Submitted by: Kevin O’Connell
The HBO series “The Wire” revolves around the drug trade in Baltimore. Dealing with crime, poverty and drugs in a realistic way, the police can never completely fix Baltimore.
However, in season three, Maj. Howard Colvin decides to create a free-trade zone named “Hamsterdam,” with the goal of gentrifying various neighbors negatively afflicted by the drug trade. All the dealers in West Baltimore could sell drugs in designated zones without fear of being arrested, as long as they didn’t sell outside Hamsterdam.
Now how does this at all relate to UCLA? Bruin Walk. Between Ackerman Union and Kerckhoff Hall, Bruin Walk is UCLA’s version of Hamsterdam. Just as Colvin realized that it was impossible to stop the sale of drugs on “The Wire,” the UCLA community has realized we will never stop the distribution of fliers, political canvassing, attempts at conversion or requests for our blood (from the American Red Cross, not Republicans). While many students consider the walk through Bruin Walk Hellish (like many police officers feel about Hamsterdam in “The Wire”), it is for the greater good of UCLA.
Before coming to UCLA, I lived in the Bay Area where canvassers, hippies and anyone who could afford a large number of stickers or pamphlets would try to get you to sign their petition or donate money. It was a risk to leave your house, because anywhere was fair game for them to come up to you and ask for “only a few seconds of your time.” Sometimes I stood strong and kept walking, but sometimes the canvassing was too aggressive, and I succumbed to their causes. I had always feared that everywhere was like this ““ at least until I came to UCLA.
At first I was suspicious about the lack of offers of Greenpeace information at UCLA. It baffled me that I could travel to get food and return to my room without having a single person approach me about a cause that I clearly wasn’t paying enough attention to. By the end of Zero Week, I had accepted that maybe only people in the Bay Area care about issues. Then, on the way to my first class, I discovered Bruin Walk.
By condensing all the Hare Krishna people, Jehovah’s Witnesses and pancake dinner offers to one small strip, the rest of campus has become a safe haven for casual walking without being disturbed. As long as students use Bruin Walk, our “Hamsterdam” will remain intact.
The California Public Interest Research Group illustrates an example of what happens when pamphlet dealers go against the mold. It represents the drug dealers who continue to deal in non-sanctioned drug zones. For roughly two weeks, CALPIRG supporters roam all areas of campus trying to get students to donate. Unlike most social situations where a conversation can be ended by saying, “I have to go to class,” this does not stop CALPIRG. They accompany you, talk faster and drive almost everyone on the UCLA campus insane. It becomes clear how important Bruin Walk really is to everyone’s happiness and safety at UCLA.
What most people do not realize is how much Bruin Walk prepares students for the real world. For the rest of our lives, we will be asked to donate to walk-a-thons, solicited outside our offices and invited to our coworkers’ kids’ events. After graduating from UCLA, a student will have gone through at least four years of training about how to politely decline offers. This training will not go to waste. The real world is potentially full of even more organizations in need of donation than UCLA.
By no means do I advocate ignoring everyone on Bruin Walk. That would lead to a failure of the system. Bruin Walk has created a supermarket of causes, groups and things that can’t be categorized. It’s a place where you can decide to go to Dance Marathon or to do a cappella. To join rugby or to see a free concert on campus. To donate to end all misery in the world or to go to a pancake dinner. I chose the pancake dinner.
O’Connell is a first-year international economics student.