The Happening – 2006
Posted by Carol Thomson on 05 Mar 2006 at 01:44 pm | Tagged as: Screenings
The 7 minute Apex Street Bridge video was screened at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies annual Happening on March 4, 2006 as part of the Fresh Docs section. Project director, Carol Thomson, was on hand for a Q&A after the screening.
The video looks into the impact of the closing of the Apex Street Bridge to vehicle traffic. The bridge connects two racially different neighborhoods that are separated by the trail and their economic (mis)fortunes. Community leaders from each side share their view on the matter and what has been done and can be to build metaphorical bridges and improve the situation. The final fate of the bridge has yet to be determined.
2 Responses to “The Happening – 2006”
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I am a resident in one of the apartment buildings on Fargo Street, just steps from the Apex Street Bridge. Since I moved here in September 2008, I have spent LOTS of time walking around the communities on both sides of the bridge and on the American Tobacco Trail. It was the presence and proximity of the Trail that actually convinced me to move here in the first place. While I admit that I enjoy the relative quiet of my street that the closure of the bridge has brought about, I definitely, in my walking, began to get the feeling that the bridge had been closed (and no direct route to the Trail provided from my side) for discriminatory reasons. I am thankful for having seen this short documentary, which answers some of the questions I’ve come up with since the bridge destruction began a couple of weeks ago. I have now grown attached to the bridge and am feeling nostalgic about it coming down, but glad that a path to the trail will take its place. I hope the neighbors on both sides of the Trail will continue to share in the spirit of the bridge–I am going to suggest that this story be turned into a community learning experience for local C.C. Spaulding Elementary students. Thank you.
Thanks Melissa. I just updated the Apex St Bridge video segment with the final fate of the bridge. I was sad to see it come down. -Carol