Fish & Monkeys

Many of you may have read about Sudhir Venkatesh in Freakanomics - he was the young sociologist whose unique friendship with a Chicago gang leader gave him unprecedented (academic) access to the inner workings of the drug world and street life. He recently came out with a book called Gang Leader for a Day, which goes into greater detail about his experiences in the projects (pick up a copy - it’s good stuff).

We’ve known Sudhir for a while now, having helped him on Columbia’s Center for Urban Research & Policy (CURP) and Dislocation (his documentary on the Robert Taylor Housing Projects in Chicago) websites when we were students. When we learned of all the publicity he was receiving as a result of his new book and his appearance on New York Times for his blog entries on watching The Wire with real gang members, we suggested that perhaps it was the right time for him to have his own site. He jumped on the idea, and in short order, we were able to launch sudhirvenkatesh.org.

We’re calling this first release an “interim” version of the site because the vision we have for the site will include a whole lot more about Sudhir’s work. Stay tuned! And in the meantime, catch Sudhir tonight on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central!