I am in the process of packing up my San Francisco apartment in preparation for a return to South Florida at the end of the month. I love the opportunity that moving provides to explore the old stuff that we keep with us on our journey. It’s also nice to shed some things we not longer want to accompany us.
Last night as I rummaged through binders that I’ve kept for over a decade now, I came across the paper-copy of the commencement speech I delivered at my major’s graduation ceremony at Duke back in 2008. I re-read it with so much wonderment for who I was then, how I’ve always been, and how I have changed.
Here it is:
A few observations from that speech:
- What’s not fully conveyed by this text is how very proud I was to have the opportunity to personally and publicly thank my parents, grandparents, and siblings for their love and support. I felt lucky that out of all of my classmates I had earned that distinction.
- So much of the speech still rings true, especially the part about the International Comparative Studies (ICS) major being designed for the curious and for the trailblazer. I feel today as I did back then – that I want to learn about so many things, that I can’t just pick one!
- Other parts of this speech amuse me now. I can see how my time in undergrad presaged what we see happening on a larger scale in American higher education today, namely, the vilification of America. In the speech, I said: “In the coming century, we Americans will be asking ourselves where do we fit in the world – not how can we control it.” With the benefit of twelve years worth of hindsight, I can now see how that was an incorrect statement. If I had to do it all over again, I would have declared, “In the coming century, we Americans must ask ourselves – how can we lead the world by pursuing our individual excellence?”
Finally, in the spirit of nostalgia, I also wanted to share my senior year thesis on professional club soccer ⚽️. Yes, I did spend an entire year reading, watching, and writing about soccer – what a dream!
Check out For the Good of the Fan: The Hypercommodification of Professional Club Soccer and the Emergency of the Hybrid Fan. (What a mouthful!)
How have you grown since college? How has your perspective changed? I plan to share more on this in future posts.