BINJ Archives

TOWNIE: A WORM’S EYE VIEW OF THE MASS POWER STRUCTURE+

Students at rally at Boston City Hall by NewtonCourt (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons From the guy that brings you Apparent Horizon October 18, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The rich and powerful interests that control Massachusetts politics and the state economy have their fingers in

JASON PRAMAS October 18, 2017

WATCHING BOSTON

The true beginning of a false narrative: an investigation into the Hub’s Neighborhood Watch Eight days after 16-year-old Norman Hawkesworth shot and killed Stephen Lanigan, John Winston found the murder weapon — a .22 caliber long pistol — while jogging in West Roxbury and contacted the police. According to Suffolk County court documents, Hawkesworth had

DANIEL DEFRAIA July 11, 2017

THE BALLAD OF BIKING IN BOSTON

Dispatches from my daily dance with death en route to work I edge off the sidewalk. I look left and then right. Then left and then right again. One more time to be sure. I merge towards the rightmost edge of the street, but there is no bike lane so I teeter

KATIE CAMPISI July 9, 2017

GETTING TO BIKE

Urban multimodal network needed to make bicycles a viable alternative in the ’burbs June 21, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The following column was written as commentary for the June 2017 episode of the Beyond Boston monthly video news digest — produced by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and several area public

JASON PRAMAS June 21, 2017

INTERSECTIONAL POLITICS (A CRASH-NOT-ACCIDENT REPORT)

When it comes to bike safety and infrastructure in Greater Boston, there’s a dangerous gap between the promises that cities make and the reality where rubber meets the road Of all the places for a cyclist or pedestrian to be killed, the intersection of Mass Ave and Somerville Ave in

KYLIE OBERMEIER June 7, 2017

HOMELESS FOR THE HOLIDAYS: SAVAGE CUTS AND CRAPPY JOBS ARE WHAT GOT US HERE

December 6, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS For many people, the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the only time of year that their thoughts turn to the plight of the homeless. Money, food, and presents are donated. And time is volunteered at shelters. All to make sure that people

JASON PRAMAS December 6, 2016

TEMPORARY RADICALS? DISAFFECTED DEMS NEED TO STAY IN THE STREETS AFTER THE GOP MENACE IS BEATEN BACK

November 27, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS There is little agreement on the broad American left. But the ascension of Donald Trump to the top of the political heap caused a virtual panic from the most conservative corporate Democrats to the hardest core anarchists and communists. Which resulted in a

JASON PRAMAS November 27, 2016

WHY NATIVISM REMAINS THE POLITICS OF THE SCOUNDREL

November 17, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS In early November, I wrote the following commentary for the third episode of the Beyond Boston video news digest that my organization produces monthly in collaboration with several Boston area public access TV stations. Given the nature of the political crisis sparked by

JASON PRAMAS November 17, 2016

DEMOCRATIZE AMERICA: THE FIGHT TO SAVE THE NATION AND THE PLANET DOESN’T STOP ON ELECTION DAY

November 8, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS This is not a dream. For your whole life, you’ve seen images on screens showing brutal political struggles in faraway places like Ukraine and Yemen. And in the rare moments you’ve paid attention to the suffering you’ve seen, you’ve asked yourself, “How could

JASON PRAMAS November 8, 2016

UMASS CAMBRIDGE: MAKING HARVARD UNIVERSITY PUBLIC WILL SOLVE ITS WORKERS’ PROBLEMS—AND THE COMMONWEALTH’S HIGHER ED CRISIS

October 24, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Three weeks into their strike, Harvard University dining hall workers are in a difficult position. Their union’s demands for better wages, benefits, and working conditions are falling on deaf ears in the Harvard administration. They cannot continue picketing indefinitely on $200 weekly strike

JASON PRAMAS October 24, 2016