July 18, 1997
Loyola Marymount University CTY Graduation Speech, 1st Session
Good afternoon. I know all of you are ready to get out of here, so I'm going to try to make this short and sweet . . . and in case any of you are wondering, no I don't plan to strip down to my boxers and dance around half-naked to Vanilla Ice . . . at least not in the next 5 minutes. For those of you who weren't here for the talent show this past Saturday and missed that last comment, don't worry, I'll fill you in later.
I suspect that I've been selected to give this speech today, because -- as the youngest person on the staff -- I presumably have the strongest memories of my days as a CTY student. Well, to tell you the truth, when I left home in Washington, DC for Los Angeles three weeks ago, my memories from the two summers I spent at CTY were farthest from my mind. Honestly, what brought me here was the idea that I'd be spending six weeks laying out in the beautiful California sun getting rid of my paleness. You've gotta understand, getting called the Master of Alabaster, all year long at Yale, was doing irreparable damage to my ego. And so I arrived at LMU three weeks ago, with few expectations and a whole lot of swimming gear.
However, from the moment I stepped on campus I could tell this would be more than your usual beach week. The first person I ran into, now a good friend of mine, reminded me why I loved CTY as a student. In a scenario I'm sure many of you students experienced over the past three weeks, the two of us saw eye to eye so quickly and clearly that it was like a reunion with an old friend rather than a meeting with a total stranger. Throughout the following weeks I continued to meet people with whom I wanted to spend hours on end, with whom I could talk to about most anything . . . with whom I had so much in common that I could have sworn we were twins separated at birth. The last time I remember making close friends so quickly was 3 years ago as a CTY student in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The thing that makes CTY so conducive to friendship and camaraderie is the fact that when students come to CTY they let down their guard and are for once free to act like the intelligent, interesting and fun-loving people they are. No longer is there a need to suppress one's natural intellectual fervor in fear of being called a nerd, dork or loser. Instead, there is a general consensus that intellectual curiosity is an essential characteristic of a complete human being and that, believe it or not, academics are not just a chore devised to torture young people nine months of every year. CTY is one of those rare places where learning and enjoyment exist in perfect harmony.
Inspired by this inclusive atmosphere I decided to try something I've never tried before, and so, on Saturday night at the talent show I rapped and danced half-naked to outdated rap music before 600 people. Afterwards, one student said to me "Oh my Gooooooddddd, we thought you were a serious teacher but look at you, this is like Jeckyl and Hyde or something". Dozens of others came up to tell me I had scared the living daylights out of them, and while I apologize for any psychological trauma I might have caused, I must say, I don't regret what I did for one second.
For I want you to see that being mature and adult-like has nothing to do with losing your sense of humor and youthful exuberance. Although, all empirical evidence indicates that the two are necessarily related, this sad condition is not caused by age, but by people taking themselves too seriously and failing to notice the humor in their lives. If there's one thing I can recommend for you in future years it is laughter. Your successful completion of this session of CTY signifies that -- aside from surviving meal after meal from the infamous Grind-0-Matic -- you are all remarkable kids who will most likely succeed in school as well as in your careers. If anything is to slow you down however, I suspect it will not be a lack of drive or ambition but rather disillusionment and burn-out, so take it from me, don't take yourselves too seriously and be willing to laugh at your own mistakes. If at any time, the going gets tough, smile a little wider and laugh a little louder.
Congratulations on your graduation; it has been a great joy to be around you for the past 3 weeks and thank you for reminding me that CTY is still the best place to spend a summer vacation. Those of you who are staying here another session, I'm looking forward to seeing you around campus and those of you who are leaving, I wish you a fun and exciting remainder of the summer. Just remember, wherever you are, to keep learning, keep dancing and above all else keep smiling.
