Thanks. I thought it might be DJT (the "Rough Beast"), but I was thrown off by "able to give long speeches with big words." DJT can't handle big words, from what I have seen and heard.
'Tis fine for what it is: a personal script you have followed that has jetted you on a trajectory of your own, Yes, it was aimed some by your parents and grey-haired relatives, but as well by the unique, DNA-directed you. with your own smiles and scowls, and harmonies with those fine voices that join you. And your have done well to follow your own compass, but those young folks there who listen to you oration and those who don't will end up with their own game plan to follow or not. And some may take your advice and others are thinking of the pizza when you're done with your oration and their cap is tossed high. Watch out for those coming down. Their edges might smack you, as may life will. You won't know whose edge it is. It make wake you to great things or it may make you wince and wish you'd seen it coming. But you didn't. You made the most of it, and turned in your robe with no cap, or your own, or some you do not know. Be aware of the flying caps, andif you can, keep the pizza in mind too Life will be full of both.
Hi again - It is so inspiring to see that I am not the only draft-dodger who had to memorize the Preamble of the Canterbury Tales on the way to my degree in English literature. I, like you apparently, have never been able to forget it and can still recite it to this day, more than fifty years later.
Good musings. I have always thought everyone should work at least one customer service job (try being a clerk at any dollar type store on a holiday facing long lines of impatient customers) to really get an education. So YES to a liberal arts education as it's never wasted learning how to think and YES to getting your nose out of those same books and work at a fast food restaurant at least once to understand our wild, beautiful, crazy world.
I'm two years older than Garrison and a fellow U of M Gopher alum. But in chemistry, got my PhD and had a great career in the lab and in information groups including my own. A liberal education? Well, I took German, French, Logic, PolySci. Missed out on psych with a crammed schedule but took Intro and Personality from my daughter, a Professor of Psych, so it's never too late to pursue life-long learning. My older sister, an artist (I'm not) clues me in on art apprecitation as well as music appreciation, never had to take those courses.
Jobs? As a high school and commuter student, I worked 3 years in a Mom and Pop grocery store -- delivered groceries, swept floors, stocked shelves, ran the register -- and learned a lot about working with people.
I encouraged my teen-aged kids to get jobs in the food industry so they could learn what they didn't want to do for a living (but learn how to get along with people. Success. My son has had a great stage career in musical theater and now teaches performing arts in a charter school in Newark. My daughter has a PhD in psychology, has a great career as a psych professor, and is now also head of a sports psych department.
I read a lot of poetry and fiction in addition to my STEM reading. One can get a liberal ecducation even if one gets an intensive STEM education.
I was a chemistry major in a Liberal Arts college and took two years each of German and Russian for my Humanities/Social Science requirements. I placed out of Freshman English (after never having gotten above a B in it since 6th grade) but the 2nd year language courses had a lot of literature and history in them. I did take psychology, economics and logic courses in addition to the languages. I went into academia rather than industry, so was able to take lots university courses (mainly foreign languages [Italian, French, Spanish, and German] and computer science) for free both during and after my teaching career. I have no regrets and continue to study foreign languages and work on genealogy and family history (I did interview and get lots of information from my parents and one grandmother and have hundreds of old family pictures, including some of 6 of my 8 great-grandparents and of two great-great grandparents.)
My husband has a parallel background, but he still wishes he had majored in music because he wanted to be a singer in Broadway musicals. His parents thought that it would be too risky a choice, so he majored in chemistry instead. After he retired he took 4 years of classical voice lessons at the university where we taught and one of his professors told him that he likely could have had a career in opera if he had studied music in college and graduate school. We both read a lot and regularly attend classical music concerts and operas and love Shakespeare. We listen to Met Opera Radio and Symphony Hall on SiriusXM or WQXR or ClassicalWCRB.org on a computer connected to a surround sound receiver while watching sports on TV with the sound turned off.
Ah, Ha! Michele, no wonder we keep noticing each other's posts! I was a Secondary Science Education major at Cornell University, and took Russian as my foreign language. At Cornell, our chemistry professor, Robert Plane, was sort of a Chemical Houdini! He'd stand in the bottom of a huge lecture hall, 3 or 4 stories high, and set off chemical reactions on a stone table. The flames would leap over a yard high! And he'd explain molecular interactions in such an understandable way - after that, Chemistry was The Thing! The rest of my coursework was similar, too! I ended up as a librarian for an Oil Company in California, so that academic background was essential! Thanks for the intro! Have a Good One!
My husband was also a chemistry professor (his father had a master's degree in Biology from Cornell, in the early 1930s) who also did wild chemisty demonstrations. He used to give chemistry magic shows in his kids' schools. One of my high school classmates went to Cornell - Bruce Holtje, probably class of 1971.
