Ferry Street Food & Drink kicks off Malden Reads dinners

By Lindsay Perdue Malden City Council President Steve Winslow traveled 3,000 miles from home, only to find himself back in Maldon: that’s Malden with an “o,” the city of Malden, Massachusetts’ namesake in England. During a European vacation last July, the longtime Malden resident and Bike to the Sea co-founder, explored the two cities’ deep historical connection. He took a six-hour ferry from the Netherlands to Harwich, England, followed by a train journey through rural, agricultural land before arriving in Maldon, England, a quaint town 35 miles northeast of London. Malden, Massachusetts was named after Maldon, England. It is located near the coast on the banks of the River Blackwater in Essex County and is surrounded by farmland. According to the City of Malden’s website, Malden was incorporated as a separate town on May 2, 1649. The name ‘Malden’ was chosen by Joseph Hill, an early settler and landholder who emigrated to the United States from Maldon, England. “It’s very similar to Ipswich, Massachusetts because it’s on the coast and surrounded by agricultural areas,” Winslow said. […]

By Natasha Eslami In Born a Crime, Trevor Noah, the popular comedian and host of the cable TV show “The Daily Show,” recounts his childhood growing up in South Africa, the son of a white father and a Black mother. At the time, such a union was punishable by five years in prison in apartheid South Africa, so Noah’s very existence was  “crime.”  Noah tells his story, which ranges from the humorous to the traumatic, with his cutting wit and incisive perspective. At times both poignant and outrageous, Noah deals with the intersection of his life and the history of a country reckoning with deep-seated racism and finds a parallel here to the United States. His memoir does not shy away from exposing deeply ingrained racism, sexism, violence, economic inequity, and domestic violence. And yet, his personal story reminds us that even in the deepest tragedy and among the most menacing of fears, there is hope and strength within ourselves and those around us to set us on a better path. The Malden Reads team wanted to select a book that would […]