Graduation speech press release commences runaway train of memories

Let's make this clear at the outset: I harbor no ill-feeling toward Brian Earl.

I mean, for goodness' sake, it's been nearly a half-century now since he was chosen to deliver the student address at our high school graduation... and I wasn't. I'm hardly ever triggered about this anymore. Honest.

It's just that I get sent a lot more press releases now -- that's one consequence of 4,000,000 page views -- and one of these, recently, touted the fact that Appellate Court Justice Jesse G. Reyes was chosen to give the commencement address earlier this month at the graduation exercises conducted by the University of Illinois Chicago Law School (the law school formerly known as John Marshall).

Chosen. By student vote. Just like Brian Earl.

Brian and I were the finalists for the student speaker at our high school graduation. We had to give our proposed speeches before an assembly of our classmates; they got to choose between us.

Brian was smart: His speech was geared to the graduates. I was not smart: Mine was aimed at the parents. I figured that parents would be the ones actually listening. Think back on your own graduations, then think of the graduations you've attended as parents, when your kids graduated. There were speakers at all of them. If you listened to any of them, which ones did you listen to more? See?

But even if I was correct -- I sure didn't read the room. Not that room, not that day... and so many times since.

And don't ask me now what I hoped to talk about then. Perhaps some harangue about how we Boomers were going to change the world -- maybe a screed about how we kids ought to have been raised -- but more likely some safe, boring pap about our eternal gratitude for the enormous advantages we'd been gifted by our families. Call it cringing cowardice. Call it mealy-mouthed brown-nosing. Whatever it was actually about, I can't remember now -- all I recall, now, is my firm conviction, then, that it would have gone over big with the target audience. But I had to win the dance-off first. And I lost. Bigly.

You'll notice, to this point, if you've made it this far, that I haven't said anything about Justice Reyes' speech.

That's because I don't know what he talked about.

The press release from UIC Law School listed Justice Reyes' many awards and accomplishments -- mostly things that FWIW readers already know, or at least have heard -- but it did not even give the title of his talk. The accompanying email mentioned the bit about students choosing him as the speaker. Apparently it's a tradition. A tradition which -- I hope! -- stretches back well into the John Marshall days because JMLS has been UIC Law now for, what, three years? Five? Whatever. It was JMLS when Justice Reyes went there.

Anyway, Justice Reyes got to give the commencement address at UIC Law on May 6. He was selected for this honor by the graduating students.

Just like Brian Earl.

* Sigh *