And by the way (…bitch?)

Graduation was lovely. Dr. Lang Farmer is the department head now, so he gave a fairly brief little speech. He really emphasized how important our degrees are, not because of the knowledge that we’ve learned to earn them, but because we’ve presumably also learned to think about things critically and to not accept facts at face value. He made an incredibly good point about the importance of critical thinking, and how training in the earth sciences field gives us a foundation for that sort of thinking.

So I got to stand at the front of the auditorium with my nine other undergrads and get a little applause, as well as a pretty diploma cover and a nice coffee mug. I’ve been in at least one class with each of the guys I graduated with; it was an odd thing to notice, since I’ll be surprised if I see any of them again any time soon.

Celebration dinner is tomorrow, and after that all I can really do is wait for my grades to finish posting, then see what the two schools I applied at for graduate study have to say.

As for the last bit of my post title, I just heard about Senator Schumer mouthing off to a flight attendant, then calling her a “bitch” under his breath. That was a jerky thing for him to do, and I hope he makes a proper apology. That would be a jerky thing for any man to do, regardless of his politics. I could go in to more detail about the language issue, but Dan has made the point much better than I could. I tend to believe that words only have the power that you choose to give them**; on the other hand, you simply cannot ignore the historical baggage that goes with a word, or the way the rest of the culture understands it. The “porch monkey” scene from Clerks 2 springs instantly to mind.

** Though this admittedly operates as an excuse for the fact that I curse like a sailor at the slightest provocation.