I’ve been feeling conflicted lately.  Not because of the changing weather, but because I perceive a contradiction in the economic climates of the country as a whole and of my hometown, Durham. 

Though I hear some talk about “green shoots,” the economy is still slow.  I hear of friends and family being laid off in other parts of the country, read news reports of offices and stores shuttering, and watch the stock market act confused on a daily basis.  But if you lived in Durham in a Truman Show-esque bubble, you might think the opposite was happening.

Take the past weekend as a snapshot. Garrison Keillor aired “A Prairie Home Companion” from Durham Saturday night, no doubt influenced by a very popular local NPR affiliate in WUNC.  Oprah Winfrey spoke at Duke’s commencement Sunday just before the traveling Broadway show of “The Color Purple” played in front of big crowds here. And Colin Firth, Orlando Bloom and co. were finishing up filming their next major motion picture -- “Main Street” -- all over town.

When I moved here 4+ years ago, the greater downtown area in Durham didn’t look so hot.  The streets were dilapidated, buildings were vacant, and there wasn’t a whole lot of buzz.  This coming from a guy who just moved from Austin, Texas, one of the country’s hottest cities (in more ways than one).  Since then, we’ve gotten new streets and sidewalks and lights, a shiny new performing arts center (the largest in the state), about a dozen new superb downtown restaurants, a new Farmer’s Market, a striking new bus station, and a slew of new apartment complexes, boutiques, art galleries and salons. 

It seems that just in the past several months others started taking notice.  Popular blog Design Sponge wrote this nice overview of the city.  Bon Appetit named Durham America’s Foodiest Small Town, and Gourmet continues to rank several local restaurants among the country’s best.  TIME named the El Greco exhibit at Duke’s Nasher Museum one of the best in 2008.  Companies are moving here and staffing up from all over the country.  Just this week we welcomed our newest neighbors, Burt’s Bees, to the American Tobacco Complex where our offices are located. And in a small but not insignificant symbol of what’s happening, we now even have mobile gourmet hamburger and cupcake trailers with loyal followers on Twitter.  It’s no coincidence that one of the more popular blogs for Durhamites is called “Bull City Rising.”

I remember a few years back, at the public celebration to kick off the renovation of downtown’s crumbling streets and sidewalks, town leaders revealed this statue of a large, anatomically correct and very “proud” Bull.  From a historical perspective, it’s a symbol of the town’s tobacco roots, which reminds long-time Durham residents of how a once-thriving economy vanished and left a town to figure out how to recover.  Today, it’s a reminder that a community can rebound, and when it has momentum, it’s hard to stop it, regardless of what else is going on around it.

After writing this blog, I no longer feel conflicted.  Durham, in an ironic twist, is now a symbol of hope to other towns trying to get back on their feet.