NeighborhoodView, Author at Neighborhood View

MaldenCORE conversation series

September 22, 2020 NeighborhoodView 0

MaldenCORE will hold a series of 4th Wednesday Conversations beginning Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 6:45 pm with a presentation by Daniel StrongWalker Thomas, Traditional Chief of the Delaware Nation (Anadarko Okla.), Lenape People, and a descendant of the Oneida People (of Green Bay,Wisc). The topic for discussion will be Indigenous social justice issues. Due to the pandemic, the conversation series is online. Thomas serves as the President of the Board of Directors and Chief Servant Leader of Global Initiative for Indigenous Advancement, Inc. (GIIA). As Keeper of Fire for GIAA, he believes that the concentration on the four pillars of social, health, education, and economic status will help generate the overall wellbeing of Indigenous People worldwide. When he attended Salem State University he was awarded the Charlotte Forten Distinguished Scholar Award and was a member of the honors society. MaldenCORE, Malden Community Organizing for Racial Equity, hosts 4th Wednesday Conversations, community gatherings for community members, to learn about and confront systemic racism. Speakers introduce topics and then participants break into fall groups to share personal […]

Malden Reads mulls book selection for 2021

September 8, 2020 NeighborhoodView 0

By Heather Barry Earlier this summer, as the Malden Reads steering committee began its book selection process for 2021, it faced a season and mood in the community and country very different from its previous ten years. On top of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has been wracked with a coming to terms of 400 years of systemic racism, sparked by the murder of George Floyd, and brought to life by protestors from coast to coast. These important and ongoing events informed the discussions of this year’s books. Once the book is selected, Malden Reads will invite the community of Malden to read the book and participate in a series of events related to the book’s themes. “At the end of the day, we want to point people toward a quality book with an important story that needs to be heard,” said Steering Committee member Martha Bezzat. “This particular year, we were open to themes about the ongoing crisis of racism, the trauma of the global pandemic, and resilience in communities.” She added, “The journey to […]

Sketching for Twenty-five Years: Malden Sketch Group

September 1, 2020 NeighborhoodView 0

By Sharon Santillo Like a small acorn that grew into a large tree, a small grant given to the Malden Sketch Group 25 years ago led to one of the longest lasting drawing groups in the Greater Boston area. “I thought it would only last as long as the initial grant, but look what that seed money has done,” said Fred Seager, one of the founders. Another founder was Nunzio Luca. “He was a much admired head of the Malden High School Art Department for years, and was a wonderful artist, mentor, and good friend,” Seager said. Nunzio and Seager decided to get a life drawing group together and they set out to find a space. “We were fortunate also to have the early support of Neicei Degen and Nana Goldberg who were facilitators of the cultural center building, an old fire station on Pearl Street. It housed elderly day care during the day and was open for rental at night,” Seager said. Seager applied for a grant from the Malden Arts Council and was awarded $250. This modest […]

Malden rallies for Black Lives Matter online and in the streets

June 14, 2020 NeighborhoodView 0

The anger and calls for change that have swept the nation over the police killings of unarmed African-Americans recently came through Malden. An online vigil was held on Thursday, June 4 (full video embedded below) and a march followed by a rally was held on Friday, June 6. Neighborhood View citizen journalists Amanda Hurley and Sky Malerba covered these events to capture the statements and emotions of participants who peacefully registered their outrage and demands for change. Here are their reports. (Feature image – top of page: artwork by Shaina Lu, member of the Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition) “Change can’t wait, and we need your help” By Amanda Hurley Erga Pierrette of Malden Community Organizing for Racial Equity (MaldenCORE) opened the online “Vigil for Black Lives Taken by Police and Condemnation of Police Brutality” on Thursday, June 4, with a call for unity to denounce the normalizing of police brutality against black and brown bodies. The vigil was attended by 388 participants on Zoom and has over 3400 views on Facebook and YouTube. […]

