Featured
Malden’s Bike Kitchen adds spice to the city’s growing cycling culture
Malden’s new bike kitchen has already become an active hub for local cyclists and adds a new layer of depth to the city’s growing cycling culture. […]
Articles by Joy Pearson
Business
Building Community Momentum: The future of Maplewood Square
By Joy Pearson Plans have begun to make improvements to the historic Maplewood business district in Malden. A Maplewood Square Committee of Ward 5 and Ward 6 residents has been following up on the research done in spring 2023 by the ‘Initiative on Cities,’ a capstone project for Master’s students of the Boston University Metropolitan College in City Planning and Urban Affairs. Maplewood Square is 1.5 miles east of Malden Center down Salem Street. Its name dates back to 1853 when Joshua Webster who, as surveyor, connected the Saugus railroad line to the Boston and Maine railroad. In the mid-nineteenth century, Webster sought to establish a community in the area including 200 maple trees. And so it was done. Businesses grew; changes occurred. Ten years ago, the old Saugus railroad was transformed and made into a bike and pedestrian path that crosses Maplewood Street. Since then, the path has been part of the Northern Strand Bike Path through the Bike to the Sea organization. It is well-used by locals and by New England bicyclists. Then and now, […]
Education
Education Beyond classrooms: Nekita Lamour aims to provide experiential learning for students and adults
In May 2020, Malden Reads planned to host the Malden Mass. Memories Road Show (MMRS), a statewide, event-based, participatory digital archiving program, through UMass Boston’s Healey Library, that documents people, places and events in Massachusetts through family photographs and stories. Due to the pandemic, the in-person event could not be held. Since then, Neighborhood View has been contributing photographs and stories online as part of the Malden Mass. Memories Stuck-at-Home Show. The in-person event is now scheduled for April 27, 2024. More info at the end of this article. By Joy Pearson A microcosm of the world, Malden, Mass. has an abundance of cultures, each with its own heritage. Nekita Lamour, a Malden resident, wants students to learn more about their own heritage. She knows this will enrich their lives. She has long desired to help transform education for Blacks, especially Haitian Blacks. To her, students need experiential learning and learning from professionals outside the classroom. Their perception of their world creates an internal environment, she says, and that “internal environment has to be positive.” Many of […]
Featured
Diversity, Service & Solutions: Ramon Norales reflects on his life in Malden
By Joy Pearson In May 2020, Malden Reads planned to host the Malden Mass. Memories Road Show (MMRS), a statewide, event-based, participatory digital archiving program that documents people, places, and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. Due to the pandemic, the in-person event could not be held. So Neighborhood View, in collaboration with Malden Reads, is contributing photographs and stories online as part of the Malden Mass. Memories Stuck-at-Home Show. The following story continues the series of participant profiles, which focus on photographs and what they mean to that resident of Malden. It was the cultural and ethnic diversity of Malden that attracted Ramon Norales to move here in 1997. During the past 25 years, Ramon has devoted his life to family, to work, and to his Malden community through his ethics of service and solutions. In 1971, 7 ½-year-old Ramon Norales immigrated to New York City from Spanish-speaking Honduras in Central America to be with his parents. In New York City, he grew up in Harlem Later, he attended NYC Technical College in […]
Featured
Finding inspiration in Malden’s History: Inna Babitskaya
In May 2020, Malden Reads planned to host the Malden Mass. Memories Road Show (MMRS), a statewide, event-based, participatory digital archiving program that documents people, places, and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. Due to the pandemic, the in-person event could not be held. So Neighborhood View, in collaboration with Malden Reads, is contributing photographs and stories online as part of the Malden Mass. Memories Stuck-at-Home Show. The following story continues the series of participant profiles, which focus on photographs and what they mean to that resident of Malden. By Joy Pearson Although we all live in an historical context, our focuses differ. We are shaped by the places and cultures in which we have lived and in which we currently live. But only some of us have eyes that see history everywhere. Inna Babitskaya’s view of life is indelibly guided by historical and cultural lenses. She gravitates to and admires historic buildings. She seeks out biographical facts. When she writes, she writes from an historical point of view. This developed from Inna’s childhood […]