Tag: Commencement Addresses

Jonathan Safran Foer’s Commencement Address at Middlebury College

Recommended viewing

My search for my favorite commencement address of the year has happily come to a successful conclusion.  Author Jonathan Safran Foer delivered the address at the 2013 commencement ceremony at Middlebury College.  It is a wonderful talk about how our personal technologies are diminishing us.

I learned of the address when reading Foer’s Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, which he based on the address.  The essay was great; but the address is better.

Here are a few quotes from the address:

“Technology celebrates connectedness, but it encourages retreat.”

“Simply put, the more distracted we become and the more emphasis we put on speed at the expense of depth, the less able we are to care.”

“Each step forward in technological communication has made things more convenient. But each step has also made it easer, just a little bit easier, to avoid the emotional work of being present. To write ‘LOL’ rather than to actually laugh out loud; to send a crying emoji rather than actually crying; to convey information rather than humanity. It’s never been easier to say nothing.”

“It’s easier to friend someone than to be someone’s friend. It’s easier to like things than to love them. It’s easier to say nothing, but people who become used to saying nothing become used to being nobody.”

“I worry that the closer the world gets to our fingertips, the further it gets from our hearts.”

David Foster Wallace’s Extraordinary Commencement Address at Kenyon College

Uncategorized

I like listening to commencement addresses. Well, some commencement addresses. Most, of course, seem to be filled with cliches and banalities that will never be remembered and don’t deserve to be. But the rite of passage that is commencement on occasion is marked by extraordinary speeches that convey profound and timeless thoughts. Such is the case with David Foster Wallace’s commencement address to the Kenyon College Class of 2005. I missed it by only a year. My son graduated from Kenyon in 2006. His commencement speaker was Senator John Kerry. Senator Kerry’s presence on the dais had special meaning for the Class of 2006, for in the 2004 election Kenyon students overwhelmed the voting apparatus, showing up in such numbers that the polls had to remain open until the wee hours of the morning. Kenyon graduates were proud of that, and rightfully so. But today, I remember none of what Senator Kerry had to share that day.A few years later, while on a tour of east coast colleges with my daughter, I came across a little book in the Dartmouth College Bookstore called “This Is Water.” It was an essay based on David Foster Wallace’s 2005 commencement address. The subtitle describes the central theme of the address: “Some Thoughts Delivered on a Significant Occasion about Living a Compassionate Life.” I have read it several times.Today, in searching for new commencement addresses to add to my favorites list, I came across a recording of David Foster Wallace’s address. What a pleasure to hear him deliver the speech. It is right at the top of my list. Here are links to the speech, in two parts. I commend it to you.Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5THXa_H_N8&feature=youtube_gdata_player Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSAzbSQqals&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Anna Quindlen Addresses the Graduates of Grinnell College with No Apologies

Uncategorized

I enjoy listening to college commencement addresses.  A lot of them — perhaps most of them — are just a a string of cliches.  But occasionally I come across a real gem.  I had the pleasure of hearing Anna Quindlen at the Kenyon College graduation of 2008.  She was wonderful  This year she gave the commencement address at Grinnell College.(Transcript.) It is well worth a listen.

Part 1:

Part 2: 

Sir Ken Robinson’s Commencement Address at RISD

Uncategorized

Sir Ken Robinson gave this year’s commencement address at the Rhode Island School of Design.  While it is available on YouTube, the version on RISD’s website (http://our.risd.edu/2009/06/02/sir-ken-robinson/) is much better.  Robinson is a passionate critic of our education system  for its failure to teach creative thinking.    

Update: The RISD website does not appear to have the video of Sir Ken’s speech.  You can find it here on Youtube:

Part 1:

 

Part 2:

 

Part 3:

 

Part 4:

Great Commencement Addresses

Uncategorized

Few of us probably remember what was said by the speakers at our graduations. I remember that two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling spoke when I was graduated from Kalamazoo College. I don’t remember what he said. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti spoke at my law school graduation. I don’t remember what he said either, but I remember that he was dreadful.
 
Not so with these addresses from the past 73 years collected by Humanity.org. http://www.humanity.org/voices/commencements/