Hello From One of Your New Insiders

Insider(n)- One in an organization who has information that others are not privy to.

My name is Nathan, and I’m one of your new writers for the Kenan Insider, though I don’t know that the above describes me at all, and particularly not my role. Really, my job is to make all of you the Insiders. I’m going to give you the dish, the scoop, and the skinny on some of the myriad of ethical dimensions in the world around us. I promise I’ll do my best to provide analysis and insight into the goings-on of Kenan, Duke, and elsewhere.

If you’re going to trust me as your guide, it’s only fair you get to know a little about me.  I was born in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, and according to family lore, my birth is the reason they put visitor limitations on deliveries at Bladen County Hospital. Due to health complications I was, in a moment of foretelling, flown to Duke Hospital. From my birth, my life has been filled with people and chaos and it’s made me a person of life and color and yes, sometimes insanity.

I was raised in my small, Southern town, and then returned to Duke for school, though thankfully not in a helicopter this time. Again, my first moments were chaotic. I was one of the 21 participants in Project Change, Kenan and the Women’s Center’s pre-orientation program. I was bundled up into a white van and driven off into the unknown. Since then, I’ve worked for Team Kenan, the student programming initiative at the Institute, and I’ve traveled with the Institute to Dublin for DukeEngage (photo above). Through Duke and the Institute I developed my interests in gender theory, human rights, and journalism (all of which this blog will surely discuss). Now, after four years of working and growing with Kenan, I’m excited to say I’ll be here for another year as the Bear Postgraduate Fellow, and I couldn’t be happier to continue my journey with Kenan.
Metaphorically, that ride in the mysterious white van in my first experience with Kenan hasn’t stopped. Four years later I’m still here. Four years later I’m still on the same adventure, and I’m excited to bring you along with me.