I’m watching this scene unfold below me, muttering oh my, caretaking in action, and one of my first thoughts is—I wonder where I might see something like this at Duke.
While critics may insist that such people are attention-seekers and snowflakes (a harmful label connotated by fragility and entitlement), the reality is that people don't choose to change their identity for recognition or fame. In fact, people don't choose a new identification at all.
If I could go back in time, I would absolutely make the same decision to defer, even if it meant starting college later than everyone else— because I owed it to myself to ensure that I came into college in the pink of mental health.
Too often, we correlate the size of one’s social network with their social net worth.
"As a personal rule, I tend to spend very little time in rooms filled with dead bodies, and the only thing I’ve ever dissected is a cat in my high school anatomy course."
Nevertheless, ever since I arrived at Duke, I can’t help but to feel financially underprivileged—and then guilty for having such a feeling, considering how advantaged I am in practically any other context.
Problems arise when, like Nestlé in Japan, we “analyze” their culture, realize it doesn’t contain what we need to sell some products, and then proceed to insert Western ideas for the sole purpose of making a profit.
The horn became louder and didn’t stop. I turned to my left and saw a train coming toward me. I waited. Then I changed my mind and scrambled onto the rocks beside the tracks… I checked my watch and went to class.
Let’s be careful this year not to center all of our attention on what hurts, the friction or on what stings. Don’t forget to look for pearls. They’re being birthed all around us through oysters and other people.
This episode explores the history of The Chronicle, particularly in terms of its failures to adequately cover marginalized groups and its representation among staff. Here are some quotes from the episode, featuring reflections from previous editors-in-chief about events during their tenure.
We continue to pay the same tuition as domestic students ($50,000 or more) while taking already taxing online classes in different time zones than our domestic peers. If we don’t, guess what? We lose our visa.
Stories. The last four years of Duke and Zoom University can be summed up in this one word that always has and always will drive my love for people, places, the unpredictability of life and everything in between.
If you have love, perfection is overrated anyways.
At the end of every volume, The Chronicle invites graduating staff to write senior columns reflecting on their times in the 301 Flowers office. Read what they had to say about the office squirrels, Gilmore Girls and climbing on rooftops—and a whole lot more.
I never want someone to forgo the chance to be part of the incredible experience that is The Chronicle because they lack a sense of belonging: This is me telling you that you deserve to be here.
Around this time three years ago, I boldly declared that while college was great, I hadn't really learned a whole lot.
The Chronicle has both been my bane and my saving grace.
It feels surreal to already say goodbye, but in a way I have lived many lifetimes at The Chronicle.
Written as gerunds to communicate their ongoing and perpetual nature, these categories overlap and fracture into smaller ones and so are inexhaustive, but nevertheless serve to illustrate the story of the past few years.
As a senior, I have an opportunity to look back at my years, to see the campus culture from a different lens, and reflect on the change I have experienced while at this university.
