Dana Park Field Trip

Today, half of our group went on a field trip to Dana Park. We went to go talk with people from the North Cambridge Senior Center about our community. We talked with the seniors about the Cambridge/Summerville area and how much it has changed throughout the course of their lives. It was very surprising what they said. When we got to the park, we sat down and introduced ourselves, the program and what we were there to do. We split into groups: three of us, one of them. My elders name was Ida. Ida has lived in Somerville all her life and she told us about her life growing up in an Italian home in Somerville. To sit with a person that has lived in your area for their entire lives is so informative. Ida helped me realize that we, nowadays, have it way easier than what she had to deal with before. She told us that when she was younger, families wouldn’t let their children wander to other parts of their city. They were sent to school, the corner store, and to church. When they wanted to just hang out, the kids and teen would hang out with kids and teen from their block or neighborhood only. Now, my mom has a way to contact me without having to worry, because we now have cell phones. Cell phones have helped me be able to hang out with any one from the entire city, and my mother wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. I would fell separated from the world not being able to hang out with whoever I wanted to because it was too far and my mother couldn’t see me. I can imagine what Ida felt when she was my age. Ida also talked about how she grew up without all the technology that we have now. She told us that when she was in school, all they had were the old type writers. You had to have proper grammar and good spelling because on those type writers there was no spell check or grammar check and if you messed up, there was no erase button so they would have to write it all over again. I would die if I had to memorize each word and had to learn by heart every grammar trick in the book because when I had to do work, I couldn’t make one mistake or I had to start over. That takes a lot of work and skill. Now, we have computers and other technology that helps us do all that. Ida and the rest of our group talked about how all the technology has advanced until it was time to eat lunch; the lunch was donated from Whole Foods Market. We all sat together, children, adults and elders, enjoying a beautiful summer day at the park. It didn’t matter what age we were or what color we were, we all had a good time together as a community. I felt like I left there, closer to my community than ever before. 

-Yari