April 2020 - Neighborhood View

Part two: A defining moment for a generation

April 29, 2020 annedr 0

Generations are often defined by key moments in history. How will the global pandemic we are now experiencing shape this young generation? Will teens and twenty-somethings see this as the moment when everything changed? What will they – and the rest of us – remember in the decades to come? With the help of an energetic group of interns, Neighborhood View embarked on a project to interview young Malden residents about their life during the pandemic. These citizen journalists interviewed their generational peers and collected stories that crystalize this moment in time, from the mundane to the momentous. Here is part two of an ongoing series. Read part one here. David Kennedy: The more you read, the more fearful you get By Masio Dotson Twenty-seven year old David Kennedy, who grew up in Malden and has been a resident for over a decade, is an Audi car salesman, a father and now a teacher. Kennedy has transitioned to homeschooling his 5-year-old son, due to the closing of Salemwood School, using a homeschooling app called “IXL.” […]

For Malden artist, nature’s beauty endures even in a pandemic

April 25, 2020 escorsello 3

Another in a series of stories on how Malden residents are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. By Elizabeth Scorsello Malden artist, Peg, dreamed about spending a week in May in Turin, Northern Italy, at the International Center for Ceramics to mark the year of turning 80. She had planned to take classes with potters from all over the world. Now, she wonders when – or if – she will ever get to make this trip. Peg, a resident of Malden for 14 years, paints and draws, does ceramics and teaches art. She taught kindergarten in the Boston School System. Retired and living in senior housing, she was teaching ceramics. And then the coronavirus appeared. “About a month ago the management (of senior housing) tried to get on top of it,” Peg told Neighborhood View. “We received a mailing describing the virus and (tell us to start) washing hands, etc., to get ready for the coronavirus.” Two weeks ago a notice went up and a robo call started telling residents no visitors allowed except for family […]

Encounter Haiti, hope and love in multimedia exhibit by Nicolas Hyacinthe

April 21, 2020 joanneelie 1

“When I put a piece of art on the wall it’s no longer mine anymore. The viewer sees it and resonates with a truth within it and walks away with it. It is my kaleidoscope experience and their human experience colliding; and at that point it belongs to them,” says Hyacinthe. Hyacinthe was born in Haiti and immigrated to America at the age of 10. Bringing with him the cultural background and history of the island, he was then immersed in the new narrative of American culture. As he watched films and television, he developed a passion for photography and filmmaking, which he began to study at Emerson College, where he graduated in 2001 with a degree in Visual Media Arts. His experience of living in two countries revealed a universal truth about the world: pain and love. These truths unified the human experience to a young Hyacinthe, convincing him that pain and love transcend any surface differences among varying cultures. Hyacinthe expresses this truth through mediums such as photography, abstract paintings, and film. With […]

A defining moment for a generation: Malden’s younger residents confront the pandemic: Part One

April 12, 2020 NeighborhoodView 1

Generations are defined by key moments. For many it was the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which propelled the United States into World War II. For baby boomers, it was the assassination of President John F. Kenney in Dallas in 1963. For others, it was the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. And now, as the world grinds to a halt from the coronavirus pandemic, another generational moment has been created. How will this period affect this generation? Will teens and twenty-somethings see this as the moment when everything changed? What will they – and the rest of us – remember in the decades to come? With the help of an energetic group of interns, Neighborhood View embarked on a project to interview younger Malden residents about their life during the pandemic. Citizen journalists interviewed residents and collected stories that crystalize this moment in time, from the mundane to the momentous. Here is part one of an ongoing series. Delilah Doleman: Baking in […]

Malden neighbors stepping up to help neighbors in face of pandemic

April 11, 2020 sschorow 0

By Stephanie Schorow In the second week of March, just as the nation began to shut down to halt the spread of COVID-19, paper fliers appeared on Malden streets with a simple message: “We are connecting volunteers with people in need.” This represented the start of Malden Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a grassroots movement centered on a Facebook and web page, that has brought together residents who need help with those who can offer a helping hand. It’s part of a statewide neighbors-helping-neighbors push, but the local effort began with Malden residents concerned about the coronavirus pandemic and the impact of quarantine and social isolation on neighbors. “People in Malden stepped up and then connected with the other groups,” said Anna Geoffroy, one of the organizers. “It didn’t surprise me…I’ve seen this happen before. When things go sideways, we all have to pitch in.” Since the Malden Neighbors Helping Neighbors Facebook page launched on March 14, Maldonians have helped to get food to the elderly, supply health workers with masks, and provided reassurance over the phone during […]

Participatory art project lets us touch hands in a time of COVID-19

April 4, 2020 annedr 0

By Anne D’Urso-Rose Hands are designed for touching. You reach out a hand. You lend a helping hand. You create. You greet. You comfort others with your hands. But these days, our hands are viewed more as dangerous carriers of disease. “Our hands used to be these things that we did everything with and now they’ve become these things that we’re not supposed to do stuff with,” said Karyn Alzayer, an artist currently based in Malden, MA, in an interview with Neighborhood View. Her new participatory art project “Healing Hands” sets out to change that view, safely, in this era of COVID-19. Anyone from this community or around the globe is invited to trace their hand on a piece of paper, decorate and write words of encouragement on it, scan, and send it electronically to Alzayer. “I’ll print every hand and message I receive, cut them out, and make a giant interlocking paper chain of all of our hands and all our encouragements,” writes Alzayer in her blog describing the Healing Hands Participatory Art Project. […]