Featured

Q&A with Mikeneil Paul, Director of the Malden Senior Center

By Jack Drees Mikeneil Paul has served as the Malden Senior Center’s program coordinator for more than two years. His days – Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. – include anything from meeting with the mayor or the city’s Council on Aging, to assisting anyone who needs him. Between tasks, activities, or solving problems, there’s always some new challenge for Paul. It is a job he continues to “take a lot of pleasure in,” whether dealing with seniors who come in every day, or only once a week. While they may not be family, Paul sees himself as the seniors’ noble grandson who rises to the occasion whenever called upon. And by making the job a staple of his life, Paul has become a factor in the center’s ongoing success. He recently took a moment out of his busy schedule to chat with Neighborhood View. How would you describe a typical day as the Program Coordinator of the Malden Senior Center? One of the things I actually like about this job is that […]

Events

Bread of Life’s Annual 5k Walk honors Tom Feagley

By Sabrina Monteiro Bread of Life’s (BOL) annual 5k event took place on Sunday, October 1, 2023. Continuing BOL’s tradition of honoring someone new each term, this year’s walk was in memory of former Executive Director, and loving friend, Tom Feagley, who passed away last May. Feagley started out volunteering at the Saint Paul’s Parish Supper Program in Malden, a social time intended for members of the parish. He took note that many homeless individuals, who were not part of the parish, were showing up at the meals. Recognizing the apparent need, he went on to found the Bread of Life, managing supper and pantry programs for Malden and surrounding communities. The organization grew under three decades of his leadership. In later years and before his retirement in 2019, he worked to secure funding to build a permanent home for all of BOL’s programs. This project has now officially come to life as it is currently being constructed at 54 Eastern Avenue in Malden.  “Tom was very involved in the community…he was a lovely and […]

Arts

Newly formed Mystic Side Opera company joins Malden’s arts community

“Opera is the ultimate art form. It has singing and music and drama and dance and emotion and story.” — Diane Paulus, Artistic DirectorAmerican Repertory Theater By Kami Nguyen The creation of the Mystic Side Opera is bringing attention to an art form underrepresented in Malden’s arts and culture scene. Currently hosting concerts, salons and performances of other musical genres in the historic Wilbur Fiske Haven House, the new company plans to stage full-scale opera productions in other venues around the city. Mystic Side Opera was founded by Malden resident Gene Sticco after his retirement from a career in military and government contracting. The idea was inspired by his lifelong love of the genre, as well as by his wife Natalja Sticco, a mezzo soprano singer who has appeared on stages all across Europe and the U.S. They plan to put on Georges Bizet’s Carmen as their first full-scale opera with Mrs. Sticco playing the iconic titular role. A concert performance version will be showing in August. “I probably couldn’t have been more worlds away […]

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 […]

Business

Pho99 was the last great Malden dynasty

By Bryan Liu The tablecloth is a faded floral—the kind that was initially made to look vintage and over time actually became vintage. The menu is laid out in print: CHEF SPECIALTIES, APPETIZERS, FRESH SPRING ROLLS, BEEF NOODLE SOUP—there are 16 pages in total arranged to fit the tabletop. The whole affair is topped with a thick glass table-protector that gets wiped down after every meal. The table is wood. Not that it’s obvious—but after 22 years, the flowers still bloom. Three lucky cats sit on the counter with gold paint over their ceramic bodies—their paws wave back and forth in unison as if they’re stuck in salute. Each one is clutching a gold coin. The newscast is on but nobody really cares enough to look away from their food. The talking head is drowned out by low-key restaurant-esque jazz music and ambient dining room chatter. It smells delicious.  This is a memory. One for the books—a page for Malden’s collective unconscious.  Wynn Tran ran Pho99 for over two decades, and before that he didn’t […]