When I was an educator, I would've invited you, Garrison. And now some of my younger kin are already doing what you would've said to the class of 2023. They know all about the inspiration-achievement you described, and I'm proud of them!!
I liked the part of your column where you said you wished you had interviewed your parents. I taught second grade and each year I'd have my students interview their grandparents with a set of open ended questions and some simply asking their favorite people. At that time the grandparents were born in the 1930s and 1940s and their favorite movie star was Roy Rogers. The children then had a little book I put together for them to save the interview. That event truly made a difference to some. (The reading, math social studies and science were important too.)
I've worked in bars and retail and banquet halls. My college education was varied. I definitely should have minored in Music than Poly Sci. I was a Comm major with a concentration in Radio/TV/Film.
I learned about international cinema like Sugarcane Alley, El Norte, To Live. etc. I think my well-rounded personality was challenged by authority and those who fear freedom. Thanks GK for offering a commencement speech that touches on the true things like family, friendship, and honesty.
“there are advantages to cowardice too & a person should consider all options”… Spoken like a “Middle Child!” There’s a lot to be said for “position among children in a family.” “rushing ahead to confront injustice and correct wrongs” tends to be the sort of “Leadership Role” that first-borns find as their “Birthright!” This tendency is fairly settled, whether the eldest child is a boy or girl. That child tends to be given the responsibility of making certain that the younger siblings observe family rules. Etc. As “the eldest” they often hear, and understand, more of their parents’ “Philosophy of Life” than subsequent children do. They often end up “interpreting” situations so the younger kids get the picture. On the other hand, subsequent kids - with the possible exception of “The Baby” who might be given special privileges once the parents realize that the “Nest is getting Empty” - are often stuck with having to keep peace with other siblings, and may see the parents’ “authority” from the distance of that intercession.
A classic case is the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass as it affected the course of black and white relationships in Civil War era America. Frederick Douglass was the firstborn son of the white plantation master and his black slave, Harriet Bailey. Until Fred was a teenager, he lived on a Maryland plantation with his younger siblings and other slave children. He developed a marked spirit of independence – escaped to the North as a teenager, went to the British Isles and found support for running an abolitionist newspaper, “The North Star”, and became a high paid abolitionist lecturer.
As such, he came to middle-child Abraham Lincoln, who was the son of an Illinois farmer, and sandwiched between his eldest sister, Sarah (1807-1828) and Thomas, Jr. (1811-1815). For most of his childhood, Abraham would have had to deal with meeting the expectations of his elder sister. He probably escaped the belittling experience of “Being the Baby” of the family, because that role would have gone to the grave with Thomas Jr.
When the Civil War broke out, Abraham Lincoln wanted to hear “both sides of the story.” He became aware of Frederick Douglass, and invited him to the White House. Among other things, their family dynamics probably clicked. Lincoln looked to a representative of African Americans who was taking a leadership role, while Douglass found in Lincoln a “torch” that he could carry in his public dealings in his search for the abolition of slavery, emancipation, and subsequent “equality!”
I beg to differ with our Superlative Host in his use of the word “cowardice!” It seems to me that this is the result of studied habits, developed in childhood, which allow folks in initially “subordinate” positions to find ways to “guide authorities” rather than challenging them with frontal attacks. I’d also point the possibility that our Proactive Host has found many ways over his prominent time on the radio, and through the Internet, to influence the general public, much like Frederick Douglass did! How many Presidents have you had personal dialogs with, our genuinely Non-Cowardly Host? I suppose, part of what I’m saying is that the accolades often go to the showy “First Children” – the supposed “leaders.” But, I imagine, if one did a careful study of situations, you’d often find an eldest child, “Frederick Douglass” type behind the throne of the younger sibling Lincolns! You’ve Got What it Takes, Dear Host! Hallelujah!
Very nice! Thanks, Garrison.
.
I miss you in the wider world,😉👋🏽
Good morning Garrison
Although I’ve long since graduated, I’ve decided to take your excellent advice.
I’m going to stand back and watch braver souls than I risk employing Irony on the Internet and see how it goes.
Be well,
Nichael
Wow, subjunctive, introspective, and ironic, all in one sentence.
Okay, I must be obtuse. Who is the guy with squiggles in his hair?
Also called dinguses. DJT
Thanks. I thought it might be DJT (the "Rough Beast"), but I was thrown off by "able to give long speeches with big words." DJT can't handle big words, from what I have seen and heard.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.
