China, and those that flock to the cities in hopes of finding riches are being disappointed. The government is offering funds and training to the unemployed migrants in the country to start their own businesses in the hopes of keeping throngs of jobless migrants from wandering about the cities. Around 20 million rural migrants have lost work and don't know where to turn. The provincial government has attempted to help by providing information on where jobs might be found while simultaneously encouraging migrants to start their own business. 80 percent opt to look for employment in the cities.

State Budget Cuts, National Stimulus Poorly Timed

2009-03-17T15:07:00.002-04:00

By: Abby Elizabeth Conway

The Patrick administration has proposed changes to the state's emergency shelter program as a result of a $3.4 million deficit in the budget due to an increase in families seeking shelter. The changes include more restrictions on the families that would have access to shelter's, imposing regulations and narrowing the eligibility of families. Two years ago the Patrick administration promised to end homelessness in Massachusetts, and now when more people than ever are seeking shelter, the administration is making cuts. President Obama's recently signed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will help the state and provide almost $46 million over the next two years to programs that help with homelessness.

A Question of First Amendment Rights

2009-03-17T14:59:00.002-04:00

By: Amanda Fakhreddine

On February 25th a court hearing was held regarding a motion for a protective order to keep Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner from speaking with the media about bribe accusations held against him. In various television interviews Turner had spoken openly about the accusations, a fact that prosecutor John McNeil argued made it difficult for jurors to remain unbiased and unexposed. McNeil argued that the motion was not for a gag order and that Turner could still speak independently of the case; the order would simply keep further information from Turner out of the public realm before trial. Barry Wilson, Turner's defense attorney argued that this went against Turner's First Amendment rights.

Homeless Man Recounts Unwarranted Brush with Harvard Police

2009-03-17T14:52:00.002-04:00

By: Julia Waterhous

On February 27th, around 9pm Kenneth Thomas had an encounter with the Harvard Police outside the Harvard Square shelter while waiting for a meal there. The policemen pulled up in front of the shelter and asked for Thomas by name. He identified himself, and the police told him they had a default warrant for his arrest. The police proceeded to wrestle Thomas to the ground and put him in the squad car to take down to the station where they discovered that there was no warrant for his arrest.

2009-02-24T17:20:00.004-05:00

Two Lovers Review

2009-02-24T17:11:00.003-05:00

By: Jenny Halper

I’d like to take a moment to thank James Gray for Two Lovers, a romance that features not one but two complex female characters and ends bravely with indecision. From the first shot when Joaquin Phoenix plunges into the waters of Brighton Beach to Gwyneth Paltrow’s portrayal of lover #2, a madly-in-love attorney’s assistant who admits she’s not one for reading and shouts across her fire escape like the irrepressible teenager she hasn’t quite grown out of, everything about this film is brave.
Gray’s previous films include Little Odessa and We Own the Night, the former a dark depiction of a history of crime. Although Lovers isn’t nearly as gritty, it has the same sense of authenticity; over the course of two hours you feel like you’re spending time with these people rather than watching a movie about them.
The movie opens with Phoenix’s Leonard moving back in with his parents after breaking up with his fiancé. Now he’s sleeping in the bed he’s had since high school while working at a Laundromat his father runs and he seems poised to inherit. When business associates come over for dinner, they bring their daughter Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), who is so beautiful and sweet one senses he’d fall for her immediately if both sets of parents weren’t so keen on the match. But they are, and date number two is a lunch with their fathers that he ditches to follow new next door neighbor Michelle (Paltrow) to her job in the city. Michelle gives him her cell number so that “we can text.”
As Leonard tentatively courts Sandra, he quickly becomes close friends with Michelle, but she’s involved in a poisonous affair with a lawyer at her firm. The lawyer, married with children, has stationed her in Brighton Beach – he’s paying for the apartment – because his mother lives nearby and he can visit her without alarming his wife. Completely oblivious to Leonard’s attraction to her (and to much else) Michelle asks him to tag along on dates and ascertain the older man’s intentions.
It’s a testament to Paltrow’s performance that Michelle – who should be very, very irritating – is sympathetic; watching her unknowingly invade Leonard’s heart and his fledgling relationship with Sandra is a bit like watching a toddler spill ink all over silk: she means well, she just doesn’t know any better. It’s also easy to see why Leonard, who Phoenix plays as a charmer who masks everything, is so taken with her – she’s honest and free-spirited, or at least seems that way, whereas Sandra’s overbearing family is part of the bargain.
I should mention that the supporting cast, which includes Isabella Rossellini as Leonard’s mother, is top notch, and that the Brighton Beach setting evokes an old fashioned community that is simultaneously oppressive and comforting. Ultimately, though, what makes Two Lovers so effective is that Gray refuses to choose sides, and asks the audience to instead, which is almost impossible: if Sandra’s an anchor, Michelle is a hot air balloon.

Babylon's Future Written in Its Ruins

2009-02-24T16:50:00.004-05:00

By: Khalid al-Ansary

After enduring harsh treatment at the hands of U.S. troops and Saddam Hussein among others, officials are hoping that the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon can be revived and made ready for tourism with the help from experts at the World Monuments Fund and the U.S. embassy. The Future of Babylon project are looking to restore the site, home of the Hanging Gardens, but the project has much to do after the damage done by looters and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to overthrow Hussein. Officials say preservation is crucial as Babylon gave birth to much of current civilization's agriculture, writing, codified law and the wheel. Tourism may also help Iraq's economy. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad is contributing $700,000 the the sites restoration.

Project Care and Concern at Pilgrim Church

2009-02-24T16:45:00.002-05:00

By: Robert Sondak

From 10 am to 4 pm five days a week, Project Care and Concern at the Pilgrim Church on Columbia Road is open to residents and provides reasonably priced new and used clothing and household items. The PCC and Nutrition Education Outreach Project also collaborate to circulate recipe flyers to the bilingual Uphams Corner community. Dorchester residents referred by the Project Bread Hunger Hotline recieve the flyers every month. The recipes highlight good nutrition and are often centered around holiday themes.

Homeless Senior Banned from Cambridge Center Seeks Answers

2009-02-24T16:41:00.003-05:00

By: Julia Waterhous

Terrence Rothman was banned from the Cambridge Senior Center two years ago after attempting to circulate a petition to bring back a social worker who had recently been fired. He was initially asked to leave the center and later police were called and he was told that if he didn't leave he would be thrown in jail. Rothman has since been seeking answers as to why he was banned and action against the Senior Center as they renewed his ban multiple times and he has not been able to return to the Center for the past two years. Rothman has filed a complaint against the CSC and the City of Cambridge for discrimination based on his diagnosis of paranoia.

Joblessness Rises in Congo as Global Crisis Hits Mining

2009-02-24T16:32:00.002-05:00

By: Miriam Mannak

The global economic crisis has caused the collapse of the local mining industry in the Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa. The region relies heavily on mining and since September 2008 when global demand for natural resources plummeted and prices fell to all-time lows, 300,000 people have lost jobs and another 60,000 may soon lose their jobs too. The Congolese franc, the local currency, has also lost half its value, seeing an increasing number of children and beggars on the streets. MONUC, the local UN mission has been wary of security issues surrounding the crisis, and the region has recently seen an increase in violent crime. The mining crisis is beginning to affect other businesses in Katanga as well.

Networking the Nonprofit Industry in a Recession

2009-02-24T16:24:00.002-05:00

By: Amanda Fakhreddine

On February 11th, Rosie's Place sponsored an event hosted by the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network that featured five panelists from various local nonprofit organizations who spoke about the issues currently facing nonprofits. With the economic recession, nonprofits are facing cuts in programs and the services they are able to provide. Panelists highlighted the need for volunteers and anyone willing to help. The nonprofit organizations discussed all dealt with homelessness, and panelists also gave advice to those in attendance hoping to network, and to anyone wishing to get into the nonprofit industry. Entry- level positions are available but a certain personality allows some to be more successful than others.

Brewing for Blankets: Local Students to Raise Funds, Awareness for Homeless

2009-02-24T16:21:00.002-05:00

By: Julia Waterhous

On March 4th at the Boston Common near the Park Street T stop, a group of students from Suffolk University, led by professor Debra Harkins with help from James Shearere and Ron Tibbets, will hand out coffee, information on homelessness and copies of Spare Change to raise awareness. They will also be asking for donations and after the event will use the donations to buy blankets to donate to local shelters.

Coraline Review

2009-02-10T18:04:00.000-05:00

By Jenny Halper
Spare Change News

Movies have culled drama from ungrateful daughters and out-of-it mothers for as long as they've probed the divide between fantasy and reality. So if the premise of Neil Gaiman's Coraline isn't terribly new - it's about as different from The Wizard of Oz and Pans Labyrinth as the name Coraline is from Caroline – the film is nonetheless a visually inventive and wonderfully quirky adventure that manages to entertain while imparting a pretty dark message: be careful what you wish for, what looks better isn't always, and dreams can turn into nightmares.

I'm probably being too philosophical. This is, after all, a kids' movie – or a movie that brings back vivid memories of being a kid, like waking up to boring reality after a great dream, and being forced to eat food you'd rather scrub the floor with. The heroine, voiced with pluck by Dakota Fanning, has moved with her parents to an apartment building that looks like a pink version of something from a Tim Burton movie, and usually doesn't house families with kids. Not that her parents seem to want kids: mom (Teri Hatcher) types on a computer and snaps at her, dad (John Hodgeman) types on a computer and ignores her, they buy her drab school uniforms and send her off to play with the too-chatty boy next door, who is named Whyborn ("why, were you born?" Coraline groans). Whyborn gives her a doll that looks just like her, except it has buttons where its eyes should be.

Coraline, which was written by Gaiman (from his children's book of the same name) and directed by the inventive Henry Selick, benefits from amazing animation and detailed puppetry –the characters are remarkably expressive. The story is smartly told from Coraline's honest, gutsy, sometimes bratty perspective. She really is an explorer on a quest for a water hole, the grotesque actresses downstairs really are the size of cruise ships, her parents really are just that awful - until she wants something, and then they're not.
After a few amusing encounters with her new neighbors, Coraline finds a small door that, at night, opens to tunnel that leads to a house that looks just like her house, only brighter. Her dad looks like her dad, only he composes songs about her. Her mom looks just like her mom, only she cooks Coraline's favorite foods and plants exquisite gardens and sews Whyborn's mouth shut. A gravy train rolls down the dinner table, literally. The actresses, now thin, fling her around a trapeze. It's sort of like sorority rush, except everyone has buttons instead of eyes and after a few treats Coraline's newfound, “better” mother wants to sew buttons over Coraline’s eyes, too.
Disregard the metaphors you could make with this. Coraline has a dilemma, but she’s smart enough to know that lots of cake and flying actresses aren’t enough of a trade when her eyesight is concerned (or, as we’ll later find out, her soul). Without giving away the final act of the film – a quest that could be too scary for very young children – I will say that while the premise of the film isn’t new, the execution is surprisingly original, and parents will be as entertained as their offspring – who hopefully won’t be asking for new clothes or better food anytime soon.

2009 Cambridge/ Somerville Homeless Census: Putting It All Together

2009-02-10T17:45:00.002-05:00

By: Robert Sondak

Cambridge and Somerville joined the rest of the nation on January 28th to complete their homeless census of the year. At 12:30 a.m. 40 crew member, equipped with maps, radios and led by team leaders, went out to do a count of the homeless in the city. They were told to be non- obtrusive and to approach sleeping persons in order to identify them as a man or woman but to not disturb them. The census took a count of the unsheltered homeless in the area and is a yearly requirement by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Man's Best Friend: Life on the Streets With Pets

2009-02-10T17:23:00.002-05:00

By: Julia Waterhous

When Angelo Vespa became homeless all he cared about was the welfare of his cat Simon. He sought assistance from the MSPCA and was directed to Carmine Discenso, director of Phinney's Friends, an organization that provides services to those living below the poverty line with HIV/AIDS. Although Vespa did not meet the usual criteria for service from Phinney's Friends, Discenso took pity on him and decided to help him anyways. Simon is now in foster care and Vespa has found a room with an organization in Cambridge.

Demand for Shelter Beds Highest in Years

2009-02-10T17:12:00.002-05:00

By: Amanda Fakhredinne

Harvard Square Shelter, a student run shelter in the basement of the University Lutheran Church that has been in operation since 1983, has had to adopt certain policies to keep up with the demand for shelter beds. There are 24 beds and the recent failing economy and cold weather have found every bed constantly occupied. The Harvard Shelter has implemented a policy where guests can stay for 14 nights but then must leave for seven to accommodate others. The Shelter does try to help everyone and will give someone an emergency bed for a night if they really need it. They also provide meals and will help people try to find other shelters if they are full.

Homes for Less: Vancouver Homeless Housing Project Finally Finds a Home

2009-02-10T16:55:00.003-05:00

By: Amy Juschka

Last year, students at Emily Carr in Vancouver took on their first to-scale assignment. They built a series of 64 square foot homes, costing $1, 500 apiece, to help with the homeless crisis in Vancouver. The students went and talked to the homeless in order to get an idea of what was needed in the homes. The homeless emphasized their need for an address so they could apply for jobs, as well as a place to rest and keep their belongings safe. The students took this into account, providing shelving that could double as furniture. The public took longer than hoped to respond to the effort. The students and their director talked with the city governments of Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster, but nowhere was willing to use the houses as homeless shelters until recently. The Vancouver Aboriginal Transformative Justice Society plans to adopt the shelters and place them behind their current facilities so that occupants can have access to amenities.

A Homeless Population in Gaza

2009-02-10T16:38:00.002-05:00

By: Saed Bannoura

Israel recently announced that the attack on Gaza will continue with the seeking out and destroying of tunnels on the border between Gaza and Egypt. This has happened in the past and usually ends with Palestinian homes being bombed or otherwise destroyed. The trend is known as razing and Israel uses the excuse that the homes are too close to the border as justification for destroying the homes. Israel claims that there are tunnels built under the houses that are used for smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip. In Rafah, a city on the southern part of the Gaza Strip, 2,000 homes were destroyed and 2,000 families were left homeless. No tunnels were discovered. Israel also destroys homes as punishment for families of Palestinians who attack Israelis. Many of the 1.5 million Palestinians living on the 40 square kilometer Gaza Strip are refugees from when Israel was created in 1948 on their land, displacing them into the tiny Gaza Strip. Since 2006, the Strip has been closed to all imports and exports and the economy is destroyed.

The Cost of the World's Cheapest Gasoline

2009-01-27T15:35:00.005-05:00

By Humberto Marquez
The world's cheapest gasoline is available in Venezuela due to the subsidy program that benefits car owners while keeping investing money from the oil industry. Since 1998, gasoline has cost between three and four cents per liter. A bottle of water costs 25 times that amount. The subsidy is estimated to be $12.5 billion based on the difference between domestic and export prices. Essentially, over $3000 a year in gasoline is being given away to every consumer leaving oil company's without money they could use to help with fuel distribution. Only the middle and upper class can afford private vehicles, which consumer 80 percent of the fuel, leaving the lower class, which makes up 80 percent of the population with 20 percent of the fuel for public transportation. Smuggling of gasoline has become an issue as well since the prices in the countries surrounding Venezuela are significantly higher. The cheap prices have contributed to more cars on the road, and a subsequent increase of traffic jams and decrease of road maintenance.

Nightmare for Civilians Uprooted by Conflict

2009-01-27T15:28:00.004-05:00

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Disease, unclean drinking water and lack of electricity are just some of the plights affecting those displaced into camps by the military operation launched by the Pakistani army against Taliban militants. UNICEF and the World Food Program have been working to better the conditions in the camps but relief is still distant. The worst affected are children who have been suffering from scabies, diarrhea, unexplained fever and malaria.

The Secret of the Grain
Jenny Halper

A half hour into Abdel Kechiche’s Cesar winning family drama, The Secret of the Grain, my father leaned over and asked, “What is this movie about?” After all, we were still watching a family cooking, eating, and fighting. And cooking, and eating, and fighting. Writer/Director Kechiche’s domestic rhythms are very familiar and therefore easy, initially, to reject.

But I’d recommend hanging in through all two and a half (plus) hours of the film, which tells the story of Slimane Beiji (Habib Boufares), a 60-year-old patriarch trying to segway into a career as a restaurateur with the help of his ex-wife’s fish cous cous. And that’s basically the basis for the story. Although his pipe dream sounds fairly simple – he owns a boat and can simply serve customers on it - government administrators don’t think he has the stamina to run his own business. Determined to prove himself, he plans a huge dinner party and invites the high-level head-shakers who remain skeptical that his floating, couscous-serving restaurant could turn a profit. His family wants to help, but so do his new girlfriend and her daughter.

Meanwhile, the huge extended family squabbles —a two-year-old grandchild won’t use the potty, a husband cheats routinely on his wife, a daughter tries to convince her mother to forget shame – but Kechiche’s wonderful eye and ear for detail make the typical seem anything but. The family, Arabs living in Southern France, works hard to maintain their distinct culture, but the movie implies rather than stresses culture clash.

At the movie’s center is Boufares, who, in his feature film debut, resembles a still, serious Steve Martin with wonderfully expressive eyes. The film is at its most effective when focusing in on his tense silence – he’s usually the calm center of a family dysfunctional in the ways all families are, but their dysfunction could risk him his career. Watching the potential crumble of his dreams is like watching the demise of your own, and the almost unbearable tension Kechiche ultimately creates is the antithesis of his atmospheric but slow start.

