Your disdain for Durham is embarrassing
(04/11/23 4:37am)
Last week I was sitting at Pitchforks when I overheard some students talking about Durham. “There’s just nothing to do in Durham,” one said. “It’s so boring.”
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Last week I was sitting at Pitchforks when I overheard some students talking about Durham. “There’s just nothing to do in Durham,” one said. “It’s so boring.”
Hanging from a canopy of maple, oak and pine is a black banner with the words “STOP COP CITY” boldly painted in white. Up in the trees, people donning balaclavas sit in makeshift treehouses. Others mill around the campsite, carrying jugs of water and handguns. At the base of a stately tree, candles decorate a picture of a young adult with a welcoming smile. “Rest in Power Tortuguita, April 23, 1996- January 18th, 2023. Murdered by Georgia State Police.”
It’s one of those beautiful days on the BC Plaza, where the sun is shining and the breeze is light and it seems as if the entire school has escaped their dorm rooms or skipped class to soak it all in. Each tiny green table is surrounded by too many rickety chairs as more and more people pull up a seat, joining in on this glorious moment.
Recently, I was talking to a friend who graduated from Duke in 2022. She’s in her first year working a real job. I asked her about it — how was work life different from college life? Was it harder? Easier? She brought up how many more breaks students have.
The weather is getting colder, it’s getting dark earlier and the stresses of the semester are piling up. As I prepared to go home for Thanksgiving earlier this week, I couldn’t help but worry about the dark cloud of final papers and exams waiting for me on the other side. I had accepted that instead of the restful break my body and mind ached for, I would take advantage of the class-free week to get ahead of my assignments and finally start the process of applying for summer jobs and internships. There was no time to relax; in this world, if you’re not working, somebody else is.
From the moment we set foot on Duke’s campus, we are told that we are the next generation of great minds. We are exceptionally inventive thinkers who carry ideas for start-ups and technological innovations that will solve climate change, world hunger and social injustice.
A recent campaign ad shows North Carolina Senate candidate Ted Budd walking along the border wall separating the U.S. and Mexico with a handgun jutting from his waistband. The narrator growls, “Open borders. Crime. Drugs.”
Last week, as I walked across Abele Quad, I came across a table with petitions and pamphlets for Duke Graduate Student Union (DGSU). A cardboard sign read, “Duke can’t work without us.”
Freshman year is about trial and error. You start with a blank canvas without many of the expectations of the life you left behind. The newfound freedom is astounding. Soon, that canvas begins to be colored by the people you meet and the decisions you make: joining and staying in communities when you feel understood, and leaving when you don’t. I’m not saying this process is easy; it can take weeks, months or even years to finally feel like you have found the right people. But I do think this experimental process is essential to self-discovery. You uncover what you truly value in relationships and who makes you feel the best.
To many, walking around campus during family weekend felt like being transported back to pre-pandemic life. There were parents crowding the Bryan Center Plaza, visitors strolling through the Duke Gardens and K-Ville overflowing with Crazies waiting to be the first fans in Cameron Indoor Stadium in over 18 months.
Last spring’s waste audit conducted by members of Duke Student Government’s Services and Sustainability Committee dug up some pretty rotten results.
Editor's note: This article is part of a series of mayoral and city council candidate profiles. Check back for more throughout the week.
Student volunteers got their hands dirty last week during a waste audit coordinated by Duke Student Government and the Environmental Alliance.
Think back to your first day at Duke. Your parents just dropped you off, and now you’re standing in your dorm room, alone and uncertain. Now what? Will you make new friends? Will classes be impossible? Will you miss home?
Duke’s website for registration, grades, financial aid and more got a fresh look at the end of 2020.
With a presidential election just around the corner, Duke’s student political groups are working to mobilize the youth vote amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
To the casual observer, the steady stream of students entering and exiting the Brodhead Center wouldn’t appear to be a shocking departure from the normal campus dining scene. But stepping inside West Campus’ main dining hall reveals the strange new world of eating at Duke.