graduation speeches
E. L. Doctorow got an honorary degree at Hofstra's graduation this weekend. Then he tried to make his scheduled speech. As a professional storyteller, he critiqued some of the stories told in the past few years by some other folks. His transition was that politicians and presidents tell stories, too, and that whether we like it or not we all become a part of those stories. He ended by explaining to the graduates that they lived not just in a house or a town but also in History- but while I could still hear him then (since the faculty were sitting right behind him on the stage), I'm not sure how many people could.
Certainly, at the start of the speech, there wasn't any explicit rationale for connecting the speech to the occasion of a commencement.
I found the event surprisingly distressing. It seemed to be mostly parents in the stands -- rather than graduates on the field-- that were actually trying to shout him down. Do the students or families have a right to something more generic and unifying in their graduation speeches? Is a commencement an inherently political event in any case?
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lidoc0524,0,3373724,print.story?coll=ny-topstories-headlines
Certainly, at the start of the speech, there wasn't any explicit rationale for connecting the speech to the occasion of a commencement.
I found the event surprisingly distressing. It seemed to be mostly parents in the stands -- rather than graduates on the field-- that were actually trying to shout him down. Do the students or families have a right to something more generic and unifying in their graduation speeches? Is a commencement an inherently political event in any case?
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lidoc0524,0,3373724,print.story?coll=ny-topstories-headlines