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№ 2012.007 — Goucher College — Commencement address
Ira Glass
Field: arts
Ira Glass opens by declaring his opposition to the very