'Tis fine for what it is: a personal script you have followed that has jetted you on a trajectory of your own, Yes, it was aimed some by your parents and grey-haired relatives, but as well by the unique, DNA-directed you. with your own smiles and scowls, and harmonies with those fine voices that join you. And your have done well to follow your own compass, but those young folks there who listen to you oration and those who don't will end up with their own game plan to follow or not. And some may take your advice and others are thinking of the pizza when you're done with your oration and their cap is tossed high. Watch out for those coming down. Their edges might smack you, as may life will. You won't know whose edge it is. It make wake you to great things or it may make you wince and wish you'd seen it coming. But you didn't. You made the most of it, and turned in your robe with no cap, or your own, or some you do not know. Be aware of the flying caps, andif you can, keep the pizza in mind too Life will be full of both.
Hi again - It is so inspiring to see that I am not the only draft-dodger who had to memorize the Preamble of the Canterbury Tales on the way to my degree in English literature. I, like you apparently, have never been able to forget it and can still recite it to this day, more than fifty years later.
Cheers ---
It's a grand preamble and it's just about all the Middle English a person needs to know nowadays.
Good musings. I have always thought everyone should work at least one customer service job (try being a clerk at any dollar type store on a holiday facing long lines of impatient customers) to really get an education. So YES to a liberal arts education as it's never wasted learning how to think and YES to getting your nose out of those same books and work at a fast food restaurant at least once to understand our wild, beautiful, crazy world.
I'm two years older than Garrison and a fellow U of M Gopher alum. But in chemistry, got my PhD and had a great career in the lab and in information groups including my own. A liberal education? Well, I took German, French, Logic, PolySci. Missed out on psych with a crammed schedule but took Intro and Personality from my daughter, a Professor of Psych, so it's never too late to pursue life-long learning. My older sister, an artist (I'm not) clues me in on art apprecitation as well as music appreciation, never had to take those courses.
Jobs? As a high school and commuter student, I worked 3 years in a Mom and Pop grocery store -- delivered groceries, swept floors, stocked shelves, ran the register -- and learned a lot about working with people.
I encouraged my teen-aged kids to get jobs in the food industry so they could learn what they didn't want to do for a living (but learn how to get along with people. Success. My son has had a great stage career in musical theater and now teaches performing arts in a charter school in Newark. My daughter has a PhD in psychology, has a great career as a psych professor, and is now also head of a sports psych department.
I read a lot of poetry and fiction in addition to my STEM reading. One can get a liberal ecducation even if one gets an intensive STEM education.
I was a chemistry major in a Liberal Arts college and took two years each of German and Russian for my Humanities/Social Science requirements. I placed out of Freshman English (after never having gotten above a B in it since 6th grade) but the 2nd year language courses had a lot of literature and history in them. I did take psychology, economics and logic courses in addition to the languages. I went into academia rather than industry, so was able to take lots university courses (mainly foreign languages [Italian, French, Spanish, and German] and computer science) for free both during and after my teaching career. I have no regrets and continue to study foreign languages and work on genealogy and family history (I did interview and get lots of information from my parents and one grandmother and have hundreds of old family pictures, including some of 6 of my 8 great-grandparents and of two great-great grandparents.)
My husband has a parallel background, but he still wishes he had majored in music because he wanted to be a singer in Broadway musicals. His parents thought that it would be too risky a choice, so he majored in chemistry instead. After he retired he took 4 years of classical voice lessons at the university where we taught and one of his professors told him that he likely could have had a career in opera if he had studied music in college and graduate school. We both read a lot and regularly attend classical music concerts and operas and love Shakespeare. We listen to Met Opera Radio and Symphony Hall on SiriusXM or WQXR or ClassicalWCRB.org on a computer connected to a surround sound receiver while watching sports on TV with the sound turned off.
Ah, Ha! Michele, no wonder we keep noticing each other's posts! I was a Secondary Science Education major at Cornell University, and took Russian as my foreign language. At Cornell, our chemistry professor, Robert Plane, was sort of a Chemical Houdini! He'd stand in the bottom of a huge lecture hall, 3 or 4 stories high, and set off chemical reactions on a stone table. The flames would leap over a yard high! And he'd explain molecular interactions in such an understandable way - after that, Chemistry was The Thing! The rest of my coursework was similar, too! I ended up as a librarian for an Oil Company in California, so that academic background was essential! Thanks for the intro! Have a Good One!
My husband was also a chemistry professor (his father had a master's degree in Biology from Cornell, in the early 1930s) who also did wild chemisty demonstrations. He used to give chemistry magic shows in his kids' schools. One of my high school classmates went to Cornell - Bruce Holtje, probably class of 1971.
Sorry GK, this column’s message was lost in your convoluted verbiage. Why not say it straight?