Boston's Intellectual Elite Examine the Isreal-Gaza Conflict

2009-01-27T15:22:00.002-05:00

By Julia Waterhous
The Palestine Cultural Center for Peace brought together a panel of three speakers last Wednesday, January 21st to address Israel's recent ceasefire in violent attacks on Gaza. Noam Chomsky, professor, linguist and political activist, Assaf Kfoury, professor at Boston University and Ahmed Shawki, editor of the International Socialist Review all shared their opinions on Israel. Chomsky spoke of the legitimacy and reasons for the U.S. Israeli invasion and how the U.S.'s reasons for occupancy are questionable. Kfoury pointed out that through the tragedy people have come together in protest, and Shawki, an Egyptian, described what it means to be Arabic in the U.S. and emphasised that the tragedies must be confronted and talked about.

What Next for Guantanamo?

2009-01-27T15:09:00.002-05:00

By Adam Forrest
With hundreds still detained in Guantanamo, the new administration and civil rights groups are looking for ways to deal with the prisoners. Civil rights activists agree that the system of military commissions that allows detainees to be tried outside of international and domestic standards must be put to an end. The remaining prisoners can be tried on federal or military courts. Around 150 prisoners who have already been cleared to leave are refugees and returning to their home countries would put them in danger. Portugal and Albania have accepted a few refugees but no other country has so far. Which leaves one category of detainee left to deal with: those considered too dangerous to release but who lack the evidence against them to be charged. Overall, with the new administration the U.S. is looking to turn around its civil justice system.

The Harvest Food Pantry

2009-01-27T15:00:00.002-05:00

By Robert Sondak
The Harvest Food Pantry not only distributes food but offers cooking demonstrations as well. Located at the Cambridgeport Baptist church on Magazine Street, HFP opens its doors two Saturdays a month from 10 am to noon. Families from around Cambridge can come to shop for fresh and canned vegetables, fruit, meats, pasta, bread, pastries, milk and juice. Since January 2007, the Nutrition Outreach Project has sponsored four cooking projects, the last of which was held in October. The demonstration in October showed how to prepare green beans and a kidney bean chili and highlighted the nutritional values of each.

Following Obama, Black Iraquis Run for Office

2009-01-21T15:15:00.002-05:00

By: Mohammed Abbas

The Free Iraqi Movement will be the first to put black candidates on the Iraqi ticket for the provincial elections on January 31st. The election will be the first held under Iraqi law since the US overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003. There will be eight black candidates in the running. Obama's election in the US gave many black Iraqis hope for an end to the discrimination they often face.

History of slavery and the issue of ancestry often leave black Iraqis in a position of degradation, and very few have decent jobs. "Abd" is the Arabic word for slave and is still often used, although not always with the intention of being insulting.

The Free Iraqi Movement wishes to ban the word "abd" as it perpetuates the idea of the black as a slave. The movement also is looking to have blacks labeled as aminority which would grant them benefits.

Light skinned Iraqis fail to see the discrimination taking place and believe that blacks are on equal ground.

Time to View Affordable Housing as an Economic Stimulus

2009-01-21T15:00:00.002-05:00

By: Paul Boden

Despite promising to instigate the largest public works construction project "since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950's" President Barack Obama has yet to address the issue of homelessness. The plan is speculated to cost between 400 and 700 billion dollars and Obama has so far mentioned working on "schools, sewer systems, mass transit, electical grids, dams and other public utilities as well as green jobs dedicated to creating alternative fuels, windmills and solar panels; building energy efficient appliances or installing fuel-efficient heating or cooling systems." But these words as well as Obama's website fail to give more than a nod to homelessness. Affordable housing should be integrated into the plan and would help to ensure everyone had a roof over their heads.

Nutrition Education Outreach Project

2009-01-21T14:51:00.002-05:00

By Robert Sondak

The Nutrition Education Outreach Project began ten years ago with a regional hunger assessment study. The study rated the quality of nutrition programs for children in school based on how well they improved overall health. The project gathered a list of clients from the study and began distributing recipes that utilize all the food groups and provide proper nutrition. Eventually the program grew to include nutrition workshops, cooking classes, and by 2007 were doing demonstrations and taste tests at farmers markets. The program has expanded to five other cities and 15 communities.

Preventing Homelessness

2009-01-21T14:41:00.004-05:00

By James Shearer

After Boston's homeless census showed an 11 percent increase throughout the city, the state decided to give Housing First more money to help with homelessness.

But where Housing First deals with homelessness as it is, the answer may be more in preventing homelessness to begin with.

Homelessness is more than lacking money. To prevent homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse must be addressed. Most importantly, we must abandon our cliched ideas about who falls into the patterns of substance abuse or who ends up out on the streets. It can happen to anyone.

Domestic violence should also be confronted and it should be recognized that many escape domestic violence by heading to the streets.

Boston's Longest Night Vigil

2009-01-21T14:29:00.002-05:00

Snow and freezing rain pelted Saint Paul's Cathedral the night of December 21st, but the little brown paper bags with their electric candles still glowed brightly.

Many people gathered on the night of the winter solstice to remember the homeless men and women who had passed away in the previous year.

Reverend Kathy McAdams, executive director of Ecclesia Ministries Common Cathedral, had personally known three people who passed away. She said that many homeless find it difficult to transition into housing because it feels lonely after shelter life, and many lose meaning in their lives once they no longer have to search for food or shelter.

Many in attendance had known someone who passed away from homelessness, and everyone paid their respects.

New Meaning In Life for Young Colombian Shantytown Dwellers

2009-01-21T14:07:00.002-05:00

For the past four decades, Colombia has been, and still is, a war torn nation where violence and hardship are simply a way of life.

Numerous youth gangs roam the streets, exacting revenge on those who killed their friends and family.

Tempers are quick to flare and many take out their anger through hurting or killing others.

One organization has made the lives of Colombian youth better. Legion del Afecto is a project for youth meant to give them alternate activities such as dance, gardening, sports, art, and music to keep them out of danger and give them an emotional outlet.

Participants receive pay for community service and "socialization." The project also works to rebuild confidence and hope where there may be little left.

Piracy Threatens Aid Effort in Somalia

2009-01-21T13:49:00.002-05:00

The number of Somalians who seek food aid from the U.N. has risen by 75 percent since 2007 to 3.25 million, equivalent to 40 percent of the population. The warring Ethiopian army and Islamist militants have upset the agriculture and put many out of their homes.

To add to the turbulence, pirates have been intercepting the relief vessels carrying food that the U.N. has been sending.

The European Union responded by sending military escorts to protect the relief vessels. So far no ship has been attacked while under escort.

When escorts are not available, small ships are used to bring in food because they are targeted less by the pirates. The pirates usually look for the larger ships which they can hold for up to $1 million in ransom.

The smaller ships can only bring so much food, and the decline in the use of large vessels has impacted the amount of food that reaches Somalia.

Arnie King's Sentence

2009-01-20T17:46:00.003-05:00

At the age of 18, Arnie King was convicted of murder and given a life sentence which he has been serving for the past 35 years.

Through his years in jail, King has co-founded and directed various organizations that help youth, parents and educators deal with life in prison and build a life that keeps them out of jail. He has also brought together 20-30 fellow prisoners to write poetry about their experiences and share them with the public. Not to mention the three college degrees he has received while incarcerated.

By a unanimous vote in 2007, the Massachusettes Board of Pardons decided to free King. However Governor Patrick made the final call. This past week, he decided not to let King walk.

Many, including King's brother Kazi Toure, were infuriated, calling the decision that of a white supremacist. Pastor Jason Lydon of the Community Church agreed that King should have been freed.

The US has more people in jail than any other country, and 70 percent of those are colored, while 70 percent of those outside of jail are white.

Year's End Reflection and Hopes

2009-01-20T17:40:00.002-05:00

Despite a difficult 2008 spent on the streets, Edward J. Portella Sr. is hopeful for the coming year.
Ideally, 2009 would bring an end to his homeless life along with a flat screen TV and a balanced checkbook, but if nothing else Portella simply wishes for patience and peace of mind.

The struggles encountered in the past year have strengthened and focused him. Many mornings seemed bleak at first but in the end Portella found that life is now more clear and bright than ever.

Healthquest: Vendor Loses 140 Pounds, Gains Vast Nutrition Knowledge

2009-01-20T17:33:00.002-05:00

Thirty years ago, Robert Sondak moved to Boston from New York 140 pounds overweight. He decided something had to be done about the spare pounds for health reasons and became a vegetarian.

He first entered into the macrobiotic vegetarian diet which use rice and grains as a base and incorporate vegetables and legumes too. He also started yoga, but Sondak still developed some food- related health issues.

He switched to a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet which incorporates dairy and eggs while still eliminating meat. This brought about the health and happiness he sought.

Through his journey Sondak discovered the Boston Area Gleaners and Food For Free, two organnizations that help to end hunger.

Dr. William Julius Wilson on Poverty, Race and the New Administration

2009-01-20T17:08:00.002-05:00

Dr. William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard, director of Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program agreed to be interviewed by Spare Change News.

He commented on how Boston's degree of poverty seems to be less than in his previous place of residence, Chicago. He said this may be because Boston seems less affected by the influx of blacks from the south in the 1960's, and by the inner city white population moving to suburbs in the 1970's.

He also spoke to the issue of segregation, and how cities with higher housing demand have less segregation because when housing is more difficult to come by people don't leave their homes as readily.

Dr. Wilson also knows President Barack Obama and says his top priority should be to concentrate on the economy and creating more jobs. He also said we need more health care and a higher minimum wage to help end homelessness.

Homeless on Beason Hill Continue to Struggle

2009-01-20T16:43:00.003-05:00

Beacon Hill is known for its wealth and prestige as one of Boston's more glamorous neighborhoods. But it is here that a huge population of homeless reside as well. Many frequent the nearby Boston Common, sleeping on benches and eating at churches and shelters in the area. George Caponigro, a graduate of the University of Virginia, and previous restaurant owner, husband and father lived in the Common for three years. It has been 15 years since he's been on the streets, but he says he'll never forget it. Last year's census in Boston showed a 4 percent rise in the number of homeless and the average age of the homeless is 8 years old. Family homelessness is one aspect rarely talked about, even though it is currently growing faster than any other homeless population. Boston's family homelessness increased by 17 percent from last year. St. Francis House, ticketed as the largest multi-service day shelter in New England, serves over 800 homeless per day. The homeless there embody all types of people, including some who are so well put together that one would hardly guess they were struggling. Boston also has the largest health care center for the homeless in the country.

Sneak Peek: Spare Changes News 12/4 - 12/17/08

2008-12-03T14:22:00.003-05:00

Yes He Can
By Zachary Ochieng (The Big Issue, Scotland)

When Barack Obama was declared leader of the free world, the streets of Kenya were filled with a new spirit of optimism. Zachary Ochieng from The Big Issue in Kenya traveled to Obama's ancestral village to witness the celebration.

While America threw a ticker-tape parade for freshly minted president-elect Barack Obama, in Kenya we showed our love in a different way.

As the streets erupt in singing, dancing and wild ululations of joy, a bull is slaughtered in Nyango'ma Kogelo village and a feast is declared in honor of the man decreed leader of the free world -- whose economist father was born right here.

Katrina Victims Face Homelessness (Again) While Feds Stand By Idly
By Jeremy Weir Alderson

In a matter of weeks, thousands of people who survived Hurricane Katrina and, in some cases, the formaldehyde-contaminated FEMA trailers, will be evicted from their housing and made homeless again. These are primarily elderly and disabled people as well as single parent families with young children. This isn't being perpetrated by cruel landlords but by government on all levels.

Not Promising the Earth, Ethical Banks Win Custom
By Ingrid Melander & Lorraine Tturner (Reuters)

As the financial crisis hit a climax in Belgium with the split-up of its largest bank Fortis in October, new clients were rushing to a small, "ecologically correct" bank. Triodos - investing not in derivatives but in tangible products such as wind turbines, which the general public can understand and even applaud - was not the only alternative institution to benefit Europe.

Voices from the Streets: A Loving Touch
By Edward J. Portella, Sr.

On a fall Tuesday morning I stood inside Wendy's on Massachusetts Avenue, waiting to get a cup of coffee. As I sat and sipped the warm, caffeinated liquid, I watched Central Square, the morning hustle and bustle, the usual hectic pace. People of various ethnic backgrounds and walks of life rushed around endlessly with expectations of completing their individual, daily plans, toward an accomplished end by the evening, only to join the traveling madness again on their trip home.

Preview: Spare Change News 11/20 - 12/3/08

2008-12-03T13:54:00.004-05:00

Swan Song for Sammy
By Alexia V. Hauk

"And the world tastes good cause the candyman thinks it should."

Some say the phantasmal wisps of subway steam on Tremont are ghosts. It's easy to believe if you wander onto the red line platform of the Park Street Station, where the supernatural presence of Sammy Davis Jr. still plays to a packed house.

When I met Eric McIntyre, "The Showman," he was bellowing Davis's hit cover of "Candyman" from the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Commuters like me waited for their train, arms folded, cautiously forming a circle around the 66-year-old artist. With his slight frame, sturdy jaw line and unmistakable 'stache, McIntyre is a dead ring-a-ding-dinger for the Rat Pack alumnus, a fact he found irritating until it became a way of life.

Greece a "Prison" for Migrants Amid EU Policy Mess
By Daniel Flynn (Reuters)

The West's war against the Taliban drove Khalid Mohamed from his home. But his search for asylum in Europe has left him trapped in a shantytown in Greece, ignored by the government and abused by police.

Greece's western port of Patras has become a frontier for Europe's unwanted migrants. Hundreds of Afghans live crammed into dirty shacks in a slum overlooked by plush apartment blocks, hoping to stow away aboard a ferry bound for Italy, where asylum conditions are easier.

For Mohamed, who fled central Afghanistan last year after losing friends and family in the war, it is a prison camp. He is caught in a limbo without papers or rights: forbidden to stay in Greece but prevented from leaving.

Movie Review: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
By Jenny Halper

Ignore the British accents. And the improbable ignorance of a Nazi commandant's wife. And the fact that two eight-year-old boys -- one Jewish, one German -- would and could never meet when the camp that separated them was Auschwitz. Although The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, adapted b Mark Herman (Little Voice) from John Boyne's novel of the same name, tells the credulity-straining story of a friendship between Bruno (Asa Butterfield), the always-dreaming son of a ranking Nazi officer, and Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a little boy imprisoned in a concentration camp run by Bruno's father, the emotions are honest, the message is important, and the film is made with tact and imagination.

Voices from the Streets: Elysian Fields (excerpts from a formerly homeless woman's novel)
By Julie Scanga

I was close to my friends -- if I was thirsty or hungry they would help me. If I needed cigarettes, they would help me. They shared the newspapers, a joke once in a while, and when my friend got beat up, I took it upon myself to stick up for her -- once her enemy and I pulled apart, she apologized to my friend for giving her a bloody eye. Susan, the woman I fought, agreed to be friends. We were over with fighting.

There were many things I learned in my spring and summer at the Boston Common. Eventually I called the Boston Common "Elysian Fields" because it was a spiritual and magical place to spend so much time. So much went on among us who had survived the chaos that hits each of us who find dreams of one type or another upon leaving the streets.

PRESIDENT OBAMA

2008-11-05T12:57:00.007-05:00

"America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. "

-Barack Obama in his presidential acceptance speech

Historic Vote, Historic Turnout: Local Voters Tolerate Longs Lines on Election Day
Alexis Hauk with contributing reporting by Emily Johnson

The morning of Nov. 4 was off to a busy start across the country, with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting on its Web site that lines were sprouting up hours before the polls opened at 7 a.m. In Boston, one M.I.T. graduate student who voted in the South End said he missed a class because of the long wait, over an hour. Although Boston is generally considered a Democrat stronghold, the massive turnout may have had to do with three referendums on the ballot this year.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design student Franchelly Acosta, 18, was exercising his right to vote for the first time, in favor of Senator Barack Obama.

"We want change in this world and have to do something about it," he said. "We always argue that we want something new, but people don't do much about it."

CHAF Brings Stability, Aid to Homeless and At-risk Population
Brittaney Kiefer

In its tenth anniversary year, the Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund (CHAF) is taking a new approach to its annual fundraiser: celebrity chefs and reggae.

CHAF’s fundraiser, Home Sweet Home, will be held on Nov. 14 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge. A $50 ticket buys guests a night of dancing to live music by Toussaint and the China Band and dessert samples from local restaurants and celebrity chefs, who will compete for best dessert. For $75, guests can also enjoy appetizers and a dessert and port wine tasting. The event will feature chefs Judy Rosenberg of Rosie’s Bakery and Jed Hackney of Harvest Restaurant, and Billy Costa of NECN’s “TV Diner,” who will be auctioning off a guest critic spot on his TV show.

All event proceeds will benefit CHAF’s work of providing homeless and near homeless people with the startup costs of rental housing. Their fundraising goal for 2008 is $200,000, which will help about 225 families and individuals secure housing.

In these hard economic times, organizations like CHAF will become even more necessary. The slowing economy “affects people who are vulnerable a lot more than the rest of us,” Pap said. “In this economy, there will be more and more homeless people. We will have to call on our neighbors for help.”

