Articles by Ose Schwab

About Ose Schwab

Ose Schwab is a member of MATV/UMA's staff and a local community arts organizer and enthusiast. She believes arts, culture, and the opportunity to create together are necessary for forming a cohesive community that honors the voice of every individual.

Julio Salado: Using social media as a force for good

May 28, 2022 Ose Schwab 1

By Adam Ford and Ose Schwab It was a tweet that helped Julio Salado find the World Central Kitchen in Przemyśl, Poland, where he spent one week distributing food to displaced Ukrainians crossing the border to Poland. “Social media is a vital tool to connect and network and find opportunities to help people in crisis,” says Salado, a Malden resident, a fitness trainer and CEO of Fitness Foundry. “I created a post on Twitter in early March saying I am looking to find an organization. That’s all I did.” A response to his tweet gave him a tip that he followed. By April, Salado crowdfunded $5,635, exceeding his initial gofundme goal of $2,400. Salado then spent a week helping distribute food at the Polish border of Ukraine, while generating media attention to raise awareness about the situation there. War has waged in Eastern Ukraine for over three months after Russian forces invaded the neighboring country. The war has impacted civilians’ access to basic needs such as food and water, and the World Food program estimates […]

Teens bridge time, culture and language through film

May 29, 2020 Ose Schwab 1

By Ose Schwab It’s 1:30 a.m. in Chile and Malden and 1:30 p.m. in Shanghai. Fourteen-year-old Finn Sedan in Malden, Javiera Paz Valenzuela Rodríguez, 15, in Santiago, Chile, Isabella Zhu, 14, in Southborough, and Anny Wang, 13, in Shanghai, are laughing nonstop while making final editing touches to a short film that they have been working on together all week. “We were up late – well, not for me because it was 1:30 p.m.,” said Anny. “I guess we did not start editing until that last day. We worked for five hours on Zoom. But it was not painful. It was chill. We were joking, editing, and talking about ourselves. Our mentors, Avion and Sophie, made us feel so comfortable and we had become friends. I was sad this was the last working session together.” The teenagers’ short film titled “Isolation” would be screened later that day (the next morning for Anny) as part of an international filmbuilding workshop for 13 teens from China, Chile, and the United States, sponsored by MATV (UMA) and Zoom-In Zoom-Out, an […]

“Inside Malden” interviews Interim Superintendent of Malden Public Schools, Dr. Charles Grandson IV

February 6, 2017 Ose Schwab 0

Driven by a desire to give back and to offer educational opportunities to young urban learners, Dr. Charles Grandson IV, Interim Superintendent of the Malden Public Schools, reflects on his journey with education. He says his success is a “testament to what is happening every day in the public school systems across the nation.” In his case, though he had trouble and at one point could not read, his teachers did not dismiss him but did what they had to do to help him become what he is today. Though Grandson never imagined he would be a superintendent or principal, he says he has always had a bit of a teacher within. This inclination was nurtured by important learning encounters that would shape his future. His mother, a single parent, arranged for Grandson to be schooled away from the crime close to home. In a school district closer to Georgetown, Grandson experienced a “different” kind of education than he would have had in his own neighborhood on the South East side of Washington D.C. Throughout […]

“Inside Malden” interviews executive director Mei Hung

June 7, 2016 Ose Schwab 0

The power of cultural diversity to unite and intrigue is something Mei Hung has spent a lifetime pondering. Raised in rural Taiwan, she arrived in the United States because of a voracious appetite to learn about the world. Over the years, this hunger that she describes as “like wanting to swallow the entire dictionary in one gulp,” has inspired her work as executive director of the Chinese Culture Connection. The Chinese Culture Connection, an important presence in Malden for the growing Chinese-speaking community, offers experiential programming that includes mentorship, performances, East-Meets-West lectures and dialogues. And yet, more than bridging East to West and West to East, Mei’s mission is to invite all of Malden to join a parade of humanity, sharing culture along the way. For though the differences may pose challenges of communication, tradition, and perspective, the presence of differences, combined with a spirit of curiosity and exchange, builds community that is based on the universal questions surrounding what it means to be human. From a small office on the fourth floor of the […]

“Inside Malden” interviews musician Peter Moore

May 7, 2016 Ose Schwab 0

When asked what a song about Malden would be, singer songwriter, producer, performer Peter Moore gave the perfect answer, “It depends on who asks for it.” Peter Moore is as versatile, creative, edgy, and adaptive as artists get… able to bend styles, experiment with sound, inject quirks, and apply variety to the need. He intrigues listeners whether singing on stage with Blue Man Group or performing with his current rock band Count Zero, producing a kickstarter-funded rock opera, Heterotopia, writing songs that were picked up by video games such as Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero, or songs like Hire a Bird that rail against the destruction of the earth and reach the Top 500 Songs of All Time on Boston radio station WFNX. There is no doubt, Peter Moore could provide a number of songs for Malden in styles to suit our colorful demographic makeup and sensibilities. His voracious creativity and addiction to keeping himself and the audience curious and intrigued is what keeps him out of any one category. Yes, he writes pop […]

Souad Akib | We are different and we are one

January 2, 2016 Ose Schwab 0

VIEW ON YOUTUBE | LISTEN | DOWNLOAD PODCAST Watch the episode on local cable (Comcast 3, Verizon 28) Sundays at 7:30 pm and Thursdays at 11:30 am through January. In a day of troubling reports of terrorist attacks around the world, refugee crises in Europe and the US, war, and the trends of racial, ethnic, and religious profiling, Souad Akib, a native of Morocco and a vibrant and well-loved presence in Malden, offers a concerned but optimistic voice of reason and hope to us all in Malden and beyond. In 2010, Souad Akib founded the American Association for Arab Women (AAAW). In collaboration with other organizations in Malden, this non-profit organization helps women from Arab countries access the resources needed to navigate the systems, culture, and language of their new home. By this empowering support of women, the AAAW helps families to thrive in Malden. Malden benefits by this service as immigrant families become engaged residents. In addition, the AAAW sponsors events that invite all of Malden to workshops that raise awareness about important topics […]

“Touching Experience” showcases art inspired by the visually impaired

June 19, 2015 Ose Schwab 0

What does an art exhibit that considers the visually impaired look like? If the Touching Experience exhibition is any indication, it looks like a celebration among friends who discover through art what is possible for others. A few artists in Malden and the surrounding area offer this multimedia exhibition of touchable art through June. Held at the Beebe Estate Gallery in Melrose, a Touching Experience is a combination exhibit of touchable art and works produced by artists with some vision loss, and a performance series intended to appeal to everyone, including individuals with little or no sight. Touching Experience comes as a response to a friend’s journey going blind. Alyce Underhill, Georgetown artist and founder of the project, describes a day three years ago, when guitar maker and musician friend Joe LeBlanc comes to her photo exhibit. “He stands three inches away from the image. Even then, he has to ask his wife to describe what she sees,” she emotes. “That is so wrong.” “By not offering enough accessible art, we’ve cut people with vision […]