Isolation and togetherness: The COVID-19 impact on family life

June 5, 2020 NeighborhoodView 1

By Antonia Sheel and Amanda HurleyEdited by Stephanie Schorow and Anne D’Urso Rose Long-time Malden resident Karen Yates, a mother of two, makes it a point to wake up early and start the day with a cup of coffee, a little news, and quiet reflection. This helps her maintain a routine and sense of normalcy at a time when so many things are not normal. “Everything requires so much more energy,” she says. Her family has moved from the “auto-pilot” pace of everyday life to a new slower, ever-changing version. “It’s like moving through molasses.” The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting quarantines have had a profound impact on all of American society, not least of which is the American family. Children are out of school, parents working at home, or laid off from jobs, and extended families have either grouped together or stayed separate under social distancing guidelines. The citizen journalists of Neighborhood View reached out to several Malden families to chronicle their lives during the pandemic quarantine. While the families talked about uncertainty and […]

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 […]

From San Francisco to Malden: My Father’s Journey

February 29, 2020 NeighborhoodView 6

By Diana Jeong In preparation for the Malden Mass. Memories Road Show, scheduled for May 2, Neighborhood View is publishing stories by Malden residents about their personal history. Do you have a story to share? Email your story pitch to anne@matv.org. My mother passed away recently, and as I was sorting through her things, I came across a war bond that my father had purchased in support of the Flying Tiger Battalion. This was a volunteer military operation fighting against the Japanese invasion prior to the U.S. involvement in the Pacific theater during World War II. The war bonds were issued to finance that effort. The face value of the bond was $50 but that amount translated into 2018 dollars would equal about $850. That’s a lot of money in any day and age. As far as I can tell, my father never took steps to redeem his bond. He purchased that bond prior to marrying my mother, but it started me thinking about him, now gone 44 years, and about the type of […]

The Malden Mass. Memories Road Show is coming!

January 31, 2020 NeighborhoodView 2

by Sandra Li On Monday, December 9th the Malden Reads organization held their first launch meeting at the Malden Public Library for the Malden Mass. Memories Road Show event that will be held on May 2nd. At the meeting, various other organizations across Malden were present to discuss more details in regards to the road show and volunteering. The Mass. Memories Road Show is a community history program that was first launched in 2004 and is coordinated by the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston). Since then, the event has digitized more than 11,000 photographs from across the state. The roadshow will be a capstone event for the 10th year anniversary of Malden Reads. Carolyn Goldstein, who is a representative from UMass Boston, explained that this event will be a “chance to bring people from all corners of the city together,” as it places an importance on archiving the stories and memories of residents. Goldstein presented a slideshow to all the organizations including Chinese Culture Connection, Malden Historical Society, and Massachusetts Senior Action Council, where she […]

Norman Greenbaum feels the Spirit in Malden

October 27, 2019 NeighborhoodView 2

By Joe Bohrer Photos by Paul Hammersley On Oct. 16, the downtown Malden came alive with the sounds of rock ‘n’ roll when classic rocker and former Malden resident Norman Greenbaum returned home to participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the mural inspired by his famous “Spirit in the Sky” hit. Also on hand was Texas-born artist Jesse Melanson who had painted the four-story mural at 110 Pleasant Street, facing the Exchange Street side, to honor Greenbaum and his enduring song. A small but excited crowd gathered before the ceremony. When learning that “Spirit in the Sky” would be played, a participant said, “I hope they blast it!” Another participant commented, “This is so nice” when asked about the mural. When Greenbaum walked in from across the street, he got stuck in the crowd because so many wanted to talk to him, shake his hand and get a picture with him. When the crowed finally let Greenbaum get to the front, a representative of Malden Arts ARTLine, which sponsored painting of the mural, gave a quick speech […]

Malden Works receives Norman B. Leventhal Prize to improve access to the Malden River

October 17, 2019 NeighborhoodView 3

Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story misattributed quotes on the Leventhal jury process to to Kathleen Vandiver; the quotes should have been attributed to Marcia Manong. Neighborhood View regrets the error. By Kevin Perrington-Turner A Malden urban coalition has won a prestigious $100,000 prize from the Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that will be used to fund a two-year program of projects on the Malden River to create greater access to the river for Malden’s diverse population. Malden Works for Waterfront Equity and Resilience, known as Malden Works, was named the winner of the first Norman B. Leventhal City Prize in September. Malden Works has formed a steering committee to ensure all communities are represented in upcoming projects. The $100,000 triennial prize was established by the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism to catalyze innovative, interdisciplinary urban design and planning approaches worldwide to improve both the environment and the quality of life for residents. “The prize was a really difficult competitive […]