... Graduating !
Celebrating ...
also so incredibly grateful to have shared them with you . I ’ m still sorry — really sorry , especially in the case of my brief but inexplicable semi-colon phase of sophomore year , where every sentence had to have a semi colon … or two — but I hope that what you take away from this is gratitude . So to all of the professors : thank you for answering all of the semi-hysterical emails , for decoding all of my messy , half-formed comments during class discussions , and for never once making any of us feel lesser for still having so much to learn . Thank you for caring about us as people as well as students , for the feedback that , though temporarily devastating , made us better writers in the process , and for always , always being there to help .
As I have said , I can only really speak for myself , but I know I have never met teachers who care so powerfully about their students or who put so much time and care into helping them grow . This department is full of amazing educators and intellectuals and amazing people , and I don ’ t think the other graduates in the room would disagree with me when I say that some of us might not be walking the stage on Saturday if it were not for the constant support that this Department has shown us . So to the professors : really and truly , thank you for everything .
To the Graduates : This is the part where things get a little messy , because while there is no doubt in my mind that I am thankful for the last four years I have spent here that is just about the only thing in my life that I ’ m sure of right now . I know that I am absolutely terrified — right now specifically but also just in a general sense — but aside from that graduation is this terribly confusing mixture of sadness and elation and crippling anxiety .
As I was writing this — or , more accurately , as I was hunched over my desk , not writing but instead complaining very loudly about not knowing what to write — I got a little bit of inspiration from a coworker . He knew vaguely what I
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