Help, please!

[hallie-mathia.livejournal.com]

Hi guys, my name is Hallie and I'm a college student at Emerson College.  I'm studying journalism, and one of my assignments this semester is to cover Davis Square -- basically, to follow and report on it through May.

I'm not from the area (I'm actually from Texas!) but I went to Davis this morning and walked around and honestly -- I fell in love.  What a great area!  I'm so excited I get to cover it!

I stumbled across this LiveJournal while doing some research, and I was wondering if any of you would be able to talk to me about Davis, what you like about it, what you as a community are doing for/with the area, etc.  I'd love any links or leads you could give me, or any stories you may want to see featured!  I'm all ears for what you guys have to say!

Thanks for reading this, and again -- any information you can give me is welcome and wonderful.  Thank you guys so much!!!  Have a great day :)

Hallie 

Comments

WOW

[hallie-mathia.livejournal.com]

Guys, I'm overwhelmed by and grateful for all of your help and suggestions! As a student journalist, I get a LOT of people who don't take me seriously and slam doors in my faces. The fact that you all have treated me with respect is so incredibly nice. (Also, I *promise* to fact-check!)

To keep you updated on everything, I'm putting together a blog that you're more than welcome to follow. Once I get it up, it'll have pictures of the area as well as stories I've done. I have ideas (based on your suggestions) for seven different ones so far:

1) Somerville driving up the cost of parking, hurting local businesses
2) Tile project (fun angle - the person collecting the tiles? Whose idea was it to start the project? One of the people featured?)
3) Local music scene bringing in outsiders (Johnny D's, Somerville Theatre, etc.)
4) Carberries curse? (area that is never successful)
5) The importance of places like McKinnon's, the Social Security office and Goodwill for keeping DS from becoming a completely gentrified and/or Harvard Ave. ***@serious_noir - will you talk to me about this?***
6) How small businesses are fairing in this economy (college kid-targeted, with stores like Poor Little Rich Girl)
7) Then & now, how Davis has changed (economically, socially, diversely, etc.) ***@longtimeres, can we talk about this?***

@vonelftinhaus - I'd LOVE to see the pictures!!!

@mem_winterhill - I'll be there!

@rethcir - Thank you for the tip, I'll definitely check it out!

@katers5636 - Thank you!!! I'll keep you in mind :)

Guys, I really can't tell you how awesome you are. And in return, I promise I'm not going to be a flake-out student journalist. I'm committed to (and excited about!) this beat, and continuing to discover the coolness of Davis Sq. :)

Hallie
hallie (underscore) mathia (at) emerson (dot) edu

Re: WOW

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't forget also: Somerville voted overwhelmingly NOT FOR BROWN! :)

Re: WOW

[serious-noir.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a book! (which would be cool).

No doubt you will find a thread or two that have particular interest for you. Personally I think an in depth piece on one aspect (economic, cultural, social) would be more interesting than a travelogue type thing ("36 Hours in Davis Square" etc.) since that has been done to death.

@Social Security, etc. I don't have any facts or insider perspective, just observing things over the years. What I meant essentially is that the presence of those venues makes for a greater class mix here day-to-day than you will find, say, in Harvard Sq. despite the degree of gentrification here over the last 10-15 years.

Re: WOW

[hallie-mathia.livejournal.com]

I agree...I'm definitely not looking to do the "36 hours" bit. I'd still love to talk to you about your observations!

Re: WOW

[ron_newman]

A few other non-gentrified places in Davis: Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, Family Dollar.