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Black undergraduate students at Duke continue to grieve alongside many members of the Black community nationwide over the losses of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Sean Reed, George Floyd, and the countless other victims of racially charged violence against Black people in America.
I am proud to have stood in solidarity with my comrades, many of whom I have never met. And yet, I now feel as if they are all my extended family. My family of peace. My family of Durham.
At times, I want to look away from the violence, the hatred, the darkness. But even having that choice is a testament to my privilege.
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When Duke announced classes were moving online, I knew it meant an end to impassioned discussions over meals at the Brodhead Center, cheering on the basketball team at watch parties and late nights in The Chronicle’s office at 301 Flowers. But as a student journalist, I knew the most important part of my time at Duke had just begun.
Karen had a profound effect on journalism students at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth while I served as Director of the Schieffer School of Journalism.
At The Chronicle, I wanted to grow up to be like Karen: a badass journalist, writer, partner, parent and mentor.
Karen emboldened me and all The Chronicle staff to feel that we had infinite potential. As a mentor, as with many things, Karen was unmatched.
Karen was a loyal member of our neighborhood book club, whose fellow readers remembered Karen on May 25, appropriately, Memorial Day.
It is hard to imagine how anyone could offer better leadership to any organization at Duke than Karen Blumenthal provided for The Chronicle during the past few decades.
Karen seemed like everything a journalist should be, and I wanted to be like her, except for her disturbing love of the Dallas Cowboys.
That was quintessential Karen—she was ready and willing to give support and guidance, but she wasn’t going to be all delicate about it.
If a moral obligation to care for our resource-poor neighbors is not persuasive enough, I hope self-preservation will drive us towards more sustainable public health policies.
You are less likely to take beneficial economic risks; the kind meant for the secure. You just want to make sure your family has what they need. You are extra attentive to messages from your parents. Usually, it means something is wrong.
At the end of every academic year, the Chronicle invites graduating staff to write a senior column examining their time at 301 Flowers.
Though most (read: all) of my contributions to the Chronicle have been photos, I’m glad I had the words to say this.
That was when I got it. I still remember the visceral excitement I felt when writing about what I saw, the vicarious emotion that bled through my recording of the postgame interview.
To my Chronicle, thank you for allowing me to cover the Duke community and find one within it, too. Thank you for giving me a home.
For hours and hours as I drove north on I-95, I desperately grasped for memories like a child catching fireflies, trying to chase and hold onto as many as possible.
How many young Duke fans get the chance to grow up and sit courtside at a Duke basketball game in Cameron, and then go into the locker room to interview Grayson Allen or Zion Williamson?
In the main field of Duke Gardens, where the gargantuan stick sculpture used to make its home, there’s a grassy slope under the shade of a magnolia tree.
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