Isn't "convoluted verbiage" a self-definition?
Convolution may be the message.
Don't worry about it. You're just fine as you are.
"I wish that instead I had interviewed my parents and written their life story." Garrison you have made even myself miss them.
Whan thatt Abrille, who with his shoures soote, convoluted verbiagge hath sett affloote.
Sayy itt straitt, thou poett squandrie! I hath business inn thee loundry!!
Greatt Boss YewToube with twelfth string tun-ed, wise sayyinges well met, yet still torpedo-ed!
Krenklerr off Westlakia
When I was an educator, I would've invited you, Garrison. And now some of my younger kin are already doing what you would've said to the class of 2023. They know all about the inspiration-achievement you described, and I'm proud of them!!
I liked the part of your column where you said you wished you had interviewed your parents. I taught second grade and each year I'd have my students interview their grandparents with a set of open ended questions and some simply asking their favorite people. At that time the grandparents were born in the 1930s and 1940s and their favorite movie star was Roy Rogers. The children then had a little book I put together for them to save the interview. That event truly made a difference to some. (The reading, math social studies and science were important too.)
My younger of two grandsons recently asked for a bio of my father, his great grandfather, whom he never knew. it was an education for both of us.
I’m late getting to read this, GK, but this is one of your VERY BEST and I salute you once again!!!
I've worked in bars and retail and banquet halls. My college education was varied. I definitely should have minored in Music than Poly Sci. I was a Comm major with a concentration in Radio/TV/Film.
I learned about international cinema like Sugarcane Alley, El Norte, To Live. etc. I think my well-rounded personality was challenged by authority and those who fear freedom. Thanks GK for offering a commencement speech that touches on the true things like family, friendship, and honesty.
“there are advantages to cowardice too & a person should consider all options”… Spoken like a “Middle Child!” There’s a lot to be said for “position among children in a family.” “rushing ahead to confront injustice and correct wrongs” tends to be the sort of “Leadership Role” that first-borns find as their “Birthright!” This tendency is fairly settled, whether the eldest child is a boy or girl. That child tends to be given the responsibility of making certain that the younger siblings observe family rules. Etc. As “the eldest” they often hear, and understand, more of their parents’ “Philosophy of Life” than subsequent children do. They often end up “interpreting” situations so the younger kids get the picture. On the other hand, subsequent kids - with the possible exception of “The Baby” who might be given special privileges once the parents realize that the “Nest is getting Empty” - are often stuck with having to keep peace with other siblings, and may see the parents’ “authority” from the distance of that intercession.
A classic case is the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass as it affected the course of black and white relationships in Civil War era America. Frederick Douglass was the firstborn son of the white plantation master and his black slave, Harriet Bailey. Until Fred was a teenager, he lived on a Maryland plantation with his younger siblings and other slave children. He developed a marked spirit of independence – escaped to the North as a teenager, went to the British Isles and found support for running an abolitionist newspaper, “The North Star”, and became a high paid abolitionist lecturer.
As such, he came to middle-child Abraham Lincoln, who was the son of an Illinois farmer, and sandwiched between his eldest sister, Sarah (1807-1828) and Thomas, Jr. (1811-1815). For most of his childhood, Abraham would have had to deal with meeting the expectations of his elder sister. He probably escaped the belittling experience of “Being the Baby” of the family, because that role would have gone to the grave with Thomas Jr.
When the Civil War broke out, Abraham Lincoln wanted to hear “both sides of the story.” He became aware of Frederick Douglass, and invited him to the White House. Among other things, their family dynamics probably clicked. Lincoln looked to a representative of African Americans who was taking a leadership role, while Douglass found in Lincoln a “torch” that he could carry in his public dealings in his search for the abolition of slavery, emancipation, and subsequent “equality!”
I beg to differ with our Superlative Host in his use of the word “cowardice!” It seems to me that this is the result of studied habits, developed in childhood, which allow folks in initially “subordinate” positions to find ways to “guide authorities” rather than challenging them with frontal attacks. I’d also point the possibility that our Proactive Host has found many ways over his prominent time on the radio, and through the Internet, to influence the general public, much like Frederick Douglass did! How many Presidents have you had personal dialogs with, our genuinely Non-Cowardly Host? I suppose, part of what I’m saying is that the accolades often go to the showy “First Children” – the supposed “leaders.” But, I imagine, if one did a careful study of situations, you’d often find an eldest child, “Frederick Douglass” type behind the throne of the younger sibling Lincolns! You’ve Got What it Takes, Dear Host! Hallelujah!
It is a great song, Garrison. Inspiration struck.
Pity about that lack of invites. But the one about the sunscreen will always be remembered.