by everending

Created on: January 10, 2009

It's funny. I tried for days to write this speech. Contrary to popular belief, I don't like to hear myself talk. And what could I say that people would want to listen to? I wanted to be five minutes to remember, not that annoying girl at graduation sandwiched somewhere between other annoying people. I even Googled speech writing. Nothing worked, and I honestly gave up. Until two days ago. Two days ago, I found inspiration.

So now, here I am, ready to tell a story. A story about inspiration, a story about art, and most importantly, a story about Emerson.

First, a quote, from a provocative, intellectually-charged, award-winning television series: Xena: Warrior Princess. As Gabrielle the Bard says, "My life is empty, despite my success. I write about love, but I've never felt it before." As artists, we must create in order to live. But we must also live in order to create.

The Emerson College softball team made the NCAA regional tournament for the first time in the history of the school. We didn't win. In fact, we didn't really have a chance in our last game. But there is a lot of room for thinking on second base. I thought about the past four years, on the field, off the field, in the classroom, in my dorm rooms. The people I met, the people I lost. The firsts and finals, the break-ups and breakdowns, and before I had finished with my thinking, the game was over. I watched the sun set, and yeah, not to be too poetic, the sky was on fire. It was very apocalyptical.

And I remembered on the way there, on a charter bus somewhere on 95, somewhere in Providence, I had watched a tree shake in the wind, pink and purple blossoms blowing across the image of the State House up above the highway. A beginning in the midst of an end. And when the game ended, I cried. This is an important revelation understand; usually I'm considered rather soulless and the image of me crying is unsettling to many. But there are three other girls out there who will understand exactly what I'm saying: it was a beginning in the midst of an end.

College is a time of education, but most of this education is outside the confines of academia. Emerson College gave us the tools to be artists, communicators, teachers. It gave us our pens and our cameras, our technologies and our understanding. But our stories, our inspiration, that we gave ourselves, that we learned alone, without guidance, without rules. From Freshman Orientation to Senior Week, we have sought meaning. We have created meaning. Emerson College gave us the tools, but we gave Emerson College the passion.

And now I guess is that time for advice, that place for the future. Never stop looking for meaning; never stop living for inspiration. There are enough stories about writers, films about directors, plays about producers. We must never stop learning, never stop discovering.

For four years, softball was my greatest inspiration. Through it I could channel so many emotions, so many lessons, package it and meter it and title it and put it back out there to inspire others. Through it I felt I could change the world. But now, on the day of our graduation, we each retire our numbers, because before us is a future full of new inspiration. Of new passion. Of new emotions and lessons to package, meter, and title. We just need to find them.

President Liebergott, the Board of Trustees, honorary degree recipients, faculty, staff, family, friends and the Class of the 2007, welcome to the journey.

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