We had the fortunate opportunity to catch up via email and telephone with Dara Purvis, the outgoing editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal and a 1999 Edison High school graduate. For those of you outside the legal profession, landing this position at the nation’s top ranked law school is as superstar as it gets.
(Barack Obama’s position as editor-in-chief at the Harvard Law Review is often used as a stamp of his intellectual and leadership credibility.)
Since leaving Fresno, Dara graduated from the University of Southern California. She received a MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge before starting at Yale Law in 2005.
However none of this intellectual prowess will likely trickle down to Fresno. Those of you who follow Fresno brain drain issues might recognize her name from a candid column she wrote in 2005 for The Raw Story entitled: “How Fresno Drained my Brain.”
We thought it would be fun to interview her ourselves for this on-going feature and see if she feels any different after three years at Yale.
Brain Drain Chronicles: Dara Purvis, current editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal
Have your feelings about moving to Fresno changed since your column was published?
Not really, although rereading the column it sounds a bit more negative than I think I meant it to! When I think about Fresno, I have a vaguely positive feeling, since I’m very close with my family and like going back to see them, but I don’t see myself ever moving back there.
Why or why not?
One obvious factor would be employment—I’m planning to become a law professor, and because my father is a law professor at San Joaquin College of Law I have a very clear picture of what being a law professor in Fresno is like. He loves his job and really enjoys teaching, but the opportunities I’d have in Fresno lack a lot of the professorial support that I’ve seen professors at Yale benefit from, that I would definitely look for at the point I was entering academia. I also feel like Fresno has less social and cultural activity than other places I’ve lived. To make myself sound really ancient, I remember when it was the most exciting thing in town was that Broadway Faire had opened! I’m definitely not some club-hopping hipster, but when I’m home during the holidays and want to meet up with friends, the discussions of what to do and where to go cycle back around to “well we could go to a bookstore or we could go to a coffee shop.” And I’m also sure that another reason I don’t feel any desire to move back is that virtually none of my friends live there now—even California in general feels impossibly far away from my friends on the east coast and in England.
What did studying at Yale, Cambridge and USC reveal to you about your hometown?
It’s definitely unique, and it makes a great punchline! I know that’s flippant, but there’s some truth in it—my friends from big cities don’t have anywhere near the number of “let me tell you about where I grew up…” stories that I do. The contrast with the other places I’ve lived certainly reveals the contrast between there and Fresno—on the one hand they have emphasized the familiarity I feel with Fresno. I don’t think I’ll ever feel as confident driving anywhere else, because I know the city so well. But on the other hand, the contrast highlights some of Fresno’s shortcomings. In a way it has made Fresno much more connected with my family in my mind, because that’s what I go back for.
Are you the first Fresnan to hold that position at Yale?
(I assume this means EIC—correct me if not!) As far as I know I am indeed the only Fresnan to be EIC, although the institutional memory is so short since the membership turns over completely every two years that I can’t be sure. (I do know the names of all the past EICs, but I don’t know all of their backgrounds.)
What perspective do you bring as a Fresnan to those settings?
Good question…to be honest, I’m not sure exactly what about my perspective makes it Fresnan! I can definitely identify things about myself that are due to parts of Fresno—I’d say that going to Edison has affected my perspective greatly, and in a very positive way—but I’m not even sure what exactly the Fresnan perspective would be.
You alluded to a few things in your column that Fresno would need to change. Can you expand on that: What would need to happen for Fresno to be an appealing place to live for you, or someone like you?
One thing that has become more apparent over time is how hard it is to get to Fresno! Obviously Fresno does have an airport, but it’s expensive and there aren’t that many flights. The contrast with New Haven is shocking in that regard—New Haven has an even smaller airport, and while it isn’t perfect, the shuttle flights to a major hub are at least frequent and not prohibitively expensive. And New Haven is only an hour away from the Hartford airport, which is big and has plenty of flights going all over the country, and two hours from several New York airports that are huge! When I come home I always fly into the Bay area or Los Angeles and one of my parents drives to get me, which seems ridiculous but actually makes sense both money- and time-wise, so long as you have very generous parents who don’t mind making the round trip!
Another thing I wish was different about Fresno is the lack of much cultural and social activity. There is some there, but it’s not very well-supported, and in a city of Fresno’s size should really be stronger. The Fresno Philharmonic should be more popular and thus more active; the Fresno Ballet should be thriving, there should be more community organizations and businesses so children and adults in the area grow up with the arts as part of their life. There should be an independent movie theater, and the Tower Theatre‘s showings should be more popular. There should be more good restaurants in Fresno, and the ones that are there shouldn’t coalesce around strip malls!
What do you think of the Creative Fresno movement? Do you know about it?
I hadn’t known about it before now, although I just looked at their website and it looks like they’re working on some great stuff.
What ideas would you give to someone about how to get the most out of childhood or life in Fresno?
Well, I can speak more to childhood, just because I haven’t spent really any of my adult life in Fresno. There are definitely great opportunities for children in Fresno; it just takes a lot more legwork than some other places. My parents made a big point of having my sisters and I in piano and dance lessons and choirs as we grew up, and even sports teams before I made it very clear (probably when I was about 6!) that I had zero desire or aptitude toward athletics. My mom worked part-time at the public library when I was young, so as a kid I thought of it as a big exciting outing when I got to go to work with her and hang out at the library all day. I think it’s just a matter of putting effort into learning about and taking advantage of the best parts of Fresno; get involved in something like Creative Fresno and the other websites out there and take part in everything Fresno has to offer! Try all the new restaurants before they close, go to the Fresno Pride Parade, buy season tickets to the Philharmonic, volunteer at the Poverello House or Planned Parenthood. And get a dog from the CCSPCA!
Are you graduating this year?
Yes, I am! (Assuming I make it through all these papers….)
What are your plans after graduation?
I’m actually headed back to California for a bit—I’m taking the bar exam in New York, so I’ll be in New Haven through most of the summer studying for that, but next year I’m clerking for Raymond C. Fisher, a judge on the Ninth Circuit who sits in Pasadena. My partner Jeff and I will be moving back in August and living with my best friend from college, which will be really great. But I know we’ll only be there for a year, because the year after I’m clerking for a Gerard Lynch, a judge in the Southern District of New York. But I might actually have Thanksgiving in Fresno this year, which I haven’t done for about five years!
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Valley Notebook’s supplementary reading links to this interview
How Fresno Drained my Brain by Dara Purvis, no date on the webpage, but it references an LA Times story published late 2005.
Years at Edison taught me the true value of diversity by Dara Purvis, originally published in the Fresno Bee, July 19, 2003.
More about Dara from her homepage – Read columns and see her bio (does not include recent information on law school career as of this post).
New York Times article on Barack Obama’s election to editor-in-chief/President of Harvard Law Review – This also includes background on what law reviews do and the prestige of holding the top position.
More on Law Review and Journals from Wikipedia – Note: Wikipedia’s entries are edited by the public, not all information included can be trusted as fact.
Valley Notebook 