Business

Malden Gaming District: A center for immersion, fun, and escape

By Jack Drees Want to play a game? Malden has you covered. Within the confines of Malden’s Gaming District, gamers and hobbyists alike are treated to a variety of concepts that allow people to enter another reality. From technology-infused experiences to role-playing games to athletics, it is game on, all the time. Gaming is often viewed as an escape to another world. Some of these escapes involve immersive experiences that put you in the eyes of your character. Boda Borg offers the video game experience, only without the video. No consoles. No controllers. No save files. At Boda Borg, you are the protagonist. The gaming experience chain traces its start back to Torpshammar, Sweden. Today, that is one of the country’s seven locations. Worldwide, Boda Borg has ten locations in four countries, including Ireland and Switzerland. This also includes its only United States location, Malden’s Pleasant St establishment known as Boda Borg Boston, which opened in 2015. With its strong community feel and thriving restaurant scene, Malden was “just the right kind of location,” said […]

Arts

Sneaker-ism: how a local bodega is leaving their footprint on Malden

By Bryan Liu MAPLEWOOD SQUARE—past the doors of a rather unassuming storefront, a red Supreme ping pong table half-filled with sneakers stands at the center of the room. When it isn’t being used for play, it makes for a pretty good countertop. One side of the store are rows of shelves packed with neatly arranged pairs of shoes: Jordans, Forces, Dunks, Maxes, Breds—there’s also a giant glass case of collectible Be@rbrick figurines in the corner about the size of a refrigerator. Racks of designer clothes surround the interior to make for easy browsing. It’s undeniable: the drip is wall-to-wall. This is LaaTiendaa: a community-oriented local fashion collective emphasizing real merchandise and authentic individuals. Their name comes from the Spanish word “la tienda” which literally translates to “the store”—but for owners Gabriel Toribio and Jezmani Kraus, LaaTiendaa is more than just a store: it’s culture.  “Sneaker-ism” first kicked off when people realized their shoes could define a generation—the advent of iconic shoes like the Adidas Samba and Nike’s Air Jordan inspired countless sneakerheads to turn their […]

Arts

“If you’re gonna learn to garden, you need to know how to say hello to a worm.”

Artist Kari Percival and the importance of connecting children to nature By Colette Lauture When author, illustrator, and mother of two Kari Percival was little, she tried to grow orange seeds in her backyard. Saving the seeds from an orange she ate, she brought them outside, and buried them in the ground. When nothing came up, she asked her parents about the delay. She felt embarrassed to learn that orange seeds don’t grow in this New England climate.  With parents who grew up in Maine, Percival always engaged in gardening activities with her family. She remembers planting peas with her grandfather, specifically. “I felt like I was a sorcerer’s apprentice standing next to a magician and learning the art of life,” she said. “How we’re alive is that we get food from sunshine, [and] through these other beings that we can learn to grow.” Stories like this are what contributed to the publishing of her February 2022 award-winning book, “How to Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to the Outside.” Its digital woodcut […]

Featured

From Tehran, Iran to Malden: The Life Stories of Parto Khorshidi

This article is part of an ongoing Neighborhood View series in connection with the Mass. Memories Road Show (MMRS), a statewide, event-based, participatory digital archiving program produced by the Healey Library at UMass Boston that documents people, places, and events in Massachusetts history through family photographs and stories. When the pandemic upended plans for an in-person MMRS event in Malden (spring 2020), Neighborhood View began this series of profiles to highlight the photographs and stories that residents submitted online to the Malden Mass. Memories Stuck-at-Home Show. Learn more about the MMRS at the end of this article. By Michael Cao Through key photos, Parto Khorshidi revisits important moments from her childhood in Iran, to France where she went on vacation, and to Malden, the city where she now lives. Some were sad moments, but there were good and beautiful moments, too. For Mass. Memories, Khorshidi selected six photos that best represent her life. She believes these photos work like visual art to tell people her life story. “I put a snapshot of certain significant [moments] because your whole life is full of bits and pieces of events,” she […]

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 […]