CHAF hopes there will be more success stories like George Caponigro’s, a CHAF recipient who compares himself to a phoenix, the mythical bird that burned to death but rose alive again from its ashes.

Caponigro became homeless after struggling with bipolar disorder and losing his business. He lived on the Boston Common for three years before getting connected with CHAF, who helped him obtain stable housing. Today, Caponigro lives in Quincy, is reunited with his family, and has been a homeless advocate for 15 years.

“I’m a very fortunate man. I feel I have a responsibility to give back,” Caponigro said. “I try to make a difference for every homeless person behind me – reaching out, pulling the next person out of the fire.”
George Caponigro

CHAF fundraiser tickets are available at www.CHAFund.org

Voices from the Street: Why Lesbians and Gays Should Be Banned from the Military
Shifra Freewoman

I'm a radical. I'm pro lesbian and gay and therefore, I support a ban on gays in the military. Equal access for all? No: No access for anyone. Discriminate against everyone. Ban everyone from serving in the military. Shut the military down. No one should be allowed to fight and kill.

Local Farmers Markets Offer Freshness, Variety

2008-10-29T14:56:00.000-04:00

By Robert Sondak

My work with the Arlington Farmers Market began in the spring of 2007 when I sent a proposal to market manager Oakes Plimpton to provide nutrition services. I proposed to facilitate a community service-oriented food table that would circulate recipe flyers and a health newsletter and answer consumers’ food questions. I highlighted my background in dietetics at MGH and the Nutrition Education Outreach Project and my internship in nutrition at the Boston Food Bank. Oakes Plimpton read my proposal and in May of 2007 invited me to join the Arlington Farmers Market.

From June through October, I distributed recipes and conducted fresh fruit and tomato taste tests. These taste tests were conducted to educate people on the varieties of fruits and tomatoes available at the market. Three farmers were cooperative and contributed fruit and tomato samples for our demonstrations. Great Oaks Organic Farms gave us tomatoes. Kimball Fruit Farms provided peaches and heirloom tomatoes. Nicewizs Family Farms contributed a variety of fresh fruit. I noticed immediately that the fresh fruit and tomatoes looked fresh and were exceptionally sweet and colorful. In particular, the apples and peaches were far superior to anything that I had tasted at Star/Shaws supermarkets or even Whole Foods.

Great Oaks Organic Farms, founded by Steen Bentzen, is one of a select group of Massachusetts-based farms that is certified as organic. GOOF was certified as an organic grower by a joint program operated by the New England Organic Farm Organization (NOFA) and the Bay State Organic Certifiers. GOOF records are inspected yearly by the USDA to ensure that they are following federal regulations for organic farming.

GOOF does not use any insecticides other than a garlic-based spray. Bentzen elaborated that his insect problems are not severe because of the fertility of the soil. He went on to say that the soil has been built up from an initial 1.5 percent organic when he took over the farm to 10 percent organic today. GOOF grows a variety of salad and cooking greens like lettuce, kale and Brussels sprouts. In addition they grow tomatoes, including plum and beef-stake tomatoes. GOOF is located in Berlin off of Route 68, not far from Route 495.

Kimball Fruit Farms was founded by Allen and Forster Kimball in the early 1930s when they purchased a fire damaged dairy farm. They quickly planted apple and peach orchards. In the late 1930s, Allen's brother-in-law Harold Hill joined the farm staff. The farm struggled through the Great Depression and World War 2 with its changes in eating habits. Forster and Allen became the farm owners and Harold the harvester. In 1967 Allen died and Forster sold the farm to investors. Harold and his son Carl leased the farmland until 1999 when Carl purchased the property. The farm has continued and has expanded its core business today. They go to a total of 11 farmers markets, have an on-site farm stand, sell to the Chelsea Produce Market and have a successful restaurant distribution business. KFF is located in Pepperell.

Nicewicz Family Farms was founded by Julian and Catherine Nicewicz, who emigrated from Poland and settled in Clinton, Massachusetts. They purchased a farm in Bolton in 1929 and grew apples, peaches and pears. They also harvested blueberries and cranberries on a bog on the property. Their son Walter married Vera Veria from Hudson. They lived on the farm and raised four sons – David, Allen, Tom and Ken, and one daughter, Joann. The four brothers run the farm full-time, and Vera runs the farm stand. The farm business has expanded and they now sell at 11 farmers markets and have a ‘pick your own fruit’ program on the farm. In 1994 they received an Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) wavier from the state protecting the farmland from future development.

Kimball Fruit Farm contains 4,000 apple trees that yield 12 to 16,000 bushels yearly. KFF grows over two-dozen different types of apples. The summer apples ripen in August and are not as sweet. This is particularly true of the Lodi, a green variety. The other summer apples include Puritan, Jersey Macs, Paula Red and the Red and Golden Delicious. The late fall or winter apples include Red Gala, Fuji, Cortland, Macintosh, Red and Golden Delicious and Empire. KFF is located in Pepperell near the New Hampshire border. KFF sells at 11 farmers markets like Arlington and Davis Square (Wednesday) and Central Square (Monday). Carl’s wife Marie sells at the Davis Square and Central Square farmers markets, and Carl’s sister Wendy sells at Arlington on Wednesday.

Nicewizs Family Farms grows 17 varieties of apples that yield over 10,000 bushels yearly. They grow summer apples like Paula Red, Vista Bell and Honey Crisp. They also grow fall and winter apples like Fuji, Red and Golden Delicious, Cortland and Macintosh. NFF is located out in Bolton off of Route 117. NFF sells at 10 farmers markets including Arlington and Davis Square (Wednesday) and Central Square (Monday). Allen sells at Arlington on Wednesday and his brothers sell at Davis and Central Square.

As December rolls around and cold temperatures set in, the peach and apples trees are pruned. They are cut back usually by 1/3 to stimulate new growth. Pruning in particular stimulates the main stem of the tree, the central leader. Pruning is used to channel the energy into better-formed apples. Pruning eliminates many small apples, which would contribute to mold and blight.

GOOF, KFF and NFF sell weekly during the farmers market season at three local farmers markets. They sell in Arlington, Davis Square, Somerville and Central Square. They sell at these farmers markets from June through November. The only exception is Arlington, which closes the last week of October.

The Arlington farmers market is located in the Russell Commons Parking lot and was founded in 1997. Pat Jones collected 300 signatures of contacts from her restaurant career and submitted them to the local board of selectmen. She contacted Oakes Plimpton from Waltham Fields Community Farm and a town resident to help manage the market. They applied for a zoning variance and opened on July 16, 1997. Over the past 11 years Arlington has grown to include 25 vendors incorporating farm grown produce, cheese, herbal teas, bread and pastry, Chinese vegetables, fresh herbs, flowers, meat and fish. Arlington is open from June through the last week of October.

The Central Square Farmers Market opened in 1978. This market is located in Central Square, Cambridge one block north of Massachusetts Avenue in the municipal parking lot adjacent to the Harvest Coop Markets. It is a moderate-sized farmers market with 12 vendors incorporating farm grown produce, cheese, herbal teas, bread and pastry, Chinese vegetables, fresh herbs, flowers, meat and fish. CSFM is managed by the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets. It is open from June through the last week of November on Wednesdays.

The Davis Square farmers market started up in 1979. It is located at Day and Herbert Streets one block east of Holland Street and the local Starbucks. It is a moderate-sized farmers market with 12 vendors selling farm grown produce, cheese, herbal teas, bread and pastry, Chinese vegetables, fresh herbs, flowers, meat and fish. DSFM is managed by the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets. It is open from June through the last week of November on Mondays.

I recommend that consumers stop by Arlington and purchase organic vegetables from GOOF. Steen sells very high quality kale and lettuce. I recommend the peaches that KFF sells. These yellow peaches are sweet and have an exceptionally firm texture. I also recommend the apples that NFF sells. These apples are sweet, tangy and firm. In the summer 2007 edition of Edible Boston, author Francis Moore Lappe recommended that we buy locally grown produce, even if it is not organic, over California organic foods to help reduce fossil fuel production. She elaborated that saving fuel will help fight pollution and global warming. Buying organic or low spray foods at the farmers market helps farmers financially and creates a consumer-oriented market place. Buying at the farmers market helps Massachusetts’s agriculture industry expand.

New England fruit growers have adapted Integral Pest Management to control pests while reducing pesticides, improving worker and food safety and protecting the environment. IPM calls for monitoring pests out in the fields during the growing season by an entomologist who will work to developing a pest control plan. KFF and NFF use IPM to grow apples and peaches in the multi-seasonal New England environment. If pest levels are low farmers, will not have to use pesticides.

The decision for some consumers is whether to buy organic or low spray foods. Francis Moore Lappe wrote, “I would buy IPM local over West coast organics because they place greater demand over pesticide reduction." I have bought West coast organic fruit over the past year at Whole Foods and the Harvest Coop Markets and have been very disappointed with the sweetness and texture of fruit. Whole Foods and Harvest Coop Markets in fact have organic fruit and locally grown fruits.

I have found the apples sold by NFF to be fresh, sweet and tangy to the taste buds. Most importantly, these apples are locally grown. The peaches sold by KFF are comparable to the organic peaches sold by Whole Foods in sweetness and taste. KFF and NFF are generous with the food left at the end of the day. They donate their excess food to the Boston Area Gleaners and to the Arlington Human Services Agency Menotomy Public Housing Project's market. At the Central and Davis Square farmers markets they donate excess food to the Cambridge-based hunger relief organization Food For Free.

Robert Sondak is a Spare Change vendor who likes to write about nutrition and food issues.

Diary of a Fallen Angel, A Novel by William Dean Collins

2008-10-29T14:52:00.001-04:00

Chapter 5: Hunting the Renegade Lion

As twilight crept through the Black Forest, the Three Witches of Fate, who had been standing on the shoreline of the Morbid Lake, each mounted their brooms, shouting, “Broom fly!” in succession. One by one, the three witches shot into the early evening sky, soaring into the upper echelon of jungle trees in search of permanent habitation. Now that the sun had set, the witches were in their own element; the cries of the night would be their guide.

After hours of flying at a high altitude, coupled with listening to the cries of the night, the Three Witches of Fate sensed they had finally reached their destination high atop the Camouflage Mountains, a loftier mountain range than the Evergreen Mountains.

The witches entered a giant cave with stalactites and stalagmites, giant bats and thousands of colonies of ants and snakes and other night crawlers. Once inside the cave the Three Witches of Fate, Hezekell, Mizekia, and Shirbella, immediately entwined their minds, yet again, to summon all of their magical tools together with a powerful incantation:

“Here now we sisters exist in this cave,
Yet we don’t even have potions, or crystal ball, or slave!

Let the Powers of Darkness now send us our tools,
So that we can get busy and open our schools!”

While the witches enumerated their magic spell, every syllable echoed throughout the cave. After having finished this major change there followed the loudest, most powerful explosion ever heard from a class 1A spell!

The air smelled like rancid sulfur from the smoke of the detonation, which billowed in every direction. The spellbinding, however, was successful, as after the mist cleared there remained in its place a wide variety of witchly necessities, all neatly arranged in their respective categories in jars, boxes, and secret chambers. There were:

Aged potions: 1,000 jars each of termites (for Wolfsbane), fish heads (for Nymphamarus), and omnivorous treats (for Chattermouth); 100 jars each of 500-year-old herbs and fungi, poisonous mushrooms, fermented bat wings, toad skins, stolen voices, and human fears and worries; 50 jars each of owls’ feet, rabbits’ feet, and human tongues; and 10 jars each of ground elephant trunk and ground walrus tusk.

Three wands: one made of aspen with a ruby tip for Mizekia to see the present; one made of silver with an emerald tip for Hezekell to see the deep, dark past; and an invisible one made of jungle tree root with a sapphire tip for Shirbella to see the future (only Shirbella and the Grand Wizard can see this wand).

One crystal ball for the witches to share.

Three spell books – Spell of the Ancient Void, for Hezekell; Contemporary Incantations for Mizekia; and Sorcery of the Hereafter for Shirbella.

One box of disguises for use in the mortal world.

And the witches’ three pets – Hezekell’s aardwolf, Wolfsbane; Mizekia’s raven, Chattermouth; and Shirbella’s cat, Nymphamarus.

Now that things were falling into place, the Witches of Fate could focus their attention on their mission to hunt down the Renegade Lion of the Black Forest.

As the Black Forest itself is hundreds of square miles, there are many small villages located within its boundaries. Besides Smalltown there is the Woodman’s Village, Poppytown, and the village of Jove, where the base of the Camouflage Mountains is located.

Now the village of Jove is a quaint little dwelling where everyone knows everyone else’s business; the world’s best-kept secret will not be found there. The total population of the town is 76, twelve of whom were the village hunters (until yesterday!).

The fur hunters of Jove were Lloyd Stewart, Bent Haverhill, Valska Gentry, Ronald Wentworth, Wendell Maxwell, Alexis “Butch” Buchanan, Wayne “Whitey” Waxman, Simon “Buster” Sneed, Marshall “Specs” Martin, Lucas “Mack” McGillicuddy, Chad “Riff” Rifles, and Benjamin “Benny” Pageman.

It all started yesterday around 7 a.m. Business was as usual. The village hunters were gathered in a band, ready to begin their morning ritual: hunting for animal pelts. (The village of Jove has long been famed for its fine linens, furs, and other refined garments.)

The boys were collecting together all the necessities for the hunt while waiting for Benjamin “Benny” Pageman to return from the village dog kennel. (Besides being one of the village hunters, Benny was also the town dog trainer.)

“Hey Buster,” Lloyd said. “Go see what’s taking so Benny so long with those bloodhounds. It’s almost 7:30 – he should have been back 15 minutes ago!”

“Come on, Specs, let’s go take a walk and see what’s up with Benny,” Buster said.

“Why’s everybody always electing me for extra duty?” asked Specs. “Can’t anybody else around here do anything but me?”

“Yeah, we can,” Buster replied. “It’s just that we trust your quick instincts on important issues.”

“Do you really mean that, Simon? Or are you just saying that to impress me?”

Buster responded angrily. “Number one: who needs to impress you? Number two: Of course I don’t mean that, you big dope! And number three: stop calling me Simon – I hate that name!”

“But that’s your name,” Specs said, confused.

“See? That’s what I’m talking about – you just don’t get it, do you? Why can’t you just call me Buster like everyone else does?” Buster asked, exasperated. “How come you always gotta be so formal, anyway?”

Specs sounded relieved that Buster’s tone of voice was less severe. “I don’t know, I was raised that way, I guess. Anyway, I’m sorry – I didn’t know you hated your name so much. Really, I mean it. I really didn’t –“

“OK already! Why do you always gotta keep ramblin’ on about nothing all the time, anyway?”

“Sorry.”

While Buster and Specs performed their daily bickering, they were wandering through the woods without noticing the oversized lion tracks directly in their path! It wasn’t until they approached the road to the kennels, Millhouse Road, that they became suspicious of their surroundings.

“Oh my God!” cried Buster. “Man, how long have we been walking inside of these giant lion tracks? I can’t believe we ain’t been noticing this!”

“Wow! Look at the size of them suckers,” Specs exclaimed. “That thing must be at least 10 feet tall to make tracks like that – man, I’m outta here!”

“You ain’t goin’ nowhere! The only chance we got is to stick together!”

At the same time that Buster and Specs were finally noticing their surroundings, a most amazing phenomenon was taking place on Millhouse Road, a winding road shadowed by pine trees with their strong scent. Ravens, crows, and deer dotted the scenery, as well as large bats hanging upside down in trees, taking their morning nap and awaiting night to hunt.

It was 10 minutes past seven o’ clock when Benny was about to unlock the cages and release the hounds for the daily hunt. Just as he lifted his eyes and wiped sweat from his brow, he caught sight of the most horrifying flying creature he had ever seen! Never before had he witnessed such a wingspan on any living creature. Not only that, but the wings were made of thick fur, not feathers. Benny was so in awe of the magnificent physical specimen that he couldn’t take his eyes away. It was as though he were in a trance. Benny was trying very hard to define what he was actually gawking at. He never thought, “I am in danger.” It never even dawned on him that he was about to become the Renegade Lion’s next meal. He imagined himself insane. On the one hand his mind was telling him he was gazing at a lion; on the other hand, everyone knows large felines have no wings! Even so, he kept investigating and scrutinizing, trying to distinguish for certain what the hell he was gaping at. By the time he realized he was in peril, it was too late!

As the gigantic lion descended on Benny like a plane coming in for a landing, he quietly and quickly seized Benny by the neck and shoulders, simultaneously tearing into Benny’s shoulders with his large talons and ripping Benny’s head from his body with his teeth! With blood splattering everywhere, the lion consumed almost all of Benny’s body, leaving a small portion of each leg from the knees down before silently flying away unimpeded! The only positive point was that Benny was dead within three seconds.

When Buster and Specs finally arrived at the hound house, their worst fears became an undeniable reality – Benny was dead. The dogs were all still locked in their cages, amazingly quiet considering what had just transpired. The two remaining members of Benny’s eaten body were clear evidence of what had taken place. But it was still a mystery to Buster and Specs, who were totally confounded by the facts at hand.

But all of these events unraveled so silently and swiftly that Benny’s family members weren’t even alerted, though the family residence was fewer than one hundred yards from the kennels, and you could hear a pin drop in the early morning hours. Benny was dead in three seconds.

