October 2017 - Neighborhood View

Malden Pops Up: A Festive Shopping Experience Brings Sparkle Downtown

October 31, 2017 shrier58 1

By Robin Inman Do you dread holiday shopping? Do you have trouble finding a special gift amid the mass market clutter? Malden Pops Up is coming to the rescue. Malden Pops Up is a temporary gallery gift shop featuring unique wares by local artisans. It will spring to life on Nov. 16 in an empty storefront at 480 Main St., Malden, and run through Dec. 24. Even your fussy sister will be mesmerized by the selection of paintings, jewelry, photography, textiles, ceramics, glass, carved wood, sculpture, CDs, cards and books. The experience will be enriched by musical and spoken word performances, presentations and special receptions. New this year will be a children’s art corner, where young artists can sell their work and sit down to create things while Mom or Dad enjoy shopping. Malden Pops Up is spearheaded by Ose Schwab, the principal of Malden Creates, LLC, which is “a small business that partners with local groups, businesses, and individuals to initiate arts and culture opportunities that nourish Malden economically and socially.” The inaugural Malden […]

Movie Review: The Malden man and his Wonder Women

October 29, 2017 jlynnmcclain 0

Film Review: Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, starring Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall and Bella Heathcote; directed by Angela Robinson By Jennifer McClain In 1948, a German born psychiatrist named Fredric Wertham began his crusade against comic books. While treating juvenile delinquents, he found them reading comic books and decided that comic books caused delinquency. This was a typical, correlation implies causation argument, proven false years later by Carol Tilley. However, a number of community leaders did rally against comic books, gathering them up in wagons, and burning them in huge pyres. A scene of this destruction opens the recently released Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, a cinematic romp into the man who inspired the heroine featured in this summer’s blockbuster, Wonder Woman. The camera then zooms in on a man looking sadly at a burning Wonder Woman comic — this is the subject of the movie, William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman and a graduate of Malden High School as well as the inventor of the lie detector. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t depict Martson’s […]

RESPOND highlights domestic violence in Malden

October 26, 2017 jlynnmcclain 0

By Jennifer McClain A vigil to highlight the problem of domestic violence was held Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017 in the newly built Malden Police station’s community room, a place created to make the police more “accessible and transparent,” in the words of Malden Police Chief Kevin Molis. The vigil was held by the domestic violence agency RESPOND in collaboration with the Malden government, Malden police and the Malden Zonta club. “Today’s vigil is certainly a time to reflect and remember those who have lost their lives but it is also a time to raise awareness on this topic,” said Malden Mayor Gary Christenson, one of the officials and community leaders who attended. Christenson praised RESPOND for being “a pioneer in the movement to end domestic violence.” RESPOND “is New England’s first domestic violence agency and the second oldest in the nation,” the mayor said. Christenson also said it was important to recognize the successful joint effort of the Malden Police force and the community organizations in concert with local Malden city government. Christenson noted that, in […]

Video from children’s visit with author Cammie McGovern

October 26, 2017 annedr 0

MATV, Malden’s Media Center, is pleased to present a video from a special author visit last year to the Malden Public Schools. A preview of the video can be found at the end of this article, with a link to the full program on MATV’s website. On June 1, 2017, Malden Reads welcomed author Cammie McGovern to a series of events in Malden. McGovern is the author of Just My Luck, a companion book for the middle grades, selected to accompany the themes of last season’s Malden Reads book selection, A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman. Just My Luck tells the story of a fourth grade boy who learns to cope with difficult family situations, such as his brother’s autism and his father’s head injury, through his kindhearted spirit and generosity.. Malden Reads hosted a reception for McGovern at the Malden High School Writers Den, a comfortable place where students can immerse themselves in writing creatively and receive tutoring. The Writers Den, a new addition to Malden High School last year, is a place to strengthen partnerships with the community through readings and programs. […]

The Road to Morocco from Malden: Into the Sahara

October 22, 2017 bzoe42 0

By Bonnie Blanchard Part Three of Five Parts Getting on a dromedary is like straddling a furry bathtub. It’s not the most graceful of feats. You begin the mount while the beast is lying down. You have to figure out how to get your feet across both sides; their bodies are wider than that of a horse. There are no stirrups to lock your feet into, only a steel bar in front of the hump to hang onto. A layered blanket pack is the saddle. When each member of my group was finally aboard their ship of the desert, we started our journey into the Sahara. As I bounced and hung on, I had visions of rolling off to the side and being deposited on the desert floor. It was a premonition of things to come. This camel-back journey had begun after an exhausting yet exhilarating day driving from Fez to Ouarzazate, the entrance to the Sahara Desert, in another leg of our Morocco trip. As our van crossed through rosemary-dotted hills and cedar groves, […]

