A tale of two cities

I don't know if it was obvious to my many faithful readers, but this past semester I have been studying in Los Angeles as part of the Duke in LA program. Since Duke doesn't have a film major, and production classes are somewhat limited, I decided to take the opportunity to come out here and study film at University of Southern California and intern at a Hollywood production company.

It's been a great time and I've seen a lot of very cool things, but I noticed that there are some ways in which Durham and Los Angeles are quite similar—particular the part of the city that USC's campus is located in—South Central Los Angeles. For anyone not familiar with all the different subsections of the greater metropolis of LA—Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Westwood, Brentwood, Inglewood, Compton, etc.—South Central is a rough neighborhood. Here's a map, for greater clarification. It's the part of LA that's rapped about by real "g's" like Dr. Dre and Tupac. It's the ugly side of a city not especially known for its beauty in any case or circumstance—a district harder hit by the economic times than most. With these leaner times crime is up, and every so often USC's administrators send out e-mails informing the student body of another kid held up at gun point, or stabbed, or whatever.

As I settled into my new home out here, the pattern of emails about muggings and such felt awfully familiar. Los Angeles is the second largest city in the nation, so crime there is to be expected, but why does Durham have the crime it does? What happened to the shining southern city it used to be? It was a city of prosperity and a trailblazer in the cultural and economic advancement of African Americans. Why the downturn? Were economic reasons to blame?

I'm sure it was a variety of factors, but the result is clear: a once vibrant community that only in the last decade or so is starting to heal and regain its former stature. Culture in Durham will probably never have the impact that Los Angeles culture has in the greater United States, but I believe that Duke University must continue to play a large role in Durham's recovery. See, we Dukies talk about the insular Duke bubble often as a barrier between campus and the town, but Duke has nothing on USC. USC is truly a separate world that makes very little real effort to interact with it's community. The result is growing gap between students and residents.

Duke has a chance to be different, and I hope we continue to act on through projects like DukeEngage in Durham and others so that someday Durham doesn't feel like South Central Los Angeles.