Diary of a Fallen Angel, A Novel by William Dean Collins

2008-10-29T14:47:00.001-04:00

Chapter 4: The Three Witches of Fate

The time has come to formally introduce The Three Witches of Fate.

The Three Witches of Fate were originally angelic beings gifted with supernatural powers designed by God, who trusted them to oversee the fates and destinies of mankind. They guided the possibilities and events of human affairs so as to lead mankind to righteous, godly and prosperous lives. However, because the Three Witches of Fate were secretly involved with Gladismere’s plot to destroy the light and end mankind’s existence, God cursed them – they fell from grace and became the ugly and vile beings they are now.

Their appearance on the Blueprint of the Universe came billions of years before the creation of mankind. Like man, the Three Witches of Fate, Hezekell, Mizekia and Shirbella, were given free will to do good or evil, right or wrong. God gave them a chance to do his will, or follow their own selfish inclinations.

Shirbella, Hezekell and Mizekia, three sisters of prophecy, evolved in the void with Gladismere and other spiritual entities known as the Eternal Ones.

When God created the universe, Eternal Ones both favored God’s Plans and opposed them. Those in favor of God’s Plans were given special gifts, powers and Eternal Missions. Those opposed were separated from the universe and placed into the outer darkness. These beings hate light and prefer darkness. Originally, the Three Witches of Fate found pleasure in the eyes of the Lord; however, greed, lust to become flesh, and deceit caused them turn their backs on their responsibilities, forcing God to hex them with an eternal curse: to roam the earth with hideous, vile forms and behavior and to eat dung and raw guts of the dead! The Three Witches of Fate were also sentenced for a short time to Central Hell, a place inside the core of the earth where wayward mythical entities are sentenced to contemplate and repent their evil doings. Some are sent to learn the woes of Full Scale Hell, a place of never ending suffering.

Unlike the inescapable Full Scale Hell, Central Hell has far less torturous fires and many ways out. Repentant behavior, duration of sentence, magic and spells are popular ways of escaping Central Hell.

Many varieties of strange creatures can be found in Central Hell: Wicker-Walkers, Grungies, Haggies, Vampires, Werewolves, Wizards, Witches, Trolls, Goblins, Gargoyles, Closet-Monsters, Breath-Stoppers, and Dream-Haunters, to name a few.

After many months of contemplation and preparation for escape from Central Hell, Mizekia, Shirbella and Hezekell finally put their minds together and devised an incantation, enabling them to escape Central Hell. Together, they said:

Since time has begun
Our story has been one!
Our number is three,
and we look like trees!
If you gaze into the crystal ball,
you will not have to look hard, you will see us all!
From the center of the earth, to the top of the sky,
Let us give birth to ourselves, so that on our broomsticks we can fly!

There was a loud explosion, and a cloud of smoke was all that remained where the Three Witches of Fate had stood. Holding spell books in their left hands, the Three Witches of Fate magically reappeared inside the Morbid Lake sitting on their broomsticks, covered with disgusting putrid matter and surrounded by one thousand Haggies!

Amphibious, mythical creatures (half witch and half sea-horse), remain in water because, like The Three Witches of Fate, they prefer putrid decaying matter to living food. Haggies are tiny and only reach 10 to 12 inches in height, and live for long periods of time, twice the life span of mortal men. Mischievous little pranksters, Haggies prefer fooling people more than hurting them. Their powers last only from sunset to sunrise, thus Haggies, like Vampires, sleep by day. Haggies spells last only 12 hours, and are found abundantly throughout the Morbid Lake!

One of the most fascinating differences between the Three Witches of Fate and mankind is their emotional and chemical make-up. Mankind experiences Happiness, Sadness, Hate, Love, Fear, Envy, Anger, Dignity, Responsibility, Sexuality, Pity, Remorse, Embarrassment, Shame and Excitement. Wizards and Witches feel Power, Amusement, Purpose, Fear, Envy, Want, Need, Depression, Anger and extreme Embarrassment.
Wizards and Witches not only lack almost half the emotions mankind has, but also cannot chemically withstand three everyday mortal concessions: perfume, incense and cinnamon. Perfume sprayed directly on the Three Witches of Fate can knock them out for hours. A whole bottle of perfume poured directly onto the Witches’ bodies could theoretically put them in a coma for months, or even years! Incense causes violent nausea and profuse vomiting, and cinnamon sprinkled directly on their causes severe burns, blisters and boils.

The Three Witches of Fate have hideous and grotesque features, which camouflage them in the Black Forest. Their flesh looks like rotted, truncated tree trunks oozing with insects. Their noses are about a foot long each and vary in shape, but always resemble a tree branch. Their heads are oblong, crooked, cone-shaped masses of bumps and bruises, with open wounds all over their faces. They are mostly bald but for sparse green hairs, like new born grass, all over their bodies, sharp as porcupine needles.

With Hezekell standing at four and a half feet, Mizekia at five and Shirbella at five feet six inches, the three witches’ anatomies are grossly disproportionate. For example, Hezekell stands only four and a half feet tall but her nose is a good 12 inches long – that’s almost a fourth of her height!

Because the Three Witches of Fate spent many eons searching the Archives of God, reading and the Blue Print of the Universe, and the Halls of Mighty Words of Power, Hezekell, Mizekia and Shirbella are very wise and know many chants and spells. Like Gladismere, The Three Witches of Fate envy mankind and have been on a mission with Gladismere since the beginning of time to blot out mankind’s existence. The conspiracy to destroy the light and mankind has been the most ardent wish of the Three Witches of Fate since they discovered mankind’s presence on the Blue Print of the Universe.

The Three Witches of Fate conceived the advanced technology of melding and occupying the flesh. Gladismere’s “discovery” of melding and “his plan” of usurping bodies in the distant future were all ideas induced upon him while shisconing with the Three Witches of Fate. This original form of copulation is a combination of mental telepathy and desire. Ultimately, beings are produced when the shiscone of an Angel or Wizard is spoken into the desired entity. If this happens to be a human, it must be a virgin female. Mortal offspring of supernatural beings retain the power of their immortal parentage while adopting the more fair attributes of their human connection.

A woman cannot resist the power of a Wizard or Angel’s shiscone. Once she has been chosen the Wizard will hypnotize and seduce her when she is deep in a trance. If the Wizard or Angel fulfills a human female, she loses all desire for mortal ways. Offspring of these unholy unions live naturally for thousands of years.

Through this association, the Three Witches of Fate have become extraordinarily wise beyond any mortal standards, and thus stumbled upon many helpful tidbits of knowledge and wisdom to help fuel their fiendish plots against humanity. In fact, one of the more profound facts the Three Witches of Fate acquired about Gladismere is that, although Gladismere has millions of eyes, there is one central eye that is the core of his being, the very heart of his soul! When the Three Witches of Fate transported Gladismere from the void to the future it was only his central eye that was melded with the Spirit Condenser. Without consent from Gladismere, the Three Witches of Fate secretly conjured a spell that melded his central eye, which is the smallest of all his eyes:

As Necessity has devised,
Our motives are in disguise.
For this reason only,
Send the small eye that is lonely.
It would not be at all wise,
To meld all of Gladismere’s eyes!
The weight would be too great,
And the danger we could not regulate!
But the effects of this spell will be put on hold,
Until after the weightlessness spell has been told!

After the Three Witches of Fate escaped from Central Hell and magically reappeared inside Morbid Lake, they set up camp and established a base of power where they would be able to utilize all of their resources and maximize the effect of their combined attributes.

Countdown to the Election: Spare Change News for 10/23 - 11/5

2008-10-22T13:26:00.002-04:00

Here at Spare Change News we're not supposed to endorse a presidential candidate in the upcoming race. While we can't tell you who to vote for, we can tell you to vote. In fact, we demand that you vote! You can brush up on the ballot initiatives in this issue, and while you're at it, change our nation's future by dropping by the polls on November 4.

VOTE NOVEMBER 4: 2008 Ballot Initiatives

Confused about the proposed laws on the Massachusetts ballot? Spare Change writer Matthew LeBlanc explains Question 1 (State Personal Income Tax), Question 2 (Possession of Marijuana) and Question 3 (Dog Racing).

Following the Election Online
Matthew LeBlanc

There is plenty of information about the presidential race available online, overwhelming even the most avid web surfer. Traditional news outlets like The New York Times or CNN.com may be the first place you turn to learn about the election, but political blogs and polling sites are good sources as well.

From Wall Street to Pine Street: The Widespread Ramifications of the Financial Sector Fallout
Ed Larsen & H.J. Pound, MPH

You don't have to be a big shot on Wall Street to be effected by the financial crisis. Nonprofits, government employees and private citizens are feeling the impact too, and it's a struggle that's hitting close to home. Fourteen percent of the Massachusetts workforce is currently employed by nonprofits, a sector that relies heavily on corporate backing, according to a National Public Radio report. The fallen corporate giant Lehman Brothers gave $39 million to charities and nonprofits last year, including many Boston organizations that now have to turn to other sources for funding.

Pre-Election Blues
Marc D. Goldfinger

In Reno, Nevada, a small group of tents populated by homeless people sprang up by the railroad tracks, people with nowhere else to go. Within a short time there were over 150 tents, so close to each other people could barely breathe, filled with people who had come to Reno to look for work. There was no work to be had. But this wasn't only happening in Reno. It was happening in Seattle, Washington; Athens, Georgia; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Tent cities were born all over the USA as the foreclosure explosion took off, hurricanes hit Texas and Mississippi, and the stock market crashed.

Sneak Peek: Spare Change News for 10/9 - 10/22

2008-10-15T16:35:00.004-04:00

Barack Obama vs. John McCain: What They'll Do About Homelessness (Or Not)
Shea Davis

In a campaign where political parties are rallying behind the call for change, what changes do Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain promise to Americans experiencing poverty and homelessness?

Panel Examines MA Initiatives to End Homelessness
Brittaney Kiefer

State and city officials said at a Sept. 22 panel discussion at Suffolk University's Law School that they were optimistic about the state's new initiative to end homelessness in Massachusetts by 2013. "The stars are aligned right now," said Shelter, Inc. executive director Tom Lorello, one of the six panelists at the public policy forum, "Ending Homelessness in Massachusetts: New Thinking on an Age-Old Problem," hosted by the Boston Ward 5 Democratic Committee and Suffolk University's Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service. But one panelist did not seem to share this optimism -- Senator Dianne Wilkerson, who worried that the Wall Street crisis would have a negative impact on people living in poverty.

Boston Residents Reflect on Shaky Economy
Brittaney Kiefer

Despite President Bush signing the $700 billion economic bailout package into law, many Boston residents said they have not been reassured by the government's plan. In downtown Boston last week, business owners and residents said they are anxious about how the changes on Wall Street will affect them. Many business people are already seeing the repercussions from an economy that has been on a downward slope for months, and some fear the worst is yet to come.

Voices from the Streets: Rosh Hashanah Reflections
Shifra Freewoman

As I sit down to write, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is approaching. This period is focused on self-examination, making amends and forgiveness. I think the focus on amends and forgiveness can be helpful to people of other traditions and non-religious folks as well.

What's New: Spare Change News for 9/25 - 10/8/08

2008-09-24T13:13:00.010-04:00

Can People Adapt to Homelessness?

Leslie Bosworth

People can learn to adapt to stressful situations, so does homelessness, too, become easier over time? A new study shows otherwise. For example, the study found that people who had been homeless for a longer period of time (more than two consecutive years) had more difficulty finding regular meals than people who were transitionally homeless. Research shows that the challenges facing the long-term homeless are very different from those facing the transitionally homeless.

The Creedon Outreach Market

Robert Sondak

The Creedon Outreach Market is a new farmers market selling farm-fresh, locally grown produce near Waltham center. The market is part of Waltham Fields Community Farms (WFCF), which partners with community organizations to provide underprivileged clients with vouchers good for a bag of fresh produce. At the Creedon Outreach Market, Waltham families can fill a brown paper bag with produce for just $5. Shopping at one of WFCF's markets is a great way to support your community and join the local food movement.

Homes for Families

Brittaney Kiefer

Homes for Families is a statewide advocacy organization committed to ending family homelessness. They fight the stereotype that most homeless people are men on park benches with a mental illness or drug problem. In Massachusetts alone, there are at least 2500 homeless families, and the average age of a homeless person in the state is 8-years-old. The organization is unique in its approach to advocacy because they include the families they advocate for in every aspect of their work. At least 50 percent of their board of directors and 5 out of the 7 staff members have experienced homelessness. With Homes for Families, homeless people are empowered to advocate for themselves and break down the wall between their lives and government policy.

Voices from the Streets: Four Short, Radical and Necessary Reforms

Raymond Avrutis

1. Put Bread Lines Outside Welfare Offices and Homeless Shelters

2. Help Poor City Residents Find Available Suburban Jobs

3. Put Homeless People into Empty Homes

4. Make Bread Not Bombs

Preview of New Issue: 9/11 - 9/28/08

2008-09-10T15:17:00.006-04:00

Iran & Iraq: U.S. Approach to Both Countries Eerily Similar
Lindsey Medeiros

The Center for Public Integrity has accused the Bush administration of telling 935 "false statements" about Iraq in the two years after September 11, 2001. The "false statements" included accusations that the Iraqi government had chemical, biological and nuclear capabilities, had ties with Al-Qaeda, and had been seeking yellow cake uranium in Niger.

Now it is five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq last estimated that there were 34,452 Iraqi civilian deaths and 36,685 wounded Iraqi civilians in 2006 alone. Since 2003, the U.S. military deaths in Iraq have exceeded 4,000. The outlook is not positive.

The administration is, yet again, feeling threatened by a second-rate military in a third world country with a shoddy civilian nuclear program. President Bush contends that Iran is a nuclear threat to its allies in the region. Strangely, his fears of a nuclear Iran contradict the key judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released in December 2003, which reported, among other things, that "Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it's less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we had been judging since 2003... Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issue than we judged previously."

Despite this report, last year the Bush administration requested to increase the budget for its covert operations in Iran. This apparent contradiction within the upper echelons of the U.S. government is an echo of polices that are 'so 2003,' the same policies that lead us into war in Iraq.

On the Rise
Eliza Dryer

"On the Rise is everything a woman needs to get her identity back," one guest says. "They accept us as we are," another adds. I frantically scribble down their words, nodding. My visit to On the Rise is as comfortable as I've ever been and probably ever will be in a room full of strangers. On the Rise may be a social service provider, but it feels more like a house full of friends, sisters and mothers. "Coming here -- it's like going to your own house," one woman says.

Voices from the Street: 911: Hello, This is the USA Calling
Marc D. Goldfinger

This is the last September 11 that George W. Bush will be president. I still can't capitalize that title while he remains in office. I hope he's snorting cocaine and eating pretzels today. We've come a long way, baby.

It's seven years since the planes hit the Twin Towers, since people leapt from the building holding hands and screaming, since the buildings fell, killing firemen, police, and other innocents who just happened to work there.

Seven years later and the policies of George W. and Dick Cheney have isolated the U.S. from the rest of the world. We're lucky if many people from other countries know that the majority of us don't agree with these idiotic policies.

George used 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iraq. This is now costing the U.S. more than $11 billion a month. The Iraq war needs to be cut off at the knees and all our men and women brought home immediately. No excuses. It's a disaster if we stay, and because we went, it's a disaster if we come home. That's the way it is, whether we like it or not. Even if all our soldiers are brought home immediately, the medical costs will continue. There's nothing we can do about that. But we can cut our losses and that's all.

Howard Zinn speaking for Spare Change!

2008-06-18T17:42:00.002-04:00

Click flyer to view detail.

Spare Change News -- June 19th

2008-06-18T17:22:00.005-04:00

A David versus Goliath battle between corporate America and a freethinking counterculture is about to wage in cyberspace.

When internet auction giant eBay bought a minority stake in the homespun San Francisco Internet start-up craigslist - a company so modest they don’t even bother using an apostrophe or a capital letter - most observers expected the classified ads website would be quickly swallowed up.

eBay Inc. operates the world’s most popular e-commerce site, has a globally recognized brand, and is valued at over $40 billion. Its website is one of the most sophisticated around, with barely a square inch of it not covered by some sort of paid advert.

By contrast, craigslist is heavy on text and looks much as it did in 1996 when early enthusiasts would have looked at it on their black and white screened Apple PowerBooks.

The company grew out of an email of events listings Craig Newmark used to send friends, occupies an old fashioned timber house in San Francisco, has a staff of around twenty, and the only logo it uses is the peace sign.

Yet it has become part of the American way of life. Local newspaper groups cite it as responsible for ripping apart their industry’s business model and cops regularly trawl its pages looking for services as diverse as stolen goods and prostitution rings while it remains for many the first place to advertise a church fete.

The Cruelest Art:
Dr. Darius Rejali on Torture in Democratic Societies

Waterboarding. Hypothermia. Stress positions. Prolonged isolation. Sensory deprivation. These “clean” tortures leave deep psychological wounds but few physical scars — and they have been used for decades not only by dictatorships, but also by democratic governments, including the United States.

After 9/11, Americans used these techniques on so-called “enemy combatants” detained in a system of prisons from Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib and the Pentagon’s detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to numerous CIA black sites. And according to recent reports, officials at the highest levels of the Bush Administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, approved the use of “harsh interrogation techniques” in questioning detainees.

