Do you know your backyard?

What do you first think of when someone says, "Somerville"? Davis Square, downhill, maybe Broadway Street... and then what? I know I do not speak for all Tufts students when I say this, but I would like to argue that defining or describing Somerville beyond the spaces that border campus and the businesses that serve us food and drinks is actually a difficult task.

Even those of us who venture into various other areas of Somerville through Tufts community service groups or other student organizations do so typically with other Tufts students and experience those spaces as being something outside of our community.

Some people might say that this is not a problem; that they came here to go to Tufts and not to get to know and experience Somerville outside of Tufts. I recognize that most people find themselves here because of what Tufts has to offer and not what Somerville has to offer. It is only natural that Tufts dominates our lives and our experiences for the fours years we are here. It still saddens me, however, that most Tufts students do not seem to have a relationship with, or connection to Somerville that exists beyond our Tufts "bubble."

Not only are there several other areas and neighborhoods in Somerville, but there are resources we may have never realized we have access to, people with whom we share common spaces, issues that affect us, and a very interesting history. Did you know, for example, that a train used to run above-ground down Mass. Ave. from Harvard Square into Arlington, that there is a debate raging in the city over what to do with Assembly Square in East Somerville, that the city has been hit especially hard by the recent state budget cuts, or that there are 39 parks and 13 public schools in Somerville?

Some of this information I did know before, but much of it I did not, and it was not until sociology professor Susan Ostrander assigned my class to learn something new about Somerville that I realized how little I know about this city in which I spend so much of my time. This assignment forced me to stop and think about who lives in Somerville, what kinds of resources exist here, what is important to the people here, and how our being here might affect the city.

I chose to go to Somerville City Hall on Highland Street to gather my information for this assignment, and I honestly enjoyed the experience of going there and speaking to the people there. The City Hall staff with whom I spoke was extremely friendly and helpful, and I think pleased that a Tufts student was showing interest in learning more about the city in which we live and study.

My classmates researched topics such as the current demographics, the economic history, and the apparent housing crisis in Somerville. I strongly suggest that you take the time to look for and read their "Viewpoints" in future editions of The Tufts Daily, but I also suggest that you do some exploring of your own. I enjoyed going to City Hall, talking to people I normally would not have met, and stopping to think about Somerville from the perspective of a resident and not just a Tufts student. I am not saying that you need to take the time out of your busy schedules to do a formal research project on Somerville, but simply that you try new places and open your eyes to parts of Somerville you might have overlooked before.

For those of you without cars there is an easy to navigate public bus system that can take you to most parts of the city, and for those of you who do not feel like venturing out to new places you could simply pick up a copy of the Somerville Journal, the city's principal paper, or you could even just take a moment to observe a little more closely the parts of Somerville that you already do know. There is a lot that we can learn from Somerville and I think it is a great loss if we miss out because we confine ourselves and our minds to the walls of Tufts.

Lucia Carballo is a senior majoring in sociology.