Thursday, May 17, 2018

Torchbearers

Vol 2 No. 27

I missed last week...so we are going to do two this week.  One today...and then one in a couple of days.  The following is a transcript of the remarks I made last night at the 2018 Honors Graduation and Awards Ceremony, followed by a list of our graduates and award winners.  I hope that you feel some resonance in these words and in the message they have for us all...



This is my third time presiding over this very special event and I’ve already established a tradition, or at least an approach to this speech that helps get me started in its writing at a time when things are, in a word, frenetic.  I see smiles and nods from some of you who are still in the throes of writing the papers and studying for the tests that will close out the Spring 2018 semester for you.  Having a hook already in place to hang my hat on lets me more quickly roll up my sleeves and get to work on writing something that will hopefully resonate with all of you.

I want to talk about two things tonight that have been a niggling voice in my head all during the course of this semester.  I’ve heard them in presentations, I’ve seen them on social media,  I’ve observed them in the interactions I’ve seen between students both in and out of the classroom.  In short, they’ve consistently come up during the course of the semester and even in the beginning stages of my thinking about next semester.  But then there was that tradition.

I began it as a way to make the starting of speech writing easier, but I ran into an even worse snag this year than I did last year when I tried to link it to Development of Modern Horror.  Even worse was that I couldn’t seem to figure out which hook to hang that hat on – Women Who Kill or The Lord of the Rings?  The first seemed daunting and the latter threatened to take over because it is rife with powerful content.  And, honestly, other than Eowyn’s rallying cry of “I am no man” on the fields of Pellenor, the two really don’t have a lot in common.  Except, they do.  Which leads me to those two things I want to talk about. 

The first is the power of fellowship.  As we read the stories of women who made horrific and heart-wrenching stories, we so often read, also, about how they had no support from those around them.  They struggled with trauma, tragedy, and tribulations that speak volumes about the choices they made.  These stories do not make what they did okay, but they remind us of the importance of having a tribe, or people, or a support network, or whatever personal phrase you want to use to describe the amazing communities we build around us.  I’ve sometimes joked that Honors Studies often attracts students who have not yet found a home anywhere and, jokes aside, it is powerful to watch what happens when their Honors courses become their home at FLCC.  They – no, you – have found a place where you are not just tolerated – but welcomed and accepted.  At the least you found a fellowship of like-minded learners in your Honors classes and experiences.  But more than that, many of you found friendship and community beyond what you expected.  As Gildor tells Frodo, “courage is found in unlikely places” and so who would have thought that in a class about fear and horror, you would find safety and encouragement?  Or that in a course about women who poison and smother, you would find comfort and affirmation?  But you have – and not just in my Honors courses, but in others as well.  You have leaned on and supported one another and offered compassion and encouragement.  And you have been given the same by those who sit with you tonight, along with others who could not be here.  You have a support network that many do not and that leads me to my next thought.

The second thing I want to talk about is the need we have in the world for compassion and understanding of others to the extent that it is possible.  Hard work, determination, passion, creativity, and intellectual rigor are all amazing things to have and to hone and to habituate.  But these things alone should not and cannot exist in a vacuum.  I often lay upon my students the daunting reminder that it is they who will change the world and you, our Honors Studies students, are at the forefront carrying the torch.  And so, I lay on you another reminder – that you please do all the remarkable work of which you are capable with your heart engaged and open.  Strive to understand those who come from different places and have made choices that run counter to your beliefs and your realm of experience.   Do not compromise your principles without reason or surrender conviction in the name of understanding, but remember that old adage about walking in another’s shoes.  Sometimes we have to stand up and fight, it is true, but choose those times wisely and remember, as Galadriel tells Frodo that “even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”  Use your sphere of influence to spread positivity, compassion, understanding and, dare I say it, love.


2018 Graduates and Award Winners

Honors Studies Scholar Graduates
Brandon Bailey - AS Business Administration
Christian Case - AA Liberal Arts and Sciences Literature, December 2017
Tyler Deskins - AA Liberal Arts and Sciences Mathematics
W. Henry Livingston - AA Liberal Arts and Sciences

Honors Studies Distinction Awards:
Jill Bond
McKenna Guarasce
Onni Adams
Will Maskrey
Elijah Lorah
Brianna Smith
Blinne Krieger
Vicki Ilyssa

Honors Studies Student Leadership Awards
Jill Bond and Blinne Krieger

Dr. Barbara A. Etzel Spirit Award
Lucas Holmes 

Congratulations to all our winners and all of YOU.  Without you, Honors could not be what it is.



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