In his massive study, Torture and Democracy (Princeton, 2007), internationally renowned violence and torture expert Dr. Darius Rejali writes that these “clean” interrogation methods not only violate international law, but they radicalize enemies, undermine credibility, and yield unreliable intelligence. They do not strengthen national security, but instead make us less safe.

New Issue - May 8-21

2008-05-07T17:28:00.005-04:00

China's Tibetian Frontiers Rekindle Tradition of Defiance
Reuters

Zhuoni, China, April 9 - Across China’s mountainous west, armed troops watch over the Tibetan monasteries and towns that have emerged as hotbeds of protest kindled by traditions of defiance and newer economic grievances.

More than the Tibet Autonomous Region itself, where the upsurge of anti-Chinese protests and riots erupted in March, the historically Tibetan parts of neighboring provinces have defied efforts to smother unrest with troop convoys, roadblocks and patrols, and warnings of harsh punishment to lawbreakers.

In Zhuoni, a county in the northwest province of Gansu, protesters in mid-March torched a school, set up their own roadblock and trashed officials’ cars, residents said.

A recent trip along its tightly guarded roads showed the protests had stopped. Smashed windows of the local police offices and Chinese-owned shops had been quickly repaired, and traders were returning to dusty streets.

But Tibetans here and across south Gansu spoke of anger with the government campaign against the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, and with economic shifts they said favored Han Chinese migrants and Hui Muslim merchants in nearby towns.

“There are more and more Han here, so we can’t develop,” said Tsairang, a herder and farmer. He rejected the government’s claim that the Dalai Lama’s supporters orchestrated the violence.
“It wasn’t the Dalai Lama. He’s like a member of our family who isn’t allowed to come home. You can’t blame him.”

An Act For Change
Meredith Walsh

Amid sunbathers and baseball players on the Boston Common, a group of Suffolk theater students gathered on April 23 to perform a play in an effort to promote social justice and awareness for the issue of homelessness.

The play, titled Infinity, was student written, produced, directed, and acted. Rachel Kelsey was inspired to write the play after working with Neighborhood Action, a group dedicated to serving Boston’s homeless.

“I met some people at Neighborhood Action and it got me examining how we look at each other,” said Kelsey.

Director Purima Baldwin was drawn to the project by Kelsey’s insightful writing. “We wanted to do a final show before we graduated, something that had a social impact,” said Baldwin.
Baldwin’s life has been directly affected by homelessness. Her older brother, Dan, has been homeless for nearly twenty years. “He’s spent probably half his life on the street,” said Baldwin.

“I’m hoping maybe my brother will stumble across the Common that day, but I doubt it,” continued Baldwin, during an interview before one of the cast’s final rehearsals.

Kelsey and Baldwin hoped the production would attract the attention of people who are not ordinarily attuned to issues of homelessness and poverty. By performing in a public space, they were trying to reach a broader audience. “I just hope people walking by will stop and watch us,” said Kelsey.

Voices from the Streets: Connecting the Dots
Marc Goldfinger

Unfortunately for the human species and all the others occupying this battered planet, the dots are bigger than we think, and as fast as they connect, we disconnect them. So much is happening I don’t know what to talk about first.

First. We have this Presidential primary going on where the top two Democratic contenders are in the 11th round of a 12-round boxing match, both battered having been on the canvas a number of times. Yes, I like Obama, but so what? I’m watching Hillary and Obama in a fight where, at the end, there will be no man (or woman) standing.

I trust John McCain. I believe John McCain. By listening to him I realize that if he wins the Presidency (and that’s all too possible now) wars will go on, fuel prices will continue to rise, which means food prices will continue to rise and the death toll will rise, ever higher, ever higher.

What’s happening here? Does every politician so desire winning that they don’t care the human species sits on a humungous playground slide where at the bottom waits death and destruction on a scale that we have never known before? No one tells the truth because they all want to win.

Actually, I don’t know what Hillary believes, and I’m not really sure what Barack Obama believes, but I know that Deval Patrick fooled me and dammit, like the Who said, “I don’t want to be fooled again.”

Spare Change News: 4/24-5/7

2008-04-23T15:53:00.004-04:00

Right or Right?

Editorial: John McCain has been labeled a “Maverick” for his apparent middle of the road politics. Don’t let this cloak fool you. He is really a neo-conservative hawk. To be fair, he does support the implementation of green technologies and has spoken out against the use of torture as an interrogation technique. However, one should always be weary of labels granted to politicians by mainstream media. The former platform is merely a middle of the road policy change, which at this point ought to be a mainstream issue. The latter is something one would expect of a Vietnam POW who is, himself, a victim of torture.

In February the Washington Post reported that McCain knowingly broke Federal Election Commission law. When his campaign wasn’t doing too hot in the middle of the primary season, he signed up to receive public funding, which also made it easier to appear on the ballot in many states. However, the matching spending limit set by the FEC is $54 million and McCain had already spent more than $58 million without legally pulling out of the federal program. He broke the law under the same federal campaign finance program he helped create.

Homeless Children Population Growing Steadily

Studies have revealed that a homeless child under the age of six may experience the same mental trauma as a soldier coming back from war. When we talk about a generation afflicted by war, families torn apart, and children growing up without fathers and mothers, we don’t look to the war brewing on our own streets.

Today there are approximately one million homeless children nationwide and the fastest growing sector is younger than school aged. The average person believes homelessness affects middle age individuals, not entire families. In truth, the average age of a homeless person is only eight years old. In Cambridge, it’s nine.

“No one wants to believe children are homeless,” said Sue Heilman, executive director of the Roxbury-based Horizons for Homeless Children (HHC). To help combat this theory, HHC presented the Third Annual Young Children Without Homes National Conference, which took place April 15-17 at Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Five hundred people from 33 states registered and attended the event in hopes for what Heilman calls “a better tomorrow.” Cities across the country are bracing for the fallback of the mortgage crisis, and Boston is no exception. “It may get worse before it gets better,” Heilman explained before the conference kickoff.

The conference brought together case and social workers, volunteers and altruistic individuals dedicated to erasing homelessness across the country. Participants engaged in a variety of workshops aimed to raise awareness, and share strategies and information on the subject.

Tales from the Curb:
When Will it End?

The other day I was talking with a Spare Change News vendor, one who has really benefited from our organization. Spare Change News enabled him to be productive and opened doors that were once closed. He has made friends within this organization and with customers, and become an important member of Spare Change News. Best of all he was recently able to obtain housing.

So why is an advocate he works with telling him to leave our organization? That’s right, this advocate told him to find a “real job,” to forget about the friendships he made, forget about all his success here and leave Spare Change News. Why would someone openly discourage anyone from working with an organization where that person has succeeded?

Every Spare Change News anniversary, I can’t help but think of the advocates who tried to discourage us from creating the paper. Some advocates don’t always have the best interests of the homeless at heart, for them it’s nothing more than a job. But for most, including the general public, it’s a case of ignorance.
The other day I read a letter in the Metro addressed to Mayor Menino regarding homeless people on the Boston Common. I’ll spare you the gory details, but the letter was nothing more than a rant against homeless people, complete with the drunk/mentally ill speech. The writer even suggested that the Mayor rid the park of homeless people so taxpayers like him could eat lunch there. Well, Joe Taxpayer, I have news for you. The Common is in such rough shape not because of the homeless people who sleep there. It is because of people who refuse to use trashcans, who feed those annoying pigeons, who walk their dogs and don’t bother to clean up after them. It is because of the drug dealers who openly ply their trade while families are walk by. These things are ruining the Common, not the homeless. There is still a lot of ignorance when it comes to homelessness, but when will it end? Some say more education and compassion is necessary. Will that be enough?

Spare Change News 4/10/08

2008-04-09T13:13:00.005-04:00

AIDS Action Committee

Today, two to three people in Mass. will become HIV positive. In one year, more than 900 new infections will afflict the state. Between 24,000 and 26,000 people currently live with HIV/AIDS, but what’s more disturbing is that a quarter of them do not know it, and risk passing the virus to others.

AIDS Action Committee of Mass. (AAC) is a community-based, non-profit organization focusing on the prevention of AIDS in the Mass. population. The general mission targets AIDS prevention through education and advocacy while supporting those already infected. In addition, the organization lobbies for substantial AIDS policies at all levels. AAC boasts a staff of 70 dedicated individuals along with hundreds of volunteers, all passionate about erasing this deadly virus.

How Well Does the Boston Healthcare System Treat its Homeless Constituents? An Interview with Spare Change Vendor and Healthcare Consumer, Ed Larsen.

HJ Pound: What is the easiest way for a homeless person to obtain health care?
Ed Larsen: Honestly? Get yourself put in the hospital. Hospitals are also businesses that need to get paid. You rack up a high enough bill and they will do whatever it takes to get you MassHealth so they can get their money.
HP: Do you believe that everyone should have health insurance?
EL: There are pros and cons. Everybody deserves basic care, but there are consequences to socialized medicine. If everyone gets basic care here [in the United States] you will end up having to wait a really long time for specialist services like in Canada and Europe. Except for the rich. Unless we move to a single-payer system the rich will always have private insurance and get care faster.
HP: How has being homeless effected your health care?
EL: Well, I am on MassHealth for now, and I am happy. I do eventually want to get a job aside from being a Spare Change vendor though. Subsidized housing won’t be there forever, besides, I am not a big fan of the government. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate everything the government has done for me, I just don’t want to be at their mercy forever. The problem is, I don’t want to lose MassHealth either. Private insurance is great in some ways, but it doesn’t cover everything. [Private health insurance] used to be impossible to get with pre-existing conditions, and even now it only covers certain necessary services to an extent, which is crazy because it is so expensive. Plus, it already costs so much to live here, between transportation, housing, and taxes. And now, if you don’t have insurance you will get fined.

Four Arrested in Bank Protest

Four young women who chained themselves to a Bank of America in Copley Plaza were arraigned April 2 on counts of trespassing, disturbing the peace, and resisting arrest.

Candace Bollinger, 27, of Hicksville, New York, Adrienne Naylor, 23, of Dorchester, Mass., Laila Murad, 17, of Brighton, Mass.; and Elise Ansel, 20, of Sanderlan, Mass. locked their arms together using large cylindrical tubes, while Bollinger locked her neck to the bank’s door with a bicycle lock in protest of Bank of America’s investment in the coal industry. Their protest yesterday was part of an international protest called Fossil Fool’s Day, according to Climate Justice Now (CJN) spokesman Evan Greer, 22. He claimed over fifty people protested.

Naylor decided radical protest was necessary because, she said, “Holding signs and sending letters doesn’t change shit.”

Ansel agreed, “You can’t change the system by working in it.”

The women said they hoped to raise awareness about damage they claim coal mining inflicts on the environment. Ansel said, “450 mountain tops in Appalachia were blown clear off.”

2008-03-26T12:50:00.000-04:00

2008 Readersip Survey!

Please help us gather information by taking this 10-question survey about our paper and your preferences.

New Issue - March 13-26

2008-03-26T12:17:00.006-04:00

Election 2008: Camelot Lite?

The Kennedy’s were the closest to nobility this country could boast. With an infectious charisma and a lofty New England classiness that glossed over their playboy personas, they’re what America still wants. John Kennedy was a realist with a romantic streak and oozed authenticity – a combination that’s like walking a tightrope over troubled waters for politicians. His brother, Bobby, was grittier and unafraid of tackling the big guns on Capitol Hill. The dynasty was born with privilege and inevitable, prosperous political futures. Bobby, John and Ted adopted civil rights and urban poverty as their foundation, giving back to the other America they were lucky enough to have never lived in. The media has been painting Barack Obama and John Edwards as the next John and Bobby but it has fallen short – it’s like Camelot-lite.

In June of 1966 at the University of Cape Town, Robert Kennedy said, “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends out a tiny ripple of hope.” Forty-two years later, we may be seeing another drop in the pond, another ripple of hope.

Voices From the Street
Ending Homelessness: Part II

A couple issues ago this paper covered the State Commission’s Five Year Plan to End Homelessness. I thought, for the most part, it was a good plan. It had some teeth and it may actually work. However, I also said there would be obstacles to making this plan work, and wouldn’t you know it? One of those obstacles dropped in my lap.

A few days ago I read a Boston Globe article about Governor Deval Patrick’s $10 million proposal to fund the meat and potatoes part Housing First, which basically puts people into housing and provides them with the services they need to keep it. There were some positive parts of the story...but then the article seemed to take a negative tone, not towards the Governor, but towards the whole notion of making Housing First work. The recurring theme of the article seemed to be Why are we going to invest all this time and money for these people and When is this ever going to work?

I was more than a little shocked by the tone of this article, and I was a little surprised to find this in the Globe. When it comes to Homelessness they’re generally fair and objective. Not so much this time. I was so angered by this article that I wrote a letter to the editor (naturally they didn’t print it). But the beauty of having your own column is that you can still get your point across.

It’s Not Comcastic

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held a controversial hearing in Austin Hall at the Harvard Law School Monday, February 25. The conference dealt with the Internet service provider, Comcast, and its attempts to block, or otherwise hinder “peer 2 peer” file sharing programs and whether or not corporations and government agencies, such as the FCC, should be able to regulate the web. Representatives from networks Comcast and Verizon, representatives from the file-sharing program, Bit Torrent, engineers and other experts in the industry presented their cases and answered questions from the FCC.

A major issue the conference attendees addressed was network (or net) neutrality. Net neutrality is the belief that the Internet should remain largely unregulated. According to Savetheinternet.com, a website dedicated to promoting freedom on the internet, net neutrality means that Internet Service Providers, such as Comcast, cannot discriminate against websites by slowing down or speeding up web content. The case caught the attention of the FCC when it was discovered that Comcast was deliberately slowing down content from the “peer 2 peer” file-sharing program Bit-Torrent. File-sharing programs like Bit Torrent allow users to trade large amounts of data, including copyrighted material such as movies and albums, at high rates of speed.

Diary of a Fallen Angel, A Novel by William Dean Collins

2008-03-12T17:23:00.001-04:00

Chapter 3: The Renegade Lion of the Black Forest

So, here we have the spirit of Lord Gladismere, still contained inside of the Spirit Condenser, awaiting three things before the melding process is complete. The first thing he awaits is the sacrifice of the dreaded Renegade Lion. The second thing is the Spirit Splitting, (a very dangerous incantation, which if done incorrectly means annihilation for all involved). And finally, if all else goes well, the Enhancer Spell, which would enable to enhance the portion of Lord Gladismere’s Spirit that’s outside of the Spirit Condenser to a formidable degree, so it will function as a complete spirit! Also, the Enhancer Spell would work as an alleviator of pain for Lord Gladismere, both inside and outside of the Spirit Condenser. Being totally free from all pain will allow Lord Gladismere to think more clearly and function as a normal entity would function on the planet Earth.
Although the Three Witches of Fate have less powerful witches under their command to do a lot of their “dirty work,” the sacrifice and killing of the dreaded Renegade Lion of the Black Forest is far too important a task to leave in the hands of underlings. So the witches have decided that they themselves will take upon the task of finding the dreaded Renegade Lion of the Black Forest.
The first step of this most deadly assignment will be to locate the famed mythical creature. This alone will be a battle in itself, since the Lion’s main hunting ground is on the Labyrinth Path of the Black Forest.
Now the Labyrinth Path is one of the most dangerous locations in the Black Forest. It is by far the most dangerous path of the four major paths that lead to the Morbid Lake, a stagnant lake in the center of the Black Forest. It is an extremely large and deep basin filled with dead carcasses and other putrid matter. Creatures living in the Black Forest go there to die. It also just happens to be one of the favorite dining places in the Black Forest for the Three Witches of Fate.
The Labyrinth Path itself is a seldomly used path to get to the Morbid Lake, because of its many side roads, dead ends and caves. The Beaver Path (named because it was chiefly built by beavers gnawing down leaves) is the clearest and most frequently traveled path of the four major paths that lead to the Morbid Lake. The Eagle Path is a path that extends from the Morbid Lake all the way to the high grounds of the Evergreen Mountain, located some 28 to 30 miles north of the Morbid Lake. This jagged mountain range is home to a major portion of Zealots, a Christian Sect so named for their zeal for the Lord Jesus Christ. The Zealots journey daily all the way to the Wild Wood Cathedral, which is at least 10 miles southwest of the base of the Evergreen Mountains. All the members of the Wildwood Cathedral are devour Zealots and pray daily.
The Snake Path, which is the longest path of the four major paths, is about a hundred miles in length. The path begins in the deep south of he Black Forest, extends northward in a snake-like fashion and ends at the southern base of the Morbid Lake. The only other lake in Smalltown is the Fresh Water Lake, which is some 50 miles due south of the stagnant Morbid Lake. Out of the four major paths that lead to the Morbid Lake, only the Snake Path leads to both the Morbid Lake and the Fresh Water Lake.
So, who is this dreaded Renegade Lion of the Black Forest? And why is he a renegade?
The Renegade Lion of the Black Forest was actually born of normal parents. You could just call him a freak of nature! I mean, how many Lions do you know that have wings? This special attribute that the Renegade Lion has (wings) is the reason why he was branded an outcast amongst his own pride, and all the other prides in the Black Forest. The fear of being overcome by him in battle was the primary motivating factor of all the male lions, who were responsible for the ousting of this fantastic creature. Sentenced by the majority to spend the duration of the rest of his life on the Labyrinth Path is a severe reconciliation, even to a winged lion!
For the first seven years of his life, the dread lion was allowed to live among his peers, but he fact that he was twice the size, ten times as fast and could fly made him unlikable. He could make a kill quicker and more often than anyone else. Furthermore, all the lionesses objected to a male lion doing their duty better than them, so he had to go.
The male lions in the Black Forest have a sort of hierarchy among themselves. Law #1, Article 1: Never outdo a Lioness!!! This was the main breech of the law of the land that the dread lion transgressed. He thought he had been impressing all the lionesses by helping them kill their prey (it is the lioness’s job to do all the killing, not the lion’s), but in reality, all he had done was create resentment and dissent. But the truth of the matter is that the Renegade Lion is a superior hunter in every regards to any lion or any other known creature in the Black Forest.
The Renegade himself is majestically proportioned: standing on all fours he is exactly eight feet at the shoulders! His claws, (or talons, if you like) are a stealthy six inches in length on each claw. (That’s twenty-four inches of cutting power on each paw). While the average male lion tips the scales at about 800 lbs, the wings of the Renegade Lion alone weigh 400 lbs. Added to his body weight of 1600 lbs. For a total combined weight of 1 ton! He can run on his feet for up to 100 miles per hour, for a 30 second period at a time, needing only about a 10 minute resting period to repeat his performance. His wingspan is a good ten feet on each wing, and he can maintain a top flying speed of 200 miles per hour all day long.
Before the Renegade Lion had been ousted by the members of his family, his disposition was as any other lion. However, since that time, the Renegade Lion’s heart had grown colder and colder because of his lost inheritance. As time went by, he became meaner and meaner because he was loved by no one, not even his own.

