The whole Indiana Jones series is stupid. Now I understand that I"m a few years late to criticize the series and that my dislike of those 'movies' is probably a 'crime' to some people, but grow up, you some people. I"m allowed to not like things. Anyway, although I never really got into the Indiana Jones series, there is one thing that always intrigued me about ol" Indy, and this thing is his impeccable ability to make the best out of a situation. Stuck in a pit filled of deadly snakes? No problem. The walls, lined with poison-tipped spikes, are caving in? Whatever. I admire that about Indy. I want to be like that. I hope you do too.
So last weekend I went to Chapel Hill for dinner. As I was sitting in a nice Italian restaurant, sinking my fork into some delectable dill-sauced pasta enticingly labeled 'The Crab' and debating with my eating buddies what country our waiter--who was named Zsolt (not a joke)--was from, the overwhelmingly obvious fact that the food in Chapel Hill is better than the food in Durham became clear. Well, that"s a lie; I already knew the food was better in Chapel Hill. I mean, there are restaurants in Durham that are nice and serve good food, but the sheer magnitude of these types of joints that line the streets in Chapel Hill is ridiculous. But I also realized (while getting lost in the student housing area of UNC on the way back to Duke) that there is no way I"d ever want to live there. But it"s not a choice I have anyway. I"m stuck here in Durham.
The funny thing about Durham is that most Duke kids look at it and go 'What a stupid dull ghetto. I"m bored. I need constant stimulation. I want to go to Chapel Hill.' It"s either that or they go to a frat party. Or stay in their rooms by themselves and drink in a corner in the fetal position. That"s cool. I respect that.
But all too often, we Duke students overlook what Durham has to offer us, especially these days. Overlooking this opportunity is what makes people from Durham hate us. That combined with drunken students peeing on their houses every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night after coming back from an off-campus frat house.
Although Durham seems to be a fear-inspiring ghetto that has you guaranteed to be shot if you walk three paces off campus, it is actually a blossoming little bohemian paradise, filled with interesting clubs and coffee houses and even more interesting people.
This is where Indiana Jones comes in. Indy always has to face some life-threatening, perilous events in order to get the good stuff. You know, in the end he always ends up with the girl, et cetera. Durham might seem frightening from the outside, but if you jump into it and get past your lame childish fear of being killed, it"s really quite a cool town. See, the last few years have seen a huge influx of artists and musicians and so on, coming in because of cheap housing and a cool underground 'scene' (I hate that word). And these people don"t seem to hate Duke students.
So it"s up to all of us to finally help mold Durham into what it"s trying to become. We"re living in a world where the No. 3 album on the Billboard charts is called 'Crunk Juice,' where Meet the Fockers has made almost $20 million, and where probably about 50 percent of Duke students, who are supposed to be the smartest people in the world, are boring alcoholics. So how bad can Durham be?
The answer is not bad at all. Just read The Independent and figure out where all the cool places are. Try to take at least one weekend to explore this town instead of doing a keg stand or peeing on a p-frosh. And for the record I"m not bashing Chapel Hill. I really like it there. It has good food. But we"re stuck in Durham, and that shouldn"t be a bad thing. It"s time to challenge ourselves and take that extra step a few more yards off campus and try to help change our town. I promise you won"t regret it.
Matt Dearborn is a Trinity sophomore. His column appears every other Tuesday.
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