By kryst3000 - 11/3/05 - 2:43 pm
I never purchase or read it.
45% (29 votes)
I purchase it to help the homeless but don't read it.
20% (13 votes)
I find the newspaper somewhat interesting.
11% (7 votes)
I like how the paper covers important issues other publications ignore.
16% (10 votes)
I think homelessness and poverty are boring, depressing issues to read about.
8% (5 votes)
Total votes: 64
Comments
Even if I wanted to ...
... I couldn't buy a copy, since I live out in the boonies of Roslindale (Hyde Park, almost) and have never seen it for sale (then again, it's hard even to get a copy of the Dig around here).
I've only ever seen it sold by individuals...
outside restaurants, grocery stores, etc. in Boston and Cambridge. I usually buy one if someone's selling it. By its very nature, it provides a perspective you don't get elsewhere.
Ive never seen it ever
ive never seen it ever, i'll start looking out for it.
where I find it
Someone is often selling Spare Change News at the bottom of one of the stairways in Davis Square station. I've seen it sold at other T stations, too. I buy it intermittently, but not consistently.
Cool poll.
For those not familiar with it, issues of the paper are purchased be the vendor for 50 cents each and then are sold to the public for a dollar, the vendor keeping the profit. To be eligible, a vendor has to be homeless, recently homeless, or have a chronic disability and be part of one of the various state systems. The paper seems to cover about 50% homelessness/system issues and about 50% other issues, though almost always with a social justice focus -- in other words, how various local and national issues are affecting actual people. I was quoted in an article in Spare Change about homophobia in the Black community and racism in the GLBT community.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Thanks for the post! I
Thanks for the post! I actually know some people who write for Spare Change. Just two minor corrections: the vendors purchase copies of the paper for 25 cents and sell them for $1, garnering them a 75-cent profit. Also, anyone can be a vendor -- but nearly all of them happen to be currently or formerly homeless.
Thanks!
The profit has changed over the past few years then; that's AWESOME.
Are you sure though that people don't need to be system-involved? I remember hearing a few years ago that they were having a lot of typical (not involved with any services) teenagers and young adults looking to be vendors, and they had a plan to set up some parameters so that the vendor market could focus on the targeted group they organization wishes to serve.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com