GLS eNews April 6, 2020

GLS Weekly Update - April 6, 2020

Please note that GLS House is closed until further notice. GLS staff are working remotely and may be reached via email. Join us for some virtual porch sitting every Thursday from 5-6 PM via Zoom.

In this edition:

• Message from Director Anne Whisnant
• Duke Establishes Student Assistance Fund
• GLS Debuts New Fall Courses
• Social Movements Lab Holds Online Forum
• Duke Science & Society to Host Session on Communicating Science
• Duke Press Offers Free Digital Content
• Online Workshop: Expressive Writing for COVID-19
• Join GLS on the Porch via Zoom
• Online Resources for Graduate Students
• GLS Bulletin Board: Upcoming Application and Proposal Deadlines

Message from the Director

Hello GLS Community—

As you know from my video last week, I love spending time in my garden. I’m lucky that the home where I’m now “confined” includes three acres of woods and several large garden areas. As I’ve worked on spring chores, I’ve been thinking about how the garden is a metaphor for life – maybe always, but perhaps more profoundly right now. In the garden, and in life there are always:

• Things that are blooming gloriously – those successes, some that come quickly, but many that come after years of planning and nurturing. These dogwoods – native to the property – only came into their own in recent years after my husband cleared enough larger trees to give them sufficient light. But now, at least nine surround our back garden and deck each spring.

• Things that bloomed earlier and are waning, while other things are just struggling out of the ground. Fading sweet memories giving way to new growth and promise.

• Things that are, as we would say in my home in Alabama, “fixin’” to bloom. This one iris and a single Gerbing azalea flower that got out ahead of the rest of the bush are portents of glories to come, something to look forward to—soon.

• Things that did better than you expected them to! This hellebore bed created itself from the seeds of a few plants I move there years ago. It’s so successful that I’m going to let it take as much of the front yard as it will.

• Pretty accidents: here a “weed” – wild violets – that looks good enough in the pot with this fern that I’m just going to keep them there and pretend it was planned.

• Things that thrived for a time, but ultimately had to be removed because they threatened something else. This crape myrtle stump is all that is left of a large lavender tree that dropped black mold on the roof and plants below. It had to come down, and we are trying desperately now to kill the stump.

• Tiny volunteer plants that, with attention and a better location, could become something spectacular. I’ve found several wee Japanese maples and am going to move them to pots. Who knows – maybe someday they could rival this one out front!

In life, as in gardening, things are living, thriving, blooming, dying – struggling, disappointing, surprising. There is hope and letting go. There is accepting things as they are, working with what you have, adjusting as you go, delighting in plants that thrive beyond all your expectations. There are poor choices and sunk costs and situations where we don’t know what to do. Any garden—and any life—is a combination of strategy, watchful waiting, hard and consistent work, luck, sunlight, rain, warmth, cold, soil, remembering, forgetting, heartbreak, and joy. Things we can control and many we cannot.

Here’s hoping that in our collective garden that seems to have been decimated by an unexpected late freeze, we are all able to let go of the things that aren’t as we hoped and embrace the life that goes on – the things that are still beautiful, the accidental joys, the tiny plants that with nurturing may thrive later, and the promise for our lives that we all trust lies ahead. See you soon on the “virtual porch” to watch.

Duke Establishes Student Assistance Fund

In order to better support master's students who may be experiencing difficulty providing for their basic needs during this extraordinary time, Duke has established a Student Assistance Fund. Blue Devils Care is a new mental telehealth service that can provide support wherever you may be located currently. You can access the service by using the key DUKE2020. Read the full letter announcing these new services below.

GLS Debuts Two New Courses for Fall 2020

Registration for Fall 2020 is underway GLS is excited to offer two new and very timely LS seminars. Be sure to check out the video course previews below for more information.

LS 780-32 - Human Rights Futures

Dr. Robin Kirk, Senior Lecturer, Department of Cultural Anthropology

Thursdays, 6:15-8:45 pm

GLS Conference Room

Course description.

LS 760-35 - Science in the Public Eye

Dr. Laurie Mauger, Lecturer, Biology

Tuesdays, 6:15-8:45 pm

GLS Conference Room

Course description.

