Profiles Archives - Neighborhood View

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

March 10, 2023 Bryan Liu 1

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 […]

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

February 15, 2023 Colette Lauture 1

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 […]

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

February 7, 2023 Michael Cao 2

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 […]

Diversity, Service & Solutions: Ramon Norales reflects on his life in Malden

November 22, 2022 Joy Pearson 1

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 […]

Advocate Founder James Mitchell: “A newspaper is something that belongs to the city”

November 12, 2022 Shannon Garrido 0

By Shannon A. Garrido Berges Old black and white photographs of bikers soaring over cars and a dramatic shot of the Hindenburg surround me. I sit in an office filed with stacks of newspapers that read “Advocate’” in bold red letters. The man behind the headlines, James David Mitchell, sits before me. Mitchell, founder of The Advocate, discusses his journey in approaching the world of local journalism. He details the challenges The Advocate has and continues to face and what that means for the future of local journalism. His father, James Mitchell Sr.—who sits at the desk parallel from us— started the Chelsea Advocate when Mitchell was a child and worked on many other publications as well. His father’s occupation became a source of interest for Mitchell from a young age and heavily influenced him to pursue journalism. “When I was a kid, my father used to take me [and my three siblings] to his newspaper office, but I was kind of the only one who was always reading all the time,” said Mitchell. After […]

Mystic Valley Salon’s Spencer Woturski Offers an LGBTQIA+ Friendly Haircut Experience

October 28, 2022 Jack Drees 0

By Jack Drees There is a new “Hair Therapist” in town, and his name is Spencer Woturski. He is the owner of Mystic Valley Salon, a spot for coiffures and caring. Located at the 888 Eastern Avenue shopping plaza, Mystic Valley Salon offers familiar beauty salon services. However, it also focuses on providing services to and creating a safe spot for the LGBTQIA+ community. Woturski regards Mystic Valley Salon as a “Safe Space.” A Safe Space is when a “business or entity is accepting to different varieties of people and their lifestyles. And we do not impose judgment to some of the things people are looking to do or change themselves,” says Woturski, himself a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. In addition to making customers feel great in regard to their hair on the outside, he wants customers of various backgrounds to feel pleased on the inside. The shop contains pride-themed material to symbolize the intention of visually welcoming everyone. Mystic Valley Salon opened in May 2022, to provide eco-friendly hair treatments, ranging from haircuts […]

“Between Two Worlds” album highlights the immigrant experience and reframes stereotypes

August 31, 2022 Madiha Gomaa 0

By Madiha Gomaa Earlier this summer at St. Paul’s Parish in Malden, upright bass and trumpet collided with zikr, a Sufi tradition based on repetition, creating mesmerizing music from internationally renowned percussionist and composer George Lernis. The occasion was a June 16 concert that launched Lernis’ new album “Between Two Worlds,” which weaves his Middle Eastern/Mediterranean musical traditions into his jazz composition. He has been dreaming about creating this fusion for years. Finally, he got to see his dream come true. Lernis chose Malden for the album release concert because of the city’s long history of welcoming immigrants from all over the world, making it one of the most diverse cities in the Commonwealth. The album’s metaphoric name, originally inspired by a Sufi poem from the 15th century, holds more than one meaning. The two worlds could be jazz and Mediterranean music, or home country and the U.S, or both of these. For Lernis, this album is about his journey as an immigrant. “It’s about depicting my journey and rediscovering myself as an immigrant and […]

Cartoonist Keith Knight reflects on growing up in Malden, education, race and the value of art

July 12, 2022 annedr 2

Keith Knight, a Malden native, infuses his work with humor, creativity and social activism. His nationally syndicated cartoon series (K Chronicles, DAILY, and (th)ink) have won awards and inspired the live-action comedy series “Woke” on Hulu. Loosely based on some of his real life events, Knight co-created the show with Marshall Todd and drew the animation that opens the show. Knight went to high school in Malden, lived for a while in California’s Bay area (where the “Woke” series is based), later moved to Los Angeles and now lives with his wife and two children in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Knight returned to the Boston area last May to give the commencement address at Salem State University, his alma mater. On May 22, he attended the unveiling of the mural he created for the Malden Arts mural series along the Northern Strand Bike Trail near the Breakfast Club (formerly Doo Wop) Diner. The mural is a Malden-centric take on his popular comic series “Life’s Little Victories.” Neighborhood View caught up with Knight by Zoom to […]

Community Spotlight: Moroccans bring business, women’s outreach, and culture to Malden

July 7, 2022 Martha Bezzat 0

By Saliha Bayrak and Martha Bezzat As a group represented in the census, the exact number of people of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent is difficult to pinpoint in any given city. However, with specialty markets, restaurants, and more, they have an undeniable and active presence In Malden. The Malden Islamic Center, which “strongly believes in the importance of establishing good, strong and positive relationships with our community,” is one resource for followers of the MENA community’s predominant religion, Islam. The center and mosque offer five daily prayer services, as well as Friday and Eid prayer services “to accommodate the large Muslim community living in Malden and the surrounding areas.” One particularly large group from the MENA community, Moroccans, run businesses and organizations in Malden and, through them, share their expertise, values, and culture. Many Malden residents who originate from Morocco make an impact in their community through women’s outreach, special services, and cultural experiences. Souad Akib, Founder of American Association for Arab Women (AAAW) The idea for American Association for Arab Women […]

‘Baba’ brings the Middle East to Malden

June 29, 2022 Madiha Gomaa 1

By Madiha Gomaa “Molokhia” is a thick green soup made of the leaves of Corchorus olitorius, known in English as jute mallow. It is a quite popular dish in the Middle East and something I did not think I’d find in the United States. But when I walked into Baba, Malden’s first Middle Eastern grocery store, I saw “Molokhia leaves” on one of the boxes. I quickly took a picture of it and sent it to my mom in Egypt. I soon was able to speak to store co-owner Mounir Kabbani and learn how the business started. Sixteen years ago, Mounir Kabbani and his family left Lebanon and came to the U.S. with his family hoping for better education opportunities. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in business management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, followed by a master’s degree in political science from Suffolk University, and now he runs his family business, Baba Supermarket. Mounir and his dad, Adib Kabbani, together started Baba in 2011. It’s hard to miss as it’s located next to Malden’s […]