Today was graduation at the University of Chicago, or rather, as someone pointed out, “convocation.” Here are the students lining up to march into the venue. Fortunately, the weather was lovely, though a bit hot; they hold graduation outdoors whether it’s sunny or rainy (the stage is covered, and they provide ponchos to everyone if it rains):
The line extended across 57th Street and in front of Regenstein Library:
And a panorama, which still shows only part of the lineup:
The ceremony (it was hot and the seats in the sun were largely empty):
And the happy graduates. The first shot shows my colleague Manyuan Long (left, in pink shirt) embracing his son, who just graduated.
Congrats to all graduates; I know what a happy time this is—the successful completion of four years of hard work (more for many grad students)!
I love graduation. Many of my colleagues complain about having to attend (it’s in our contract–we don’t take turns, we all attend unless excused by the provost) but I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Fortunately, because of one of my responsibilities, I get to be right up front assisting in the hooding–so I get to see all the grads I know up close and personal. I look forward to it every year. Plus (is this embarrassing?) I get a little musty eyed from Pomp and Circumstance.
Gaudeamus, igitur. Vivat academia! Vivant professores!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGXYkfLJ4s
In honor of UC’s graduating class and the 102nd anniversary of Saul Bellow’s birth, how about the great opening line from my favorite novel by this UC professor of the Committee on Social Thought:
— The Adventures of Augie March
Unlike Augie, Bellow was Canadian born, but otherwise was probably the most Bellow-like of the great man’s protagonists.
My interest in going to UofC was sparked by Bellow and Philip Roth. Amazing how a New York Jew could know the mind of a Chicago teenager at an all boys Catholic school. Portnoy’s Complaint really spoke to me.
I wanted to be a writer. I ended up a math major. I knew my limitations.
Roth’s novella Indignation is an interesting study of a Jewish kid (who, apparently, is narrating the story from the grave, after being expelled and then killed in the Korean War) attending a WASPy college in Winesburg, OH (Sherwood Anderson’s old stamping ground).
I’ve always thought of Bellow, Roth, and Malamud as forming a holy trinity of sorts. (The way DeLillo and Pynchon form a dynamic duo of a different sort.)
Congratulations to all graduates from reputable universities everywhere. You make us proud and you should be proud of yourselves. I am so fortunate in having a grandson graduating from UC, Davis shortly. Way to go 2017 grads!
This was an *integrated* ceremony?? You’ll never match Harvard that way.
Have any of the students complained yet about the cultural appropriation of giving out ponchos when it’s raining?
Depends if they’re real Mexican panchos or Sears panchos.
I’ve wondered for a while why some universities speak of “convocation”, some of “graduation”, some of “commencement”, some of “marching ceremony”, etc.
Any thoughts?