Social Movements Lab Holds Dialogues on India's Citizenship Act

The Duke FHI Social Movements Lab will hold two dialogues via Zoom on the current situation in India. Originally, the dialogues were conceived to address the Citizenship (Amendment) Act passed by the Indian government in December 2019, which sparked violent protests throughout the country. The Act provides a pathway to citizenship for those belonging to many religions but not for Muslims. In the meantime, India has been locked down to address the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our dialogues will thus treat both of these urgent issues.

We will have one dialogue (Tuesday, April 7th) with journalist Bharat Bhushan to discuss the situation in Delhi, and another (Tuesday, April 14th) with the political scientist Ranabir Samaddar from Kolkata. Both will take place from 9:30am to 10:30am EST.

In preparation for these dialogues, we will have a mapping session on Monday the 6th at 12pm to 1pm. This discussion will be led by Jessica Namakkal (historian at Duke). For this session, we suggest reading: 

1. Ranabir Samaddar’s essay “An Insurgent Constitutionalism is Driving Popular Politics in India Today”

2. a co-authored essay by Swati Chawla, Jessica Namakkal, Kalyani Ramnath, Lydia Walker, “Who Is a Citizen in Contemporary India?,” which contextualizes India’s citizenship amendments within the history of imperial rule, mobility, and itinerancy in South Asia.

How to Join the meetings:

Join Zoom Meeting via computer: https://zoom.us/j/8138511398

Or by phone: +1 301 715 8592 US

Meeting ID: 813 851 1398

Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/abMsIzZCxk

Duke Science & Society to Host Online Session Friday

This Friday, April 10, at 1 PM Eastern, Duke Science & Society will host an online panel discussion, Science Communication in the Time of Coronavirus. During an unprecedented time, when virtually all science communication seems to be focusing on the Coronavirus pandemic and lives literally hang in the balance, effective science communication is more important than ever. What sources should you trust? How much of the current information is accurate and being effectively communicated? How can scientists and science communicators ensure that “good” science is communicated, while combating the spread of “bad” information? Why does public trust of expertise seem to be so severely challenged right now? What roles do social media play? Join us for a discussion with a panel of renowned experts in science journalism, science writing and science communication research, who will answer these questions and others you have about science communication in the time of Coronavirus.

Our experts will be:

Dominque Brossard, PhD, Sheril Kirshenbaum, MS, MPP, Maryn McKenna, MSJ, and Dietram Scheufele, MA, PhD.

Jory Weintraub, PhD will moderate.

Duke Press Offers Free Content to Duke Community

From Duke Press - Amid the worldwide spread of COVID-19, it’s a challenging time, and our thoughts are with those affected by this disease.

In support and solidarity, we are providing free access to staff-curated syllabi of selected books and journal articles on the topics of global pandemics and care in uncertainty.

All content is free to read online for a limited time. Click on a button below to take you to the related content.

Every Thursday: Join Us for Porch Sitting Via Zoom

We had a wonderful group of alumni and students attend the GLS (virtual) Porch Sitting last week, and we're doing it again this Thursday and every Thursday through the end of the semester. The fun starts at 5 PM, but feel free to drop in anytime during the hour. Dr. Anne Whisnant will host in her Zoom Meeting Room. Just grab a glass of whatever you have, come to your comfortable spot, click the the button below, and join us to chat! Pets welcome!

Online Resources for Graduate Students

• COVID-19 updates for students are available on Duke's Coronavirus Response website.
• The Career Center now offers online drop-in advising for graduate students on Wednesdays and Fridays. View the schedule here.

Opportunities Around Campus and Beyond

Visit the GLS Bulletin Board for a list of funding, volunteer, and other opportunities beyond GLS.

Upcoming deadlines:

 April 15 • 2020 AGLSP Conference Story Slam • call video submissions

Important Dates for GLS Students

• Fall Bookbagging begins - Monday, March 30
• Fall Registration begins - Wednesday, April 1
• Fall Registration ends; Drop/Add begins - Friday, April 10
• Graduate classes end - Wednesday, April 15
• Graduate reading period - Thursday-Sunday, April 16-April 26
• Last day of semester - Saturday, May 2