Hey everyone!
My name is Cyan and I am currently a freshman here at Duke. I’m from New York so I’m a bit far from home, but my experiences at Duke make it worth the travel. What I really love about my school, and part of my decision to come here, had to do with all of the opportunities that are offered. I came here telling myself to take advantage of the resources that I have while I can.
Dear Duke Families,
As I look out my office window, I have the privilege of seeing our students walking (and rushing) by between classes, meals, meetings and study venues. So many things are apparent on the rare occasion that I get to just pause and admire the passersby. I notice that many seem either immune to the winter chill or in denial about the need to wear warmer clothes! I notice that rarely is anyone walking alone. Students travel in pairs, groups and masses! I notice that some kind of technological device is apparently welded to their ears or their palms (hopefully talking or texting with you). But, I also notice how remarkably different they are, reflecting the substantial and wonderful diversity within the Duke student body.
Maya Angelou entered my life at a time when I very much needed to see someone who looked like me, both in body and in spirit, doing and being something unconventional. I remember reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and hanging onto every word. I was in my first semester of college, at Pace University in New York, and dealing with a particularly trying and debilitating trauma that had recently occurred in my life. A dear friend had recommended this text to me. I didn’t know then that it would serve to reconnect me to pieces of myself that had been silenced/I had silenced.
It is a special cohort of students that is able to claim itself as Literature majors at Duke University, and I consider myself extremely lucky to call myself one of that small group of ten that graduated from the department just two years ago. However, I must warn you - though I am proud to call it mine now, it wasn't always so.
When asked to submit reflections on leadership, I immediately desired to have the reflection correlate with the topical focus of ethos and leadership.
Dear PNMs,
For this blog post, some of the interns at the Women’s Center decided to share our personal history with feminism. We have all had different experiences and there isn’t a singular theme among our stories, but we hope that our experiences encourage others in the Duke community to explore what feminism means to them.
From Colleen O’Connor (Community Building and Organizing Intern): `
By Write(H)ers participant Lillie Reed, T'14
In fourth grade, I did a lot of things I’m not proud of. I wore pants to school that were fully ripped up the butt, and not just one time. I let my mom give me a bowl cut – again. I allowed my classmates to nickname me “Beaner”, which neither they nor I realized was a racial slur (made especially inappropriate by its application to the only mildly Hispanic person in the class). Exercising a complete lack of oversight, my mom then let me sew this name on a backpack. This is, perhaps, the most embarrassing thing I have ever worn on my body for two straight years.
Top 5 reasons to be an intern:
1. One-on-one mentorship with a staff member
“The best part about my one-on-one mentorship with a staff member is that my mentor got to know me on a personal level, rather than just a professional one. Thus, I was able to both get help performing my tasks in the women's center and be challenged personally to think about the gendered issues I'm addressing every day.” ~Maya Flippen, 2nd year
2. Cultivate skills in student engagement and leadership
"Being able to help create and now coordinate a brand-new program, Duke Write(H)ers, has taught me so much about how to engage with other students. I've been challenged to think creatively about how to encourage other writers and lead the charge to succeed within the feminist media landscape." ~Samantha Lachman, 4th year
By Write(H)ers participant Elena Botella, T'13
When I was at a Professor’s house, a fellow student was talking to his young (maybe 5-year-old?) daughter, and told her that she was very cute. “You can’t call me cute,” the girl said, “but you can call me smart.”
For centuries (or millennia) women have been held to a high standard of personal grooming and appearance, and yet, when women attempt to conform to this standard, they are often considered frivolous. It is almost certainly the case that female Duke students spend more time and money on their clothing and grooming than do male Duke students, and no matter how educated or progressive a circle of women, it is likely that they will establish goodwill amongst one another through complimenting each other shoes.
