Favorite quote: “I have learned to listen to the needs of the people in front of me. Sometimes they need silence. Sometimes, surprisingly often, they need to laugh.” – Dr. Raymond Barfield
Your memorable experiences in English: American Crime with Professor Michael D’Alessandro, Doctors’Stories with Professor Charlotte Sussman, exploring ecological criticism, and analyzing “The Disabled Debauchee” by John Wilmot
Farewell wishes for your classmates: Thank you fellow seniors for being a key part to my learning in the English Department. Your insights have pushed me towards recognizing my own potential.
Awards or honors you’ve won during your time at Duke: High Distinction for Critical Research within the English Department
Your plans/hopes for the future: Master’s Degree in the Medical Humanities, Future Medical Doctor
Faculty Remarks:
Dahlia Chacon reading in the library
I was lucky enough to have Dahlia in two of my classes at Duke, and I wish she could have been in all of them. Her sunny disposition belies what an intellectual powerhouse she can be. When she enrolled in my graduate class, she was as astute and polished as students ten years her senior. Her essays were always so insightful, her comments ceaselessly incisive. Dahlia’s measured confidence is a marvel to behold. She also found a favorite writer. I’ve had a lot of students who enjoy Edgar Allan Poe, but perhaps none so much as Dahlia. She immediately was drawn towards how his disturbing stories overlapped with her personal interests in science literature and medicine. The last time I saw her, we talked about our shared adoration of Poe and her distinctive takeson his authorial obsessions. I’ll remember our talks every time I teach him again, and I know Dahlia will bring her brilliance and passion to all her future endeavors. – Mike D’Alessandro
As befits an English major planning to become a physician, Dahlia has a real flair for working across disciplines, and brings humanistic insight to everything she does. She was a model of resilience, patience, and perseverance as she completed her distinction project on Edgar Allen Poe and nineteenth-century medicine. Helping her work out the details of argument and structure over the phone was an unexpected joy in this strange spring, and gives me great hope for the future of medicine, the future of the humanities, and the future of medical humanities.Congratulations, Dahlia! – Charlotte Sussman
