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Not All Commencement Addresses Are Equal

By Nick Moran posted at 12:30 pm on May 9, 2012 2

Graduation season is upon us, and college students across the nation are listening to esteemed commencement speakers. Some get treated to the likes of Bill Watterson, Jon Stewart, or Barbara Kingsolver. (I got to listen to The Rock.) In the thrill of the moment, it feels like it hardly matters who’s at the podium. One wonders if audiences really grasp the material in these speeches right away, or if the speaker’s words only become clear later on. Inspired by David Foster Wallace’s iconic Kenyon address in 2005, our own Kevin Hartnett tried to find out.

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2 Responses to “Not All Commencement Addresses Are Equal”

H
at 12:29 am on May 10, 2012
Wallace gave his speech in 2005, not 2008.
Nick Moran
at 7:39 am on May 10, 2012
Ugh, I knew that. Thanks for spotting the catch!

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Nick Moran is the social media editor for The Millions. He was born in Hoboken, NJ and he returned there after graduating from the University of Miami. Before leaving the publishing industry, he worked for Norton, John Wiley & Sons, and Oxford University Press. His interests can be followed on his Tumblr, Nick Recommends and Twitter, @nemoran3.

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