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EddieColeslaw

Awesome Commencement Speeches

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So, this appeared in my YT subs today, and I thought I'd share it. It's Amanda Palmer (of The Dresden Dolls) delivering a commencement speech to the New England Institute of Art.

 

 

Amanda Palmer on "The Fraud Police", NEIA 2011. Best to start at 2m08s. Here's a transcript.

 

"The fraud police are this imaginary, terrifying force of experts and real grown-ups who don't exist and who come knocking on your door at 3am when you least expect it, saying "Fraud police. We've been watching you and we have evidence that you have no idea what you are doing. And you stand accused of the crime of completely making shit up as you go along."

 

That's like...my whole life. Even with a four-year BSc course behind me, I still feel like I'm pretty much making everything up. And I know some of you, especially recent graduates, have expressed this in the bad stuff thread, so this may be a little comforting to watch.

 

Another commencement speech I liked, in a similar vein:

 

 

Steve Jobs, Stanford 2005. The most important part (imo, of course) is at 8m17s. I think this one is quite well-known, so I don't know how many people here have already seen it.

 

--

 

What do you think? If you graduated recently, is it just inspirational BS? Did it give you some confidence? If you already have a steady job, have you ever thought about the Fraud Police?

 

Will prob edit this later, not very well-written but I just got a call to go to workkkkkk

Edited by EddieColeslaw

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Those are some great speeches. :) They really are inspirational, and there is a great deal of wisdom in them. Sure, you can't always have an equally idealistic view on life, but you just have to keep trying.

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I don't even remember the speakers at my graduation, definitely weren't inspiring or funny like that woman.

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Those are some great speeches. :) They really are inspirational, and there is a great deal of wisdom in them. Sure, you can't always have an equally idealistic view on life, but you just have to keep trying.

 

Yeah, all we can do is heed their words and do our best :)

 

I don't even remember the speakers at my graduation, definitely weren't inspiring or funny like that woman.

 

I wonder whether there'll be a speaker at my graduation. I have no idea how graduations work...

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My graduation had no speeches, I just had to pull on someone's finger and bow.

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I had the bloke who wrote Captain Corelli's Mandolin at my graduation. I didn't pay attention to a word he said.

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I just wiki'd Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and it sounds like the most boring thing ever (was he boring as well?). And it has Nicolas Cage in it. Imagine if Nicolas Cage gave a commencement speech...

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