Diary of a Fallen Angel, A Novel by William Dean Collins

2008-03-12T15:53:00.000-04:00

Chapter 2: Melding Into the Flesh

After carefully examining the Blueprints of the Universe, I determined that my best course of action would be to enter the flesh in the deepest part of the future that I could manage, so that I would be able to obtain the most knowledge and technology available. I figured by doing it this way, I would experience the least amount of pain. There was definitely one point on the blueprint that intrigued me most. I examined the whole, and I mean, the whole Blueprint of the Universe over and over and over again, until I found what I was looking for.

You know how many trillions, upon trillions, upon trillions of eons that it took to find the most favorable point in the fragile fabric of eternity for me to meld into the flesh? Although I went as deep into the future that I could go, I didn’t go so far into the future, so as not to have the Forces of Darkness still at its strength. It was far more important for me to have the Forces of Darkness ruling than for me to have technology on my side!

But, as the Three Witches of Fate would have it, there was one point on the Blueprint of the Universe where technology and darkness converged perfectly. In the year 2006 A.D. of Jesus Christ, there was the invention of a machine called The Spirit Condenser. It had the g-force of a black hole and could compress the space of an entire galaxy into the size of a golf ball. It was said to have been created by the Three Witches of Fate: Hezekell, Mizekia and Shirbella. The Three Witches are the oldest surviving witches in time, having lived for billions of years. They are said to be as old as the planet Earth itself.

By reading the blueprint over and over, I found out about two other great miracles: All three Witches of Fate had the power of mental telepathy and all three of the ancient Witches had the power of prophecy and had been foretelling my coming since the beginning of time. They know me as The Great Dark Lord Gladismere. Their prophecy is a haunting poem:

He is coming by day
To bring the great night.
All witches will praise him,
All men will take flight!
Gather ‘round the Spirit Condenser
To see what we meld.
Our Great Lord Gladismere
To send you mortals pell-mell to hell!

The day in the Mortal World was January 6, 2006 when I first made telepathic contact with the Three Witches of Fate: Hezekell, Mizekia and Shirbella. Through this communication, I instructed them to use the Spirit Condenser on me, bringing me into the future of time. The time had come for their Great Lord of Darkness to make his royal appearance in the flesh.

The spot chosen for my arrival inside of the Spirit Condenser was the Cherry Blossom Hill Ballroom, where the Grand Wizard’s ball is held every year in honor of my son Vordmak, who is the Grand Wizard of All Wizards and Witches (who rules over all except the Three Witches). However, the Spirit Condenser was not placed in the main gallery of the Ballroom, but instead was safeguarded in the Forbidden Chamber in the top of the north gallery, where no one but the Three Witches of Fate had keys. Even still, there is a magic charm protecting the Forbidden Chamber. Many talented wizards and witches have tried to enter the chamber, but all died at the threshold to the door, making for a gruesome spectacle, with the still-smoking burst bodies of wizards and witches, victims of powerful curses from the Three Witches of Fate. The threshold also has the eternal stench that comes from these foul ungodly hags.

My plan, in case you’ve forgotten, was to enter the flesh in the future, and then travel back in time, to make my sons whole, by using the Spirit Condenser’s time traveling synthesizers. (The only reason I entered time in the future was to enable me to make a safe transition from the void- to the flesh.)

My sons have been roaming the earth for thousands of years in the past, but only as half-selves. They won’t have full power or occupy their full forms until I make this meld into the future. In preparation for my journey, I communicated telepathically with the Three Witches.

“Witches of Fate, are you ready to receive your Dark Lord, lover and consort into the extremely condensed realm of the flesh?”

Their response came instantly. “Yes precious, Great, Dark Lord Gladismere! We are ready to receive you! We need only recite our weightlessness incantation so your mega-super weight can be contained in the Spirit Condenser; and that you also don’t crash the entire earth!”

The spell rang out from the minds of the Three:

Before time began, you were with the none!
Since time began you’ve never seen the sun!
What goes up, must come down,
except when we say these words:
Weightlessness is all around, so that our Lord Gladismere can come down!

***

At the same time the Three Witches of Fate were reciting their incantation to call their Lord into the Spirit Condenser, Lord Gladismere summoned his own spirit to the exact spot on the Blueprint of the Universe to help facilitate the miraculous event that was about to take place.

After having done this, Lord Gladismere’s spirit felt an immediate jolt of searing pain, electrifying his whole being. The pain was indescribable; the millions of eyes that sum up his being were burning white hot now. His spirit now began moving at the speed of light, through time, space and eons, eventually exceeding the speed of all thought and comprehension. At this speed, Lord Gladismere’s thoughts were all too dizzy, even for himself. He couldn’t tell where he was going, or even know who he was during this transitional stage of his existence. The transition from the void had been too much for him. Even with all his planning and researching, it wasn’t enough to prepare him for what he was now facing.

***

At the present, I am just a mass of malignant radiation waiting to contaminate any living thing that gets close to me. I, Gladismere, have been reduced to cosmic radiation inside the Spirit Condenser. I have not taken any form in the flesh as yet, because the density of my molecular structure will cause any earth form to explode if exposed.

***

But the all-knowledgeable Witches of Fate; the ancient sisters Hezekell, Mizekia and Shirbella have foreseen this mishap and have a solution. Since Lord Gladismere’s whole spirit can’t be unleashed upon the earth outside of the Spirit Condenser (after all, he would crush the earth outside its confines), the Sisters have determined that the only way for their Lord Gladismere to comfortably meld completely into the flesh would be for the Sisters to perform two more spells. One would be a Spirit Splitting spell, which would enable a small portion of Lord Gladismere’s spirit to occupy the earth outside of the Spirit Condenser. The second spell would be an Enhancer spell, which would enable the severed spirit of Lord Gladismere to function as a whole spirit, with all the attributes and abilities, but at a lesser mass. Also, the two spells would require a willing donor to sacrifice his life and his flesh, so that Lord Gladismere’s spirit could inhabit the remains.

As the Three Witches of Fate would have it, this was also foreseen before these events with Lord Gladismere even transpired. Before these events had taken place, the Three Witches of Fate, using telepathic communication in every conceivable language, had sent an all out bulletin to every large evil life form to inquire if anyone was willing to donate their life and flesh to champion their evil cause. All who received the appeal to come to the aid of Lord Gladismere by donating their life became deathly afraid and fled in terror from the invisible thoughts, all except for one mythical creature: the dreaded Renegade Lion of the Black Forest. He alone had the courage to allow Lord Gladismere a chance to meld into the flesh. However there was one small glitch in the Dread Lion’s offer. He would offer his flesh and life to the cause of Lord Gladismere, but only after he was defeated in battle by an opponent of the Witches’ choosing.

So Lord Gladismere was possibly going to take the form and flesh of the Dread Renegade Lion of the Black Forest, provided that the Three Witches of Fate could find a suitable champion to defeat the Dread Lion in battle.

The Dread Lion was a natural choice for Gladismere to inhabit, since the Lion was a predator and ruled the forest as King! Also, Gladismere’s thoughts would not be altered because his flesh would be the flesh of the dreaded Lion. His thoughts would still be his own – the thoughts of a fallen angel. The only form Lord Gladismere objected to inhabiting was the form of a man.

Diary of a Fallen Angel, A Novel by William Dean Collins

2008-03-12T15:50:00.001-04:00

Chapter One: Memoirs in the Dark Void

This story originates before the creation of the Universe, before the stars were ever even thought of, before Time itself! Time was just a thought in God’s mind at the aeon when this story evolved.

This story began in the Dark Void of Unseen Spirits, that bottomless pit you’re told of in your religious books, the Void which existed before Time began! This is our story, how we became Fallen Angels cursed from God’s presence for all Eternity, with no hope for salvation or redemption for our sins.

Time began when God spoke light into existence. Before Time began there were only aeons and aeons of The Power! There was no such thing as Time, only Space and The Eternal Ones.

My name is Gladismere. I am the Father of all that is evil and unlikable. I am the author of the plot to destroy the light forever! It was I who betrayed God’s Sacred Trust in overseeing the Children of the Ever Blest. For my indiscretions I was cast out of Heaven forever, and sentenced to an isolated spot in the Void, without the comforts of my consorts, the Three Witches of Fate named Hezekell, Mizekia, and Shirbella.

I am Gladismere, ancient of Time and Days: sentenced to a spot in the Void with less space to occupy than 400 picasquares, which is equivalent to about 300 trillion galaxies, as measured by a mortal man.

Now, I know you’re thinking, “300 trillion galaxies is a lot of space, right?” But believe me pal, to an Angel like myself, 300 trillion galaxies, or even 300 trillion picasquares isn’t even enough space for me to fit my entire being into, unless of course, I use a Spirit Condenser to alter my form.

300 picasquares to an immortal being is jail! Pure jail, plain and simple. I, whose thought patterns have permeated the entire Void for infinite aeons, now sentenced to a space the size of 300 picasquares is totally ludicrous! I, who served the Living God for aeons untold, sentenced to Valgalla, the feared and dreaded Valgalla! Me! Gladismere!

Now, I know you’re probably thinking, “You don’t get sentenced to Valgalla for Just Behavior, right?”

Ok, maybe not. I’ll let the readers judge for themselves. I say it was God who betrayed the Angels, and not the other way around! Weren’t we with God for aeons untold? And all of a sudden, God says he’s going to create man in his own image and likeness, and give him flesh with which to clothe his spirit!

If I had a jaw when I found out about that, it would have dropped to the bottom of the Void. I was jealous, envious, angry and all of that! If you only knew how beautiful God really is, then you might understand my resentment. But no man has ever seen God at any time, so a man couldn’t even begin to understand the hurt and animosity that an Angel is capable of feeling. We’re talking about a being who wasn’t even created, who existed with God for aeons uncountable, almost as an equal! It was very disheartening to discover that God was going to create living beings from the cosmic dust of the void, rather than use a Spirit Condenser and his almighty power to give his “loyal servants” a “shot” at life.

Granted, mankind hadn’t been created yet, but his presence on the “Blueprint of Eternity means he was, he is, and he is yet to come. Besides, he was going to be in God’s own image and likeness, and privileged to be surrounded by the flesh, while on the other hand, we Angels only have astral bodies which amount to a bunch of space and a bunch of eyes—oh, so many eyes we have!

So that’s my beef with God. I didn’t like the idea of sharing eternity with beings created by God’s Word. Yet, I’m powerless to stop God from speaking. And you want to know what’s scary about that? It’s that everything God says must come into being! Another thing I didn’t like was the fact that God was going to turn the lights on forever and expose our nudity to the Universe he was going to create.

This is how it all began over 200 trillion evolutions of aeons before time even began! When God existed with the Eternal Ones in the Void without interruption or interference, until that first day, the day when God created light. That’s when the trouble outside the Void began. The Ancient Society, as it was called, existed and endured before time began. The Society was a dwelling of spiritual entities that all had the power of mental Telepathy, which was in fact the only form of communication or movement in the Void, except for God Almighty. God always had the power to move, and as I now understand it, God always had the power to speak.

Only he never did, except for that one time when he spoke his whole entire name. Man, you should have heard how long it was! How loud it was at some points and how quiet some of the other syllables were at other points! It scared the whole of the Void white and cold with fear! Notwithstanding was the fact that the entire void existed at a steady temperature of Absolute Zero. Only God and his movements over the face of the deep had any heat at all. In those periods of evolution, before the light was created, God’s movement was almost unchartable!

It wasn’t until the creation of the light that God’s movement could charted on the eternal fabric of the Void. After the light was created, His movement became much faster and the Void much warmer. This fact alone caused terror untold, to the true worshippers of the original conditions!

But that’s neither here nor there. The real issue at hand is this business with mankind, and the transferring of power from God to man through Jesus! It’s all well and good for man, who just appeared on the scene, and gets exclusive rights to eternity, without any love shown, any moral values adhered to, any loyalty shown throughout the ages, or anything resembling dedication or love to those who came before!

Whats Up has joined with Spare Change!

2008-02-27T13:10:00.007-05:00

IT'S HERE! After months of plotting our eventual collaboration, Spare Change News and Whats Up magazine are finally one super street paper, 20 pages of news, notes, quotes, and insight. That's right -- at a time when so many print media outlets are rapidly losing readership, we added four pages to this humble newspaper with a purpose.

The rain and snows of this month have streamed down around us, on us. The torrential downpours mid-month left even my boots feeling breached. In the middle of winter, I have to remind myself that spring is indeed coming, that change is in the air.

You can see it in the small details, like the way the light lingers later in the sky every night. You can see it in the way that the snows are giving way to rains. Cold rains, soaking rains.

This issue is a bit like rain coming after a long drought, a bit like spring coming in after a long winter.

After a brief hiatus, this month marks our joining forces with Spare Change, an enterprise that gives the street magazine, Whats Up, a rebirth, an inaugural voyage, a new beginning. But while the merger is new, our mission is not. We are still committed to activism, social justice, and change. We are still community-minded and arts focused, still dedicated to improving the cities--and the world--that we share.

Bill O'Reilly Riles Veterans
Popular political commentator and Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly is receiving much criticism for his recent assertions that there are “not many” homeless veterans in America. Veterans have responded by protesting outside the studio where O’Reilly’s program is produced, creating a petition against his comments, and attempting to educate the public about the realities of homelessness.
O’Reilly’s string of comments began when former presidential candidate John Edwards brought up the issue of homelessness in his concession speech following the Iowa Caucasus on January third. “Tonight, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform proudly and served this country courageously as veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates,” said Edwards, “We’re better than this.” According the Department of Veterans Affairs about 195,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and roughly 336,000 will go without shelter at some point this year.
O’Reilly responded the following night on his popular news and opinion show “The O’Reilly Factor.” “That was Edwards’ concession speech last night,” said O’Reilly. “I mean, come on. The only thing sleeping under a bridge is that guy’s brain.”

Iraqi Widows: THE SILENT BOMB
Baghdad, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Every week, letters from Iraqi widows spill across Samira al-Moussawi’s desk. One wrote to ask whether she should spend what scant money she gets on her infant or on school books for her older son.
The member of parliament and head of a parliamentary women’s committee is at her wits’ end as to how to answer the desperate pleas from what could be as many as one to two million women.
Violence has fallen sharply across Iraq, but the number of women left without breadwinners is mounting, and with only a fraction of them receiving financial support from the government, officials fear the consequences could be explosive.
“What shall the widow do, deviate from what is right?” Moussawi said. “Terrorist groups exploit the destitute.”
No-one can give an exact figure for the number of widows left by the brutal reign of Saddam Hussein, the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War and in sectarian bloodshed since the 2003 invasion.
Moussawi, basing her estimate on a Ministry of Planning report from mid-2007, put the number of divorcees and widows close to 1 million of a total of 8.5 million women aged between 15 and 80.
Narmeen Othman, Iraq’s acting minister for women’s affairs, put the number as high as 2 million in a country of 27 million people.

New Issue - Homelessness to End in 5 Years?

2008-01-30T17:20:00.000-05:00

Homeless Make Voices Heard On Ballot
Everyday, Arnold sits on a crate between the 7-Eleven and Dunkin Donuts in Kenmore Square. He offers the stores’ patrons help with their groceries, in exchange for spare change. At night, he stays at the Pine Street Inn on Harrison Avenue. He is also a registered voter.
“This here,” said Arnold, gesturing to his perch in front of the stores “is just a temporary thing.”
He said that he was laid off a month ago from his construction job, but his outlook is optimistic. In a gentle South Carolina drawl, he said, “It ain’t that bad, yet. I ain’t robbing or hurting no one.”
Despite Arnold’s recent spell of hard luck, he plans to vote in the presidential election in November. He registered to vote at the Pine Street Inn.