Election 2017: Questions for City Council Candidates: Affordable housing and public comment

October 13, 2017 NeighborhoodView 0

The 2017 Malden City Council elections are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. A preliminary election on Sept. 19 determined the final candidates. To help Malden voters decide on which candidates to support, a group of citizens organized by Prisco Tammaro, a Malden resident, in partnership with local media, developed a series of “Quality of Life” questions for City Council candidates. The questions were sent to the candidates in August with instructions on how to respond. The questions ranged from issues of affordable housing to development, grant writing and bike trails. This week’s questions are about public comment periods before City Council meeting and affordable housing. This is the fifth and final installment. For previous questions and answers, see links at the botton of this page. Question 1: Would you support a public comment portion before all City Council meetings, but after any special guest, similar to the School Committee? Question 2: According to state records, 10.2% of Malden’s housing is affordable. If the city’s rate of affordable housing drops […]

The Malden man behind the Pledge of Allegiance

October 10, 2017 jlynnmcclain 2

By Jennifer McClain Down an unassuming street in Malden behind the Malden Court House is the home of the, some say contested, author of a work that is both inspiring and divisive. Even beyond the nature of the work is the controversy over its origins. Who wrote it and what does it mean? These are questions have been pondered since the words were published in 1892. The man believed to be the author of “I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag” is James Bailey Upham, who died in 1905 and is buried here in Malden. Upham, who was born in 1845, lived on Lincoln Street in Malden and was an active member of the First Baptist Church. Most scholars attribute the Pledge to minister Francis Bellamy. In Malden, however, there was no doubt that the author of the pledge was Upham. It’s been a point of contention over the decades. What is uncontested is this: The pledge — in an early form — was first published in the magazine Youth Companion on Sept. 8, 1892. Youth Companion was, in the […]

The Road to Morocco from Malden: The Medieval City of Fez

October 8, 2017 bzoe42 1

By Bonnie Blanchard Part Two of Five Parts Our extensive tour of Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca was overwhelming. But the journey was just beginning. We headed to our van for a 5-hour ride into the hinterlands of Morocco towards the medieval city of Fez. (Which is sometimes spelled Fes.) Along the way we stopped for a traditional Moroccan tagine (a clay cooking utensil with a vented conical top that cooks in the oven or stove-top) lunch and relaxed into our new home away from home – the van – for the next two weeks. Finally we arrived at our hotel, welcomed by most gracious hoteliers. After a refreshing buffet dinner in the hotel, and fresh from a good night’s sleep, our group was ready to explore the ancient city of Fez. Traveling out of the Ville Nouvelle (French for new city) section of Fez, we were dropped back in a time at the large gated entryway, Bab Boujeloud. Bustling cafes and markets quickly turn into narrow streets with children playing and donkeys hard at […]

Election 2017: Questions for City Council Candidates: Grant writer and zoning for marijuana sales

October 6, 2017 NeighborhoodView 0

The 2017 Malden City Council elections are approaching. The Municipal Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. A preliminary election on Sept. 19 determined the final candidates. To help Malden voters decide on which candidates to support, a group of citizens organized by Prisco Tammaro, a Malden resident, in partnership with local media, developed a series of “Quality of Life” questions for City Council candidates. The questions were sent to the candidates in August with instructions on how to respond. The questions ranged from issues of affordable housing to development, grant writing and bike trails. Neighborhood View has run the answers to these questions every Friday; the last is next week. This week’s questions are: Question 1: Would you support the City Council request a full-time Grant Writer work on grants for the top 5 projects from an online public poll? Question 2: Marijuana State Law will require at least 4 parcels to be allowed under City Marijuana zoning. Provide 4 parcels, streets, areas, neighborhoods, or zones that should allow a Recreational Marijuana Dispensary, OR […]

Malden School Committee candidates quizzed on positions in Sept. 28 forum

October 2, 2017 NeighborhoodView 0

Reported by Diana Jeong More than 150 residents packed the Malden Senior Center on Sept. 28 to hear candidates for the Malden School Committee discuss their positions on issues ranging from bilingual education and family engagement to teaching subjects in a culturally sensitive manner. The candidates forum was sponsored by the Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition (GMAACC) the Mass Senior Action Council, Chinese Cultural Connection, Chinese Progressive Association, and APIsCAN (which a coalition of groups who serve various Asian communities throughout Massachusetts). These organizations have worked together in the past on civic engagement and language access issues. The Malden School Committee consists of the mayor and eight members who are elected from each of the city’s eight wards. Three of those seats are being contested in the municipal elections to be held Nov. 7. All school committee candidates were invited to attend the forum; eight participated. Lisa Wong, former mayor of the Fitchburg and current Deputy Director of the Asian American Civic Association, served as moderator. The forum began with greetings from Malden Mayor […]