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(02/12/19 5:00am)
I volunteer most weeks at a nursing home near Duke. I am painting portraits of the residents there; I work on sketches when I visit. I decided to do this because I needed to find a way to connect art to medicine. I needed a nice bullet point on my pre-med resume. I did not say this when I started. I said I wanted to get better at painting and to alleviate loneliness in the world. And I do want to do those things. But I think they are motivations I gained after starting the project, rather than when beginning it. And if I am honest, it is not as often the desire to do good as the desire to succeed in my career that gets me out of bed to bike to the nursing home.
(01/24/19 5:00am)
One of my math teachers in high school had a quote on her wall that said, “If the focus is on learning, the grades will follow.” And to my classmates and myself, this was unwelcome advice. Obviously so. We did not want to delight in the wonders of calculus. We wanted to get into top 10 universities.
(12/03/18 5:00am)
I hear a lot of people at Duke say, “I’m [wealthy, or white, or straight, or male], but at least I know that makes me privileged.” And acknowledging privilege is indeed a step in the right direction, but maybe more like a baby step toward real social progress. Just knowing your privilege doesn’t do anything in itself.
(11/07/18 5:00am)
As I laid in bed on a Monday mid-afternoon, I envisioned studying biology, doing my English homework, or even editing this column. “Envisioned” is the key word. These things did not happen, and not because I didn’t think they are important or would be particularly difficult to complete. I just couldn’t do them—it was easier to sleep or watch Netflix or simply lay there and think. Ever since coming to college, I feel chronically unmotivated.
(10/15/18 4:00am)
I have written about introversion and social anxiety, but now it’s time to talk about their dear friend: awkwardness.
(09/20/18 4:00am)
I have a problem where I can rationalize that my insecurities are unfounded, yet I cannot bridge the gap between rationality and acceptance.
(09/06/18 4:00am)
I have heard every one of my friends speak to the fact that Duke has made them feel terrible about themselves some point. We often hear of this freshmen year debasement, where all the high school top dogs are knocked down a rung because suddenly life is hard and they’re not hot sh*t anymore. But does Duke’s deprecatory culture go deeper than this? Is the problem just collegiate academic stress—or are we placed in an ideal petri dish for growing colonies of unhappiness?
(04/12/18 3:57pm)
A theme I created for myself this year is exploring discomfort. This is why I went to CAPS during first semester despite never having been to therapy before. This is why I rushed an SLG despite having social anxiety. This is why I am joining Project Wild despite not knowing if I will make the best leader for incoming freshmen. Exploring discomfort means doing things I know I will initially dislike, maybe even hate, but understand that they will force me to overcome whatever negative emotion these situations inspire. I am not trying to not be uncomfortable; I am just acknowledging that I am uncomfortable and continuing with situations anyway.
(03/21/18 4:00am)
Why are we surprised that sexual assault is still happening?
(03/07/18 5:00am)
Most people have someone that they chat with on the way from the bus to class—someone to say hi to in West Union and ask questions to about class assignments. But that’s about it. You are friends with this person—maybe you’ve exchanged anecdotes and complained about life together—but you would never hang out outside of class.
(02/23/18 5:00am)
The country of Chile started aggressively combating obesity with marketing restrictions and labeling mandates. Three-fourths of Chile’s population is obese or overweight. Their cereal boxes no longer feature Tony The Tiger, but instead a plain bowl of milk and flakes. Chilean children, over half of whom are overweight, will not be bombarded with food marketing anymore. And the Chilean government is attempting to regulate the businesses that are responsible for fattening their people.
(01/24/18 5:00am)
As an already exhausted pre-med freshman, I encounter many people who feel my pain. We quip together about the insanity of Duke math and the struggle of Orgo. I feel that I’m in good company, but often am less invested or interested in my pre-med classes than some of my peers. I like science. I enjoy exploring the mysteries of cellular biology and the conformations of molecules. But I also like writing poems, reading classics, making art and studying philosophy. These are but a few of my humanities interests. And while I do like science, I think I like (or at least am more gifted at) the humanities better.
(12/15/17 2:24pm)
I vividly remember being a first grader and pinching the fat on my thighs, hating the way that they spread out on the plastic chairs in my classroom when I sat. I was seven at the time, and I already knew what pretty looked like. Pretty was thin and tall and long-haired and well dressed. I was distraught that my thighs did not cooperate and allow me to match this description. But I also know now that I was a very skinny child. In pictures, I looked weedy and lanky; at doctor’s checkups, I was always under the average weight. In middle school, I got hips and my mom told me to “watch what I ate.” I still pinched my thighs, now even more than before. How could I have let myself get even fatter?
(12/05/17 5:00am)
To all the people I vaguely know and brush past without smiling, nodding, or saying hello, I’m sorry. To all the people on the fourth floor of Bell Tower with whom I don’t study or chat in the common room, I’m sorry. To all the people I could sit with in Marketplace, rather than eating breakfast alone, I’m sorry.
(11/20/17 5:00am)
Netflix has that annoying feature where it will freeze whatever is playing to ask, “Are you still watching?” after auto-playing multiple episodes. My fellow Netflix addicts know how disruptive this is.
(10/19/17 4:00am)
I am a firm feminist and I believe that women should be able to dress and act however they choose. Women should not be discriminated against based on how they look or their conformity to a certain image.
(10/05/17 4:00am)
Every day sitting on the bus, eating meals, and even “listening” in class, we scroll through carefully-crafted social media profiles featuring pictures and text that offer glimpses into the lives of people we know well or not at all. These profiles are choreographed to express our complex and varied personalities in a couple of images and short captions. Pressure to appear happy, attractive, and loved bears down on us as we sift through our camera rolls, selecting which picture will make the cut for Instagram. Creating a caption can be even more difficult—it has to be short enough to grab attention, clever enough to make us seem witty, and not too emoji-filled to seem annoying. The consumption and production of social media is an innocent pastime that allows us to edit and crop the aspects of our lives we want others to see. It’s almost intoxicating—the ability to snip and splice our days into Snapchat stories which only show loud music and writhing bodies and pictures that smooth over our insecurities.
(09/22/17 4:00am)
America likes to champion the diversity of its citizens and their freedom. Children are taught in classrooms whose walls bear posters with slogans like “Be Yourself,” and the internet is dotted with inspirational quotes promoting individuality and respect for self-identity. Despite this positive encouragement, America remains biased against a certain type of person. These people are by nature reluctant to speak out against their discrimination and push for altered social standards that would accept them. These people are estimated to comprise one third to half of the U.S. population—however unlikely that may seem.
