The Garden of the Blind

I just came back from my sister-in-law's commencement. This is the first graduation that I have attended where I was not a) graduating or b) dating one of the graduates (this includes graduates that I was married to). Apparently, attending each others' graduations is something that my in-laws do.

(Note to my brother who will be graduating this month while wearing one freakin' awesome cap: This changes nothing. I'm still not coming.)

All asides aside, the trip went quite well. It served several purposes. One was to get us to St. George, which is a city that I would not stop at for longer than a few hours if I did not have family there. Another was to test out our new car/car seat/son on a road trip. Two five hour legs were good practice for when we take him to Yellowstone later this year. There were some logistical problems (for most of the trip, one of us rode in the back), but for the most part, the boy slept or entertained himself, and I can fit into the back seat if the front seat is suitably far forward.

As for the commencement, the speaker was a banker/basketball franchise owner who almost failed to get a BS degree and has a scarcely concealed contempt for higher education. Fortunately, the school doesn't give any degrees higher than a BS except for the honorary ones bestowed on commencement speakers and the like.

They had two valedictorians speak, one for the BS programs and one for the lesser graduates. The BS valedictorian was noteworthy since her brother has been missing for a few weeks, which apparently has made the news farther north without making actual headlines. All of the speakers who were associated with the school referred to the Dixie Spirit, which I thought had some amusingly inappropriate potential misinterpretations. They have enough trouble in that area with cities that want to withdraw from international treaties (question: do they have to join the organization before they can withdraw from it?) and religious fundamentalists. They don't need to inadvertently invoke the spirit of Jim Crow laws and white supremacy.

One student had died in a scuba diving accident during the school year and so his widow and two sons accepted his posthumous AS degree on his behalf, receiving a rousing ovation. I was slightly disappointed that she wore red regalia (as did all of the women who didn't receive a BS degree) instead of the blue that her husband would have worn. Still, they deserved the applause that they received.

I was proud of my sister-in-law for receiving the highest degree offered by her school, unless she can become very successful and get invited back to mock some future graduating class. Way to go, Bud, and thank you for taking us in for the night.