Natalie Farris

Class of 2025
Major in English; Minor in Chemistry

I'm a rising majoring in English while on the premedical track. My love of writing has led me to become an editor at The Fluke, Duke's satirical newspaper, as well as for Words of Fire, a magazine that publishes creative works by incarcerated people. I believe that literature and literacy should be accessible to everyone, especially people living behind bars, which is why I'm also a member of the Prison Books Collective, a Durham-based nonprofit that sends books to prisons across the southern United States. I'm grateful to have had the opportunities to work with diverse populations through organizations such as GANO, Adopt a Grandparent, and Best Buddies. I'm involved with the Brinkley-Rubinstein lab, which researches the consequences of incarceration on individual and community health. This summer, I interned at my local Offender Aid and Restoration Agency to learn more about the function of the justice system. After Duke, I hope to further pursue my passions for literature and health by writing a novel and attending medical school!

Favorite Class: I loved the "Drink the Kool-Aid" class on cults taught by Professor Taylor Black. The social dynamics at play inside tight-knit, isolated, and radicalized communities are fascinating, and speak volumes about the folly and fallibility inherent to human nature. It was interesting to recognize such maneuverings of power at play within other hierarchies that we don't necessarily deem cults.