Nothing is as easy to make as a promise this winter to do something next summer; this is how commencement speakers are caught.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It was a myth that's often perpetuated at commencement that holds that only hope and promise lie beyond the halls of academe. Don't worry, be happy. Everything is fine.
Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.
What I like about graduation speeches is that they're an opportunity for someone to make sense of their life and to impart that wisdom to someone else. It's like a sanctioned self-help moment.
A commencement is a time of joy. It is also a time of melancholy. But then again, so is life.
A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success.
If the academic community gets its way, we will soon all be speaking with a single voice.
Poor, dear, silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!
Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.
Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once.
One of the most difficult speeches to prepare is an address to a graduation class, which is why I don't often do them.