Swarthmore Graduation, 2008
Graduation, and the events that preceded it, gave me a happy bittersweet proud feeling inside.
The graduation speeches remind you of what this community aspires to be--a place that brings together rigorous thought and ethical intelligence, a place where we treat each other with mutual respect and kindness, a place, I know Bloom said something like this, where we focus on substance rather than self-promotion, and a place where we take care of ourselves, of each other, and eventually of the whole world.
(Bloom skipped one part of that--this may be a feminist thing, my desire for everyone to remind us to self-care and self-improve before caring for others, or it may be a survivor thing or a depression thing, but basically I want more people to use the rhetoric that Staci Haines uses about bringing together personal healing and social transformation and how one rests on the other. It feels hollow to me to claim that every Swattie should go and change the world without stressing that every Swattie should also be continuing to change themselves... but maybe this is just me.)
But when this community does live up to its aspirations, I don't wish I were anywhere else. I wish it lived up to them more often, sure, and I wish it didn't make us cry so much in the process, but dammit, Swarthmore, I am proud to be a part of you and I am proud of the Class of 2008.
In brief:
Congratulations, graduates. I will miss you all like hell.
One of the "rights and privileges" (and perhaps even responsibilities!), that comes with your degree is to crash at my place any time.
The graduation speeches remind you of what this community aspires to be--a place that brings together rigorous thought and ethical intelligence, a place where we treat each other with mutual respect and kindness, a place, I know Bloom said something like this, where we focus on substance rather than self-promotion, and a place where we take care of ourselves, of each other, and eventually of the whole world.
(Bloom skipped one part of that--this may be a feminist thing, my desire for everyone to remind us to self-care and self-improve before caring for others, or it may be a survivor thing or a depression thing, but basically I want more people to use the rhetoric that Staci Haines uses about bringing together personal healing and social transformation and how one rests on the other. It feels hollow to me to claim that every Swattie should go and change the world without stressing that every Swattie should also be continuing to change themselves... but maybe this is just me.)
But when this community does live up to its aspirations, I don't wish I were anywhere else. I wish it lived up to them more often, sure, and I wish it didn't make us cry so much in the process, but dammit, Swarthmore, I am proud to be a part of you and I am proud of the Class of 2008.
In brief:
Congratulations, graduates. I will miss you all like hell.
One of the "rights and privileges" (and perhaps even responsibilities!), that comes with your degree is to crash at my place any time.