commencement '06

I am soooo ceremonied out. Most memorable piece of advice from my department graduation came from a prof that reminded us to always wear sunblock, floss your teeth and have lots of safe sex. Our keynote speaker at our school-wide ceremony this afternoon was the then assistant to Leo Ryan who went down to Jonestown South Africa to investigate a cult led by Jim Jones. Jackie Speier was shot 5 times and left for dead for 20 hours. Leo Ryan was shot dead on the tarmack as they attempted to fly out. She told the graduates (not in these words but I was too tired and delirious to remember them exactly) to live their lives as if they knew they wouldn't fail. Neil Young (yes the singer who is Canadian by the way) and his wife were also given honorary doctorates for founding the Bridge School for young people with disabilities. The only other thing I'll probably remember was seeing one of the deans hood one of the undergrad hood recipients. It was broadcast on a HUGE screen and it looked like he was going to kiss her on the lips and the whole crowd of students was like HOLY SHIT, HOLD UP! He ended up going for the cheek but it didn't look that way on the approach.