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The decision to fundamentally alter the Thompson Writing Program is almost unilaterally opposed by the student and faculty body, who called for Duke to support faculty and listen to students during Sunday’s protests. As such, it can only be concluded that there are some traditions that the Duke administration cannot continue to uphold.
On face value, nothing huge just happened here. It likely wouldn’t be clear that any words were even exchanged between us. Why do I feel so darn giddy and fulfilled, then? I wonder to myself.
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Life online removes the short term joy of real, unmediated life, in exchange for short term satisfaction when using these social media platforms, with no long-term benefits on either side of the screen.
There’s tremendous value in engaging with the world around us, even if the interactions don’t seem particularly profound or meaningful in the moment.
I am still struggling and will likely continue to over the next four years. But if I could do it all over again, I would.
So, as we approach the end of another calendar year and look toward a new year, I invite you to join in this whole-person pursuit of a coherent life.
The main question remains: Is creating new programs the most efficient way to expose students to new fields and educate future leaders? Not necessarily. While we would all like to have hundreds of majors, minors and certificates to choose from, creating efficient programming demands time and funding from Duke’s faculty and administration.
That we’re doing this right now doesn’t make any sense and—by all definitions—is absurd. Yet we’re suspending disbelief, leaning into the bizarre and trying to lift a limo.
And out we come, crammed to the brim with shiny prizes, our spirits numb or dying.
After all, how can I preserve my family’s French culture and language within my descendants if I can’t even bother to preserve it within myself? And if I lose touch with my culture and language altogether, what does this mean for my relationships with my extended family? With my home away from home? With my own mother?
What frustrates me more than hearing someone call Israel a European colonialist regime is hearing a well-intentioned Jew refuse to criticize Israel because they’re too busy defending its right to exist.
Zionism diminishes our years of abundant survival and persistence and strength to the idea that we cannot have a home without the ethnic cleansing of someone else’s home; that we cannot have strength without someone else having despair; that we cannot have survival without someone else having to die.
Spreading yourself thin and shallowly engaging with a lot of people and activities keeps many doors open, but if you never walk through any of them, you only ever appear to have a great social and personal life.
Duke must condemn targeted harassment impersonating educational student-led organizing.
Just a barren wasteland of Keystone Light cans and Kroger brand sod 48 hours before, by Sunday morning, K-Ville was transformed.
Joy is not even necessarily something we have to earn, but it is key to our flourishing.
You stare at the blank screen, and the blank screen stares back at you. It’s 3 AM on a Monday night and you have a paper due in the morning.
The problem I see with forgiveness, however, is that it is always expected.
History is a privilege that most minorities aren't afforded; instead, like many other things, they have to fight for it.