State Releases Five-Year Plan to End Homelessness
Governor Deval Patrick will attempt to implement a plan to end homelessness in the Commonwealth. The plan has been given a budget of $10 million over five years, which will be based on a report filed in December by the Massachusetts Commission to End Homelessness.
The commission’s report proposes to end homelessness for both families and individuals by providing affordable housing, preventing those at risk from being evicted or displaced, and aiding in asset development.

Rock Concert Benefit A Success
On the night of Thursday, January 17, more than150 people packed themselves into the Paradise Lounge. While most attendees were there to support local music, they were also supporting Spare Change News and its recent merger with Whats Up.
“Anytime you can funk out a crowd for a charity benefit you should take it,” said Colin Bradley, keyboardist and vocalist for World’s Collide, the night’s headlining act. “The people are much more guaranteed to have a good time when they know that their money is going to something positive and not just the bands’ beers.”

Benefit Concert

2008-01-16T14:00:00.000-05:00

New Issue - The Cost of Homelessness

2008-01-16T13:11:00.000-05:00

Highlights from our current issue of Spare Change:

~ Under Siege, U.S. Unions Seek International Support
In the face of globalization, the U.S. labor movement is striving to reinvent – and reinvigorate – itself by establishing closer ties with the world’s network of international unions.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the U.S.’s largest federation of unions, embraced a new level of internationalism last month in hosting a conference sponsored by the Council of Global Unions (GCU), a governing body composed of representatives from numerous international labor federations, including the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which represents 168 million workers in 153 countries.

~ Boston's Homeless Census - What's In A Number?
On the evening of December 18, 2007 more than 300 volunteers searched Boston’s streets to attempt a headcount of the city’s homeless. This was the Boston’s 19th census. The first was conducted in 1983 by six volunteers working over the course of two weeks. The census today is a point-in-time study, not meant to track how people move in and out of homelessness, or how many people are homeless throughout a given year in Boston.
As we mentioned in the last issue of Spare Change – where we gave perspectives on volunteering for the census both as a reporter following the Mayor’s group and as an “average volunteer” (http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/203150/) – volunteers were instructed not to search alleys, dumpsters or tucked away hiding spots; that alone indicates an undercount. However, the street count of adult individuals showed a significant decrease –184 people, down 40% from last year’s total of 306. We can hope that a decent part of that percentage is a real decrease and not an issue of methodology.

~ Housing first: Policy aims to reduce costs, improve quality of life for chronic homeless.
Housing the homeless is cheaper than paying for emergency services such as ambulance rides, emergency room visits and hospital stays, according to a recent Maine study that echoes the findings of other studies around the United States.
The study, released by the Maine State Housing Authority in October, shows that costs were reduced by about 50 percent for 99 formerly homeless, mentally ill people in the Portland, Me. area who now live in permanent supportive housing and receive regular care to manage ongoing physical and mental health problems.
The two-year study was modeled after studies done in larger metropolitan areas such as New York and Denver, tracking services used by a group of individuals before and after entering permanent supportive housing.
Melany Mondello, a coordinator of the Maine study, said that not all studies around the country showed cost savings overall. Instead, “cost neutrality” is often the result, she said, and taxpayers need to be aware that dollars spent are not necessarily reduced, but used more productively.
“It’s important for people to know that a small segment of the homeless population costs a lot,” Mondello said.
“The message we are trying to give is that housing programs help shift the burden away from expensive emergency care to preventive care and supportive services.”
Som

The first Spare Change News Silent Auction!

2007-06-06T12:40:00.000-04:00

Click for a bigger flyer!

Don't raise your kids in Florida

2007-05-14T16:29:00.000-04:00

Apparently, Floridian parents breed hateful children. Here's hoping his punishment is enough to make him whine like his predecessor in Florida's heinous kids-torturing-innocent-homeless history.

Later!

2007-02-28T16:17:00.000-05:00

Hello Readers:

This will be my last post as editor of Spare Change News. I've been here for nearly two years now, with a total of 6 years in Boston. Far from a native of this fine state, I am originally from Seattle, and now I'm moving back there.

My shoes are being filled by Dave Hadden, who, when he gets on his feet, will make sure the SCN blog still kicks and screams. Wish him luck and keep an eye on the paper. He has some great ideas that I'm sure will be expressed within the pages of our upcoming issues.

If you want to hit me up, you can reach me at paul.rice AT gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you.

That's it! Take care,

-Paul

Celluloid Spare Change News

2007-02-22T11:56:00.000-05:00

Thanks to JD Marlow and Aimee Rivera, there is a beautifully shot and edited documentary about Spare Change now available for viewing on the world wide wetlands! Watch out for my neckbeard! It's a doozy!

2.15.07 Edition of Spare Change News

2007-02-20T14:40:00.000-05:00

We're a bit late with this update, so forgive us. The issue is selling like hotcakes and we've been too busy counting our hill of dimes!

Seriously, this is a real nice issue, with articles looking at a whole spectrum of topics, including ATHF bombs, City Council homelessness wrangling, GLBT homeless teenagers, as well as sexy oil paintings in Cambridge! Now that's diversity in action. Thanks to Sarah Esposito for writing the teasers:

Art Bomb$?
An art critic takes a look at the infamous ATHF campaign that turned into a bomb scare. Kate Ledogar blames the Neo-liberal, globalized economy for this debacle and argues that Turner Broadcasting was truly victorious in marketing their movie and getting free publicity on national news. Our lives are already surrounded by advertising and marketing, how much further can we let it go?

Cambridge Artists Oil Up
Two local artists Tom Tipton and Deborah M. Priestly, co-owners of the Out of the Blue Art Gallery, open their talents to the community in this new show. Tipton and Priestly tell their personal stories in their paintings while tying in the local community, from the Charles to Cambridge.

Homelessness On The Rise Among Gay Youth
A new study released by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force shows that at least forty percent of homeless youth identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT). What are the factors playing into LGBT youth becoming homeless? What are proactive steps we can take towards solving this epidemic?

And we're out! Enjoy.

2.1.07 Edition of Spare Change News

2007-01-30T13:11:00.000-05:00

Find these and other delights in the upcoming issue of Spare Change News (out Thursday, February 1st, at a vendor near you):

Incommunicado

Residents in certain mental health facilities are granted the right to telephones and uncensored mail, yet they are not allowed the right to basic web access and email accounts. Advocates work to make this a fundamental right in Mental Health Wards.

Reflections on Black History Month

Local Black voices express their dreams and inspirations relating to Black History Month. Hear about the challenges these writers faced as minorities growing up in White America.

Housing Feud Ignites

Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) presents controversial new plan for the city’s public housing. Local residents feel they are not being represented fairly and are not well informed by the CHA about meetings or changes. Changes include restrictions on how Cambridge residents are defined.

Till next time,

-SCN

(Update written by Sarah Esposito, SCN's talented editorial intern!)

Homeless Heat Mapping in Los Angeles

2007-01-19T12:37:00.000-05:00

We got a link from a friend about a "Homeless Heat Map" he helped create to track homeless populations in downtown LA. Here is an image of the map, and his notes on it:

From George Mokray:

Back on December 5th Cartifact launched the Downtown Homeless Map and
I got to write about the process here. The project takes LAPD Central
Division's bi-weekly homeless counts and turns the data into a map,
visually telling the story of changes in Downtown's street population.

Today we've put online a new version of the maps, using a radically
different methodology for showing the data. Instead of the dots of
the old maps, this version takes the data and turns it into a "heat
map" that shows the density of the population in different areas.
More about the new style after the jump...

Interesting to note, though, is the way in which temperature affects
the number of people on the street. It's cold outside, and has been
for several days now. The count for January 15th (Monday) was down
271 people from January 2nd. It got cold and the people who could
find somewhere to go did so.

I think the main thing this new style brings is a more instant
understanding of what's going on. The dots made an interesting
picture, and one that did work to tell the story, but in the end they
generated a lot of questions. Real world data collection inevitably
means compromises in your methodology, and in this case it led to
confusing results like dots showing up on top of other dots.

Aside from just looking cool, the heat map was a tecnically
interesting thing to create. The process involved taking irregular
point data and generating an approximated surface from it. That
surface data was then brought back into the GIS and the statistical
models were tweaked this way and that until they generated something
that felt true to the situation on the streets.

Update (9pm): A little on the technical side...

To generate the approximated surface I'm using surfit, an open-source
gridding application. Initially I was struggling because the data I
get only has positive points -- there are no zero points to bring the
elevation back to the plane in areas where no homeless were counted.
I eventually figured out how to normalize the computation against a
flat area I set up that covers Downtown.

Once I have the surface grid from surfit I use VTBuilder from the
Virtual Terrain Project to georeference that data and clean out
really low data (elevations less than 0.5 or so). VTBuilder outputs
an Arc ASCII GRD file and I pull that back into ArcGIS.

The color ramp is applied against a set of baseline statistics that
don't change count to count.

---

View the map for yourself here.

1.18.07 Edition of Spare Change News

2007-01-16T15:57:00.000-05:00

Did you miss us? Probably not, but that's ok, we'll get over it..

Yes, we got a bit lazy around the holiday season and failed to update the blog FOR WEEKS! OH MY. This internet thing is serious business and sometimes we get the proverbial tube-flavored ADHD.

Anyways, we are back with a little teaser for the next issue, coming out this Thursday. It's pretty, no? And yes, we are still salivating over the arrival of Deval Patrick. Don't worry, we'll get over it.

Also, if you haven't noticed, some of our vendors are rocking trendy new SCN aprons! We'll try and get some pictures on the blog. These aprons will help you identify who is legit and who is not (although some vendors are reticent about wearing them – they don't want to be mistaken for chefs!).

Anyways, business is as usual around here. We may have some more insanity coming up though, so watch out!

TEASING COMMENCES NOW:

No Standing Still: The Story of Eric Weinberger

A look at the life of an old SCN friend, and a cofounder of Food Not Bombs, and many more local service establishments. Read about Eric's life and accomplishments. There weren't few.

Riding the New Wave

Homeless people build sail boats out of New York City scrap and then sail them to Ireland? Is this for real? Yes, yes, in fact it is.

Plus all the usual trappings you've come to associate with our glorious niche-filling rag. Get to it!

-SCN

Tim Hobson Sings The Unholy Blues.

2006-12-19T10:42:00.000-05:00

Some friends over at Emerson College just finished a project on homeless artists, and our very own Tim Hobson was among those profiled!

Head over to Beyond Bread, the project's website and read Tim's story and listen to his song. This man is a musical genius and we're proud that he's a part of our family.

Opie & Anthony Churn Under Homeless Limelight

2006-12-15T12:28:00.000-05:00

Opie & Anthony, New Jersey's shocking jocks.

Yesterday we received a press release about Opie & Anthony, the network shock jocks who inherited Stern's airtime, and their upcoming and apparently annual Homeless Shopping Spree. We'll let you read it so you can see what the hullabaloo is about:

For Immediate Release Contact: Matt Noyes

December 14, 2006
mnoyes @ ahc.org

Dehumanization Has No Place On Boston Radio

This coming weekend, WBCN Boston is planning to broadcast an event that degrades and humiliates homeless individuals for the perverse amusement of the listening audience. The AIDS Housing Corporation is calling on concerned persons to contact WBCN to urge them not to broadcast this disgusting spectacle.

On Saturday, December 16, radio disc jockeys Opie (Gregg Hughes) and Anthony (Anthony Cumia) will broadcast their annual “Homeless Shopping Spree” at the Short Hills Mall in Short Hills, New Jersey. The “Opie and Anthony Radio Show” is a nationally syndicated show, broadcast locally on WBCN Boston (104.1 FM) and nationally via satellite on XM Satellite Radio.

The so-called Homeless Shopping Spree, which has been held on a number of previous occasions, takes several homeless individuals from New York City and transports them via bus to a shopping mall in a local affluent community. During the trip, Hughes, Cumia and their cohorts provide alcohol to the homeless persons, give them degrading nicknames such as “Tippy Tom,” “Sperm,” and “Buttered Roll,” and generally ridicule them on the air.

Hughes and Cumia’s listeners are encouraged by the radio hosts to give the homeless men money in order to get them to shop at the high-end retail stores in the mall. The men are recorded both with audio and video equipment in the mall and are given a constant supply of liquor.

According to the December 14 broadcast of the Opie and Anthony Radio Show, well over 2,000 persons are expected at the Short Hills Mall to witness the degradation of these men.

A very disturbing online account of a past Homeless Shopping Spree is at http://tinyurl.com/ydjt9h.

There are many disturbing parallels to be made between the Homeless Shopping Spree and the so-called “Bum Fights” video series. In both cases, homeless individuals are portrayed as existing only for the amusement of others and are subjected to extreme humiliation.

Currently, WBCN Boston is planning to broadcast the Homeless Shopping Spree live on Saturday December 16 at 2:30 pm in addition to a scheduled re-broadcast on Monday, December 18 from 6-9 am.

Please contact WBCN at 617-746-1400 and ask them not broadcast this disgusting and disturbing event on their airways.

# # # #

Matt Noyes
Community Advocacy Coordinator
United Disability Housing Partnership /
AIDS Housing Corporation
29 Stanhope Street; Boston, MA 02116
617-927-0088 x26

We forwarded the release to a friend of SCN who is also an Opie & Anthony fan. Here's what he had to say about the event:

In theory I am all for the Homeless Shopping Spree. In execution, I don't know.

Opie and Anthony have a history of this sort of thing; homeless people have appeared on their show before, some frequently. I am not going to say they are always treated with respect, but what needs to be borne in mind is that the listener does not have all the facts, despite the presented illusion to the contrary.

For example - a man named Homeless Andrew was featured on their show recently; he had purchased a coffee cake, and hadn't eaten any yet. He offered some cake to Opie and Anthony; Opie then put the cake on the ground and jumped on it. This, I think, was a lot more dehumanizing than the shopping spree, but at the same time, the listener isn't privy to everything. In other words, there's every chance it was a work - but who knows? In a venue like radio, the illusion is the reality, pretty much. A lot of their stuff makes me laugh - I'd even say most of it does - but I just couldn't find that funny. Apparently Andrew was initially upset but then held no grudge - so it becomes an issue of if he doesn't care, should someone else? And I don't have an answer to that.

Just some background, I suppose. Anyway, onto the spree.

I think Noyes is missing the point of the spree, and the joke behind it; the spree is a joke not at the expense of the homeless people shopping, but at the expense of the rich people who typically patronize the place. I personally think that, on its face anyway, it's brilliant. When it was done in 1999, the mall closed several of the more upscale stores and eventually kicked the homeless people out, which leads one to wonder what exactly they were doing wrong besides "not being our kind of people."

On its face it reminds me of when Joey Skaggs organized bus tours for hippies through the suburbs of Queens. It delineates class borders in ways we don't think of - that there are folks who consider some sections of society to be, essentially, Untouchables, in the caste-system sense. We're comfortable enough just pretending homeless people aren't there as we walk by, but when they invade our territory (as we perceive it), the cops get called, even though they have every legal right to be there. Legally, there should be no difference between us and them, and yet there it is.

I think it would be much more interesting, though, to do this in advance, without huge crowds, and broadcast the results after the fact, so that there would in fact be nothing the police could really do. As is, something like two thousand people show up, I believe.

Now - does that mean the homeless people won't be made fun of by Opie and Anthony? Not at all. But I think it's worth noting that, either way, the homeless in the equation will be treated with more respect than the rich shopping-mall patrons.

All told, I think it's going to be a fascinating bit of social commentary that will bounce off the heads of most people who hear it - maybe even the hosts as well - but judging by Mr. Noyes' press release, it's already bounced off some other heads too.

What do you think, dear readers? Well-intentioned spoof or dismal mockery?

The tale of Kenneth O'Brien

2006-12-11T10:41:00.000-05:00

Reprinted from our September 28 edition, the story of homeless bookseller Kenneth O'Brien, and his battles with a city over the right to make a living.

Bookselling Homeless Man Beats the Odds
By Paul Rice
Spare Change News

CAMBRIDGE – After enduring multiple arrests and vaulting numerous (and potentially unconstitutional) legal barriers, a native Cantabrigian who is homeless, finally won the right to sell used books in Harvard Square.

“All of the obstacles melted,” said newly permitted bookseller Kenneth O’Brien. “They knew they were wrong.”

O’Brien was arrested twice over a two month period for selling books without a permit on the sidewalk at 1324 Massachusetts Avenue in Harvard Square. The first case against him was dismissed, but was arrested again when he set up shop the next day. At his second arraignment, O’Brien was assigned a defense attorney named Daniel Beck, an unusual move considering the charges O’Brien faced didn’t carry a jail term.

“My guess is the judge thought it was an interesting enough case, and Mr. O’Brien needed a lawyer,” Beck told Spare Change News.

O’Brien and his associate Gary Kibler, who was alsos arrested in June for selling books without a permit, provided Beck with numerous court cases they felt proved they should be allowed to sell books without an expensive permit from the city.

The city continued to arrest them for not having the proper permit. However, O’Brien believed the permit the city instructed him to acquire did not apply to his circumstances. It required a $5,000 surety bond as well as $1 million in liability insurance to be approved by the city, fiscal requirements that didn’t bode well for a man who lives on the street with his family.

