Beautiful Day, Lousy Ceremony

We just got back from Raleigh where we attended commencement ceremonies at Meredith College (two down, one to go!). It was a beautiful day and Meredith has a beautiful campus. Typical of most liberal arts colleges, though, the ceremony was about as organized as a fire drill in a kindergarden.

The commencement address was given by Renee Montagne of Morning Edition and All Things Considered on NPR. She rambled on about nothing but herself for forty-five minutes. She has to be one of the most self-absorbed, egotistical people I've ever encountered up close. She could have simply said, "It's me, me, me. It's all about me!" and then sat down and saved all of us a lot of sweat (it was very hot). About the last three sentences of her monument to herself were this message to the graduates: Live in the moment, never make plans, and regardless of how stupid and useless your job might be, never let anyone tell you about it. I'm beginning to think that whoever said liberalism is a mental disorder might be right.

By the time she sat down, I was giving strong consideration to walking up to the President of the college and demanding my $100,000 back.