In an article entitled "Proctor ceremony short on serious, long on comedy," today's Concord Monitor has the nerve to suggest that yesterday's graduation exercises were "...marked by sarcasm, self-deprecating humor and a steel drum performance of Jimmy Buffett's "Volcano." I guess she liked it!
Perhaps, at other Commencements, the reporter heard speakers congratulating graduates on entering a world marked by stability and the triumph of rational thought, but at Proctor she quoted Essayist Sean O'Connell saying, "I've built my career on screwing up." The article goes on to describe the speech as, "short on advice and long on wisecracks." Here's the steelband playing "Volcano:"
Sean spoke of the pressures facing today's graduates while placing things in perspective, "But the good news is, I can save a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico."
The paper, in my opinion, takes our Commencement speaker--nueropsychologist Gessner Geyer--out of context with a bold pull quote that reads, "Ulysses S. Grant was a drunk. Harry Truman was a failed clothing salesman." I suppose it is those of us who attend only Proctor graduations who need context to appreciate how distinct our annual rite appears to others.
It all seemed like business as usual to me.