A glimmer of hope for O’Brien came in the form of an old Cambridge ordinance, entitled “Peddlers”. The ordinance reads: “No person shall place or keep any table, stall, booth or other erection, in any street, public place or any sidewalk, for the sale of any merchandise, without permission from the Superintendent of Streets. The fee for the permit set out in this chapter shall be fifty cents.”

This was the perfect permit for O’Brien’s business. There was only one problem: no one in the city’s bureaucracy knew about this ordinance, or how to apply for the peddler’s permit. Even Superintendent of Streets Bill Dwyer had no clue what the permit was, even though according to the ordinance, he was in charge of giving them out.

Gnomon Copy in Harvard Square helped O’Brien print out hundreds of pages of case files he eventually submitted to his attorney. Beck then filed a motion of weighty determination with the judge:

“The defendant hereby moves this Court to dismiss this case. In support he states that he was engaged in constitutionally protected activity, and that therefore there was no probable cause for the arrest.”

The judge ruled in favor of the dismissal about three weeks later, leaving O’Brien feeling vindicated and hopeful.

“The fact that they had no probable cause to arrest me was in black and white,” he said, smiling.

But whether or not Cambridge police would arrest him again if he tried to set up his stand remained to be seen.

O’Brien went to the Cambridge police station in Central Square and inquired at the front desk whether he would be arrested since he now had a dismissal that clearly showed they had no right to take him into custody in the first place.

The police sent him over to the City Solicitor’s office in Cambridge City Hall, who could not help him because the lead solicitor was unavailable. He went to Mayor Reeve’s office with the dismissal and inquired as to what his best course of action would be. Staff in the mayor’s office explained that the mayor of Cambridge has little to no political power and that he should try the City Manager’s office. Making his way to that office, he started to feel a bit loopy.

A staff member in the City Manager’s office looked at his dismissal and listened to O’Brien’s story; the books, the arrests and the enigmatic permit. She made a call to the City Solicitor’s office and discovered that in fact the lead solicitor was available, and would see O’Brien. He returned to the office he started in and immediately received an audience, and, to his surprise, a peddler’s permit.

The permit he sought for more than 85 days suddenly fell into his lap. The next morning it was signed and approved by Bill Dwyer. A homeless man won a victory over an entire city’s bureaucracy, earning the right to sell books on the Harvard Square sidewalk.

O’Brien’s business, which he officially named “Almost Banned in Harvard Square Booksellers”, has now been in operation for four weeks. At the outset, Cambridge police would routinely stop at his stand and ask whether he had a permit to be there. He willingly shared his laminated copy with anybody who asked. Police interest has since died down, and his stand quickly became recognized by Square denizens as a legitimate business.

“Everybody in the community who’s known about this has been walking up to shake my hand,” O’Brien said. Now that his business has an official name, O’Brien is looking for more ways to link arms with the local business community, namely the Harvard Square Business Association (HSBA).

“The objective of the HSBA is to promote commerce and commerce comes in a lot of forms,” says Denise Gillson, the organization’s executive director. “I think the board would be generally supportive of this kind of enterprise.”

As of press time, O’Brien had received an application for membership from the HSBA and hoped to be a full member within a month.

As for other booksellers in Harvard Square, O’Brien initially expected to meet resistance. As it turned out, he found himself and his business welcomed.

“We welcome competition,” says Alan Powell, corporate general manager for the Harvard Coop. “If anything, we need more bookseller competition. That’s what Harvard Square is traditionally known for.”

Harvard Book Store, O’Brien’s closest bookselling neighbor, agrees.

“We do acknowledge that the bookstand in question is competition,” wrote Frank Kramer, owner of Harvard Book Store, in an email to SCN. “Harvard Book Store deals with competition every day – we compete with the Harvard Coop/Barnes & Noble, with Raven Books, among others. Competition keeps us on our toes, and encourages us to be the best bookstore we can be.”

O’Brien believes he can be stalwart competition, but he’s not looking to put anyone out of business. In fact, he’s hoping to put some people in business as he looks for ways his bookstand can give back to the community he grew up in. He set up importing networks among local homeless people, and even brought in some of his friends, homeless and not, to help him run the table for a share in the day’s profits.

“I especially want to work with the longer-term homeless, not the kids,” he told SCN. “Being older and homeless is two strikes against you right there.”

He sees the potential for a new street economy to arise centered around his activities, an economy that may benefit all those living on the streets of Harvard Square.

“What better than to give back to the streets, where I’ve come from myself,” he said.

Tropical Paradise?

2006-12-07T10:40:00.000-05:00

Thrown out to the beaches

Just a few miles down the coast from here.

Seriously dude, what are you thinking?!

2006-12-06T17:14:00.000-05:00

A convicted murderer of a homeless man in Florida is appealing his sentence, because he says jail is just too hard.

Sympathy rating = 0.00

12.7.2006 Edition of Spare Change News

2006-12-05T16:50:00.000-05:00

We're really sorry that Governor Romney made the cover two weeks in a row. At least he's below the fold, right? You'll forgive us. It's also a funny picture of Romney. Since he's so rarely in town, we can never get a shot of him in action, so we're left to use this, his official public domain mugshot of joy.

Due to a busy holiday schedule, your usual updates on new issues may come slowly and haltingly. Our editorial staff wants to go home for the holidays (home happens to be on the other side of the country so it's a long walk), so you may notice a blogging deficiency. Apologies in advance. Not that we ever blog in here anyways. But you know, just in case.

Teasers:

The Road to Recovery: How "Jesus Land" author Julia Scheeres overcame fundamentalism

Julia Scheeres, acclaimed author of "Jesus Land", talks about her experiences growing up in a southern family as a blonde girl with two adopted Black brothers, as detailed in her memoir.

Dark Humor Brightens Life in New Orleans

Stand up comedy is alive and well in and around the flood-battered city. People are learning how to laugh at a situation that seems to defy humor.

There's more. Buy it. We've had a long day and this week is only going to continue. Hopefully you're doing ok.

Yours,

-SCN

Spare Change Vendors Photography on Display!

2006-12-01T12:36:00.000-05:00

This Saturday, December 2, please note that photography by several of our vendors’ (Jude Norman, Ramram Abdellah, Charles Gatewood, Charles Stallings, Phil Taylor) will be displayed in the Fourth Annual “Faces of Cambridge” Photo Gallery, held by the Cambridge Student Partnership. The event will benefit the CSP and their clients, the low-income residents of Cambridge.

“Faces of Cambridge”
December 2, 2006
Harvard-Epsworth Church
1555 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge
1-7 p.m.
Free admission!

Hope to see you there!

Gift-It-Up this weekend!

2006-11-30T13:35:00.000-05:00

Spare Change will be participating in the annual Alternative Gift Fair, put on by Conscious Consuming. It's pretty neat-o if you think about it: a chance to buy something that actually does some good for those in need, as opposed to the usual crap that dominates the gift-giving season (Christmas Tree Shoppe anyone?). Below is the press release about the fair. Check out their website here.

Alternative Gift Fair to be at Arlington Street Church this Saturday

BOSTON -- What I want this December -- a better world for my kids, peace in
my community, food and shelter for those in need -- can't be bought in a
store.

This holiday season visit www.giftitup.org, home of Conscious Consuming’s
Alternative Gift Fair, or attend our event in Boston on Saturday, December
2, 2006. We gather 14 non-profits at the Arlington Street Church, 351
Boylston Street, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Attendees can meet with a
representative from each of the non-profits and make a donation in a loved
one's name. Honor friends and relatives with donations to causes that fit
their values, and receive a lovely gift card to present that explains your
gift. Spare Change News, along with other local non-profit organizations,
will be present at the fair.

Gift It Up! is an opportunity to give back to the larger community and honor
your loved ones at the same time. You can eliminate holiday stress, avoid
the mall, and give a gift that can change the world! Please visit us at
Gift It Up! on December 2, or visit us on-line at www.giftitup.org.

Since Conscious Consuming is run by volunteers, we rely on word of mouth to
publicize Gift it Up! Please forward this important message to those you
know who are interested in spreading peace this holiday season.

11.23.06 Edition of Spare Change News

2006-11-20T15:43:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Come this Friday, your biweekly fix of the good stuff (we have learned to say this with a straight face) will be on sale via your favorite SCN vendor.

We have a lot to talk about this week, and most of it concerns outgoing (but not fast enough, apparently) governor Mitt Romney and his so-called 9C cuts. Until you can get your hands on our paper, which is filled to the brim with info on how these cuts eaffect homeless people in the Bay state, you should read Globe columnist Brian McGrory's scatching attack on Romney's "heartless cuts" (as Mayor Menino called them).

Here's a bite:

How Will Fare Increase Afffect Your Wallet?

SCN details (in a neat little graph put together by our new Assistant Director) just how the price of the T will change what it takes to get you there. The jump on the cover is wrong, however. We left out the one. It should read PAGE 12. Don't be too hard on us, some of us went to school for theater.

REUTERS: Treating Friend and Foe in Baghdad Hospitals

Insurgents and foreign soldiers are treated side by side in Baghdad Hospitals. Step into one of them for first-person coverage of what is fast becoming a full-blown warzone, in a Reuters story exclusive to SCN.

Plus why Deval should take the reigns from Romney now, full coverage of the potential for pain due to Romney's cuts, arts coverage, Su Doku and the rabid flying penguins who meet their friends for drinks at People's Republic!

Or something. Just buy it because otherwise you'll lose that loose dollar sitting in your pocket.

Yours,

-SCN

Kudos.

2006-11-16T16:15:00.000-05:00

Christopher Loh has an article in the Cambridge Chronicle about a homeless man, Brian Joyce, who was assed-out of his homemade shelter. It is nothing short of awesome. Sad, and awesome. Grab a Chronicle and read it, or check out the paper's audiovisual slideshow:

In the slideshow, one of the workers instructed to tear down Joyce's beautiful shelter sums up his feelings about the job: "We're going to hell for this."

SCN wants to thank Mr. Loh and the Chronicle for their thoughtful work. We hope Brian Joyce starts work on a new house. We hear there's plenty of room in Newton.

11.9.06 Edition of Spare Change News

2006-11-09T11:21:00.000-05:00

Finally we're back on schedule, with the new issue coming out on the day it's supposed to: Today!

By the look of this edition, you'd think we're taking a more somber tone in honor of Veteran's Day, and you'd be right. But almost everyone is all smile's in the office after current events this week.

There is a logic you'll hear expressed by people who've made their living on the street for years: during times of conservative rule, folks hustling for a buck will likely earn significant returns from said hustle, since the government isn't necessarily vocally taking care of the poor and disenfranchised. On the contrary, during more liberal periods of rule, the same folks will be seeing a lot less returns from their customers, due to a larger collective consciousness about the poor people; the illusion that when the liberals are in charge, the poor are much better taken care of.

Whether or not this logic stands, we hope that you'll still help out the people you encounter on the streets, not because you feel guilty, but because you feel it's the right thing to do.

In this issue:

Expendable

Reservists are fighting the same war as everyone else, but many are losing out on the benefits awarded to soldiers who put their lives on the line. Find out why, and what's being done to correct this major SNAFU.

Modern Day Martin Luther?

Terrence Rothman nailed 95 Theses to the University Lutheran Church on Halloween. Find out why he's trying to bring back the spirit of Martin Luther, and what the church thinks about his historically-charged protest.

Tim Hobson Talks Chuck

SCN's own Tim Hobson recently got to pick the brain of City Councilor Chuck Turner, uncovering some meaty thoughts on the black experience fighting a political wildfire.

Plus SU DOKU and Crosswords, Arts and Infotainment. See you in two weeks!

Yours,

-SCN

Errata.

2006-11-09T10:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Mayor Menino went out to the Northeast Mayors Against Illegal Guns Regional Conference.

Later that day he stopped by the Association of Police Officers In Favor Of Law Enforcement, followed by an intense and very hushed discussion over at the National Coalition For People Who Enjoy Breathing.

On an unrelated note, does the phrase "eating humble pie" ever make you the tiniest bit queasy?

Yours,

-SCN

Illegal Interaction!

2006-11-07T12:06:00.000-05:00

Bored at work? Waiting for the polls to close so you can go drink and scream at the television? Want to be involved in a political process right now?

You're in luck. For the rest of the day, instead of working you can sit in front of a webcam in Texas, trying to catch illegal immigrants as they cross in from Mexico.

It's like an interactive Minuteman stakeout. Now you can be a bigot who poses as someone who cares about economy, from your very own computer, with no need for expensive plane flights down south, or extensive shopping trips at army surplus stores.

While doing your civic duty, check out this lovely song about inverse immigration by Johnny Tex and the Texicans:

"So Long Texas, Hello Mexico!" (MP3)

Enjoy!

Haggard: Meth in Mouth Disease

2006-11-06T11:30:00.000-05:00

SCN's favorite video over the weekend (with at least 15 viewings), was Ted Haggard's awkward confession to buying meth, but not using it because, "it's wrong."

How did he get the meth? From the gay former prostitute he has heretofore denied getting it from. How did he meet the man? "A referral," from, "the hotel." Which hotel? Well, he stays at "lots of hotels in the area," when he's "writing."

Oh Lord, please give us more!

For those who haven't seen it, here's the best 2 minutes of your week:

Trendsetting.

2006-10-25T11:56:00.000-04:00

Johny Williams, a homeless LA gentleman being wheeled into a service center near Skid Row. Believe it or not, this photo was taken by the LAPD, who have been trying to bring charges against city orgs for illegal "dumping." You can read more about the charges here.

In the 1980s, massive cuts to health and human services and reductions in affordable housing stock nationwide, not to mention the advent of the retail era, caused this country's homeless population to grow exponentially, reaching levels previously unimagined in this country. Somethings never change. Some things only get worse.

LA is a disaster waiting to happen. Ask anyone who's been to Skid Row – they will tell you stories of homeless camps that stretch from block to block, housing (maybe hundreds of) thousands of human beings. It's nothing that can be effectively written about. It must be seen.

LA is a monolith symbolizing the terrifying trends being set in North American poverty. One would do well to pay attention to this growing cancer. It is alive, it can be spoken to, and it puts a face to something that's too easy to ignore.

10.26.06 Edition of Spare Change News

2006-10-24T12:05:00.000-04:00

The new edition of Spare Change News went on sale four days early once again! We keep selling out, perhaps because of the continued relevance of our reporting. Or maybe it's the pretty colors, who knows? Whatever it is, we're happy you like to buy our paper and in that spirit, we want to give you a paper worth buying, as will be evident in the latest issue:

EXCLUSIVE: Deval Patrick Shoots on Homelessness and Poverty in Massachusetts

Get the details of Patrick's plan for helping downtrodden human beings in the state, in a Spare Change-only interview with the democratic candidate.

Columnist James Shearer Has Words For Berklee "Groove"

Shearer tackles anti-homeless sentiment in Berklee College of Music's student-run newspaper.

Shocked out of Childhood

SCN's own Amanda Morley writes about her experience with electroshock therapy, the memories of childhood she lost, and the moments of light through the darkness of her multi-year experience.

Everyone, let's be safe out there. It's a dangerous world and we want you all to come home to your loved ones and sit by the fire, reading the paper, even if it isn't Spare Change. We want you to be happy, more than anything, we want you to love living your life, because you're the only one who can do it right.

Yours,

-SCN

Who's the strongest candidate on important issues?

2006-10-24T11:47:00.000-04:00

The John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies has a website devoted to the gubernatorial candidate's views on homelessness and poverty. We have our interviews posted along with relevant Globe and Herald articles about each one's stances. Check it out!

SCN in today's Globe

2006-10-12T10:29:00.000-04:00

Scams hurt newspaper's mission

By April Simpson, Globe Staff | October 12, 2006

Ever since homeless and poor people started hawking the Spare Change News, impostors have tried to interlope on the action.

But in the alternative newspaper's 14th year, the scams have reached such a level, cutting profits and tainting the paper's image, that its staff is trying new ways to distinguish the real vendors from the fake.

"It amazes me when people try to rip off an organization like us," said Lee Mandell , vice president of the newspaper's board. "All we're trying to do is help people who are homeless and have economic difficulties. A scam off of us is just really mean."

Click here to jump to the rest.

10.12.06 Edition of Spare Change News

2006-10-10T13:13:00.001-04:00

Wow, we are out super early this week! Due to excessive sales, we sold out of our Sept. 28 edition early last weekend, so the new edition went on sale today, a whopping two days early. Oh, and a big thank you goes out to the Weekly Dig, for milking some "bumor" out of our recent press release. Way to go guys. Regardless, expect to find some fascinating content in this issue, hopefully enough to tide you over until the next installment.

Teasers:

Skin Peel: A former skinhead burns away the demons under his flesh

Growing up, Jason Mitchell got every possible tattoo he could, covering his flesh with spiderwebs, anarchy symbols, swastikas and white power phrases. Now he's a changed man, and is going under the laser to remove the legacy of tattoos that cover his body. We are reprinting this intense story, courtesy of the lovely Joanne Zuhl, editor of street roots in Portland, Oregon.

New Trash Bins Leave Low-Income Canners Feeling Dumped

New solar-powered trash receptacles are raising concerns from individuals who make a living on the recycling of cans and the reclamation of trash downtown.

All this plus your favorite columns, SU DOKU & crosswords, a scintillating editorial on sex in the news, as well as the chance to interact with one of our lovely vendors. DIG IT!

Yours,

-SCN