{"id":637,"date":"2018-12-11T14:57:40","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T14:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=637"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:51:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:51:11","slug":"a-durham-moment-lighting-up-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2018\/12\/11\/a-durham-moment-lighting-up-the-night\/","title":{"rendered":"A Durham Moment: Lighting up the night"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s dinner time in downtown Durham when Michael Youakim drives slowly past the glass facade of Pizzeria Toro, instantly grabbing the attention of everyone inside the restaurant. His silver Lexus is covered with Christmas-themed lights, stickers, and wrapping paper, as well as a miniature plastic pine tree strapped to the roof with more lights. Customers and waitresses pull out their phones to take pictures. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Enjoying the crowd\u2019s reaction, Youakim stops the car. This quickly results in angry honking from the drivers behind him, but he doesn\u2019t care. The 31-year-old Uber driver lowers the windows, blasts the music, and pops his door open so he can dance for his audience. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though it\u2019s only the first week of December, buildings and plazas all around Main Street are covered in twinkling lights. So far it\u2019s been a slow month for his business; partygoers and young socialites are Youakim\u2019s primary demographic, and he suspects they prefer to stay home in the cold. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He gets a rider request from the Durham hotel, only a few blocks ahead. On the drive over, pedestrians point, laugh and take pictures, which is exactly what he wants. \u201cIt\u2019s about making people laugh, giving them something to look at and just smile about.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kim and Dave Bingel, 30 and 35, emerge from the lobby and hesitate for a moment before climbing into the Uber. In the backseat, they find wigs, glasses, a Minion stuffed animal, and two tablets installed with a classic Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Kim instantly puts on a blue curly wig and picks up one of the remotes. \u201cI haven\u2019t played this since I was twelve,\u201d she says. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Youakim asks them for song requests, points out where the water bottles are, and plays around with the level of the bass. \u201cBest Uber ever?\u201d he asks. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dave, Kim\u2019s husband, who is also playing Nintendo, agrees. \u201cBest Uber ever,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-642 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/9thstreetjournal\/files\/2018\/12\/IMG_0318_1-300x242.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"242\" srcset=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/IMG_0318_1-300x242.jpg 300w, https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/IMG_0318_1-1024x825.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/IMG_0318_1-768x619.jpg 768w, https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/IMG_0318_1-1536x1238.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/IMG_0318_1-2048x1650.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>After leaving Kim and Dave at their home in Colonial Village, Youakim drives around the dimly-lit neighborhood waiting for another request, the lights from his car illuminating the street. It\u2019s only 8 p.m., and the Uber app predicts there won\u2019t be much business until 10. He slows to study some red Christmas lights on the sides of somebody\u2019s driveway. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He has always loved lights and their ability to make things brighter, happier. His sneakers have light-up soles. His car is filled with an array of illuminated items, including a neon sign in the back that says \u201cLit.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m catering to the people who are going out and trying to have a good time,\u201d he says. \u201cThe ones who see me and think, I need to be in that Uber. It may look cheesy, but I just want to make people\u2019s day, get them hype, prepare them to go have fun in my own city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s dinner time in downtown Durham when Michael Youakim drives slowly past the glass facade of Pizzeria Toro, instantly grabbing the attention of everyone inside&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-durham-moment","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Durham Moment: Lighting up the night - 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