June 9, 2008
President Faust
Whoa, have I been out of it. Just noted a Coudal link to J. K. Rowling’s Harvard commencement address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination“. Went to check it out and read the opening line.
President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.
President Faust. I did not know that. Whoa, have I been out of it.
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Can Rowling be Obama’s VP?
you missed a good story behind this – the harvard kids objected to someone as pedestrian as Rowling speaking at their vaunted commencement. check my tumblr for links to the NPR article on it:
http://andreakremer.tumblr.com/post/37674513/harvard-university-2008-commencement-plagued-by-giant
Andrea: Thank you for the link that brought this to my attention. You know, I am not much of a fan of Rowling or the Potter books (that’s another story, perhaps), but the idea of students objecting to her delivering the annual Harvard commencement speech — yes, that does raise my hackles.
Let’s see now . . . Bono, Bill Gates, Will Ferrell, Conan O’Brien, Muhammad Ali — that’s just off the top of my head . . . What? J. K. Rowling not fit to associate with this august company?
SIck, right? I’m actually not a huge Rowling fan myself but at this point I’d much rather get a beer with J.K. than an honorary degree from President Faust.
Ab-so-tively. I mean, commencement speeches are supposed to be about exhorting students, about tossing out advice to steel them as they enter the real world, soi-disant. (And actually, hers is a pretty decent speech.)
Yes, by the way, I’d much rather knock one back with J. K. Rowling than with President Faust.