February 2010

This is the first in a series of social banking articles.

Robert L. Karash

Homelessness in this world isn't going away easily despite all efforts to eradicate it as a syndrome and all sincere attempts to help people back on their feet by giving them a hand up, not a hand out.

People—including politicians and social scientists—like to say "The solution to homelessness is housing." Although the notion makes perfect sense, and is the obvious rejoinder to the calamity and immensity of the homelessness conundrum, it just may not be that simple.

Gregory Haygood

Editor’s Note: The following passages are excerpts from a novella written by Gregory Haygood, which will be published under the name that appears above: Rain, Rain, Rain-BoW. The complete story will eventually be offered for purchase through sparechangenews.net. Keep watching the site and the newspaper for more information, and please contact our office at (617) 497-1595 if you are interested in Mr. Haygood’s work.

“Try to do anything you want—I don’t have anything to do—what about you too? The rain will fall and you and Bo will not have anything to do at all.”

Dear readers,

I have been writing for Spare Change for about a year now, and over the time I have been lucky enough to cover a variety of different stories. From State Representative Barry R. Finegold’s bill—which would grant hate crime protections to the homeless—to Theo and Paul Epstein’s Hot Stove Cool Music, a concert to benefit charities dedicated to improving the lives of indigent children, each story is unique and features levels of complexity.