Stacy Hersey
Current name: Stacy Buckley
Age when this tile was made: 9
Where did you live when you made this tile?Packard Avenue
Where do you live now?Somerville...raising my family here now.
Do you consider Somerville your hometown? Yes
What is your earliest Somerville memory?Playing four squares and hide and seek with my friends on Packard Ave, walking to Dilboy pool in the summer.
How would you describe Somerville in the 1980s?Families, families, families...we could go anywhere we wanted and see 10 friends along the way.
How would you describe Somerville today?Still a lot of families, but a very hip, happening place to be in some respects, for both the families and for the singles/no children crowds as well. The lines have blurred a bit, there's something for everyone.
How has Somerville changed?Definitely, and like all change, sometimes it's a bit tough to take in the beginning, but having been raised here, and now raising my own family here, it's easier to see how the old and the new can co-exist and even learn from each other. I am starting to LOVE the new atmosphere in Davis Square, the little shops, the places to eat, and I would almost never go anywhere for a movie but the Somerville Theater now. 30 years ago, I would never, lol. Who would have thought, date night...in Davis Square. And, I remember hanging out there when I was my own kids ages, and now they do the same thing. Even as things change, they still remain the same.
I remember having such a good time making this tile, and feeling like we were doing something soooo important, that would last forever. I am so glad that someone has taken the time to acknowledge this project and remind people that there were children, not just some factory assembly line, behind this amazing piece of artwork that totally embraces what Somerville was about way back then. I brought my children down to see my tile as soon as they were old enough to understand what they were looking at, and they tell their friends that their mom made one of those. I had a friend come and visit a few weeks ago, picked him up from the subway in Davis, and he said, "You'll never guess what I was looking at when I walked up the stairs from the train." He said he was shocked to see a name he recognized on the wall, next to a table with a vase of flowers on it. I had not told him the story before, he had no idea I had been a part of that project, so I was so proud that someone recognized me. This is something that means a lot to me, and I hope that it means as much to the rest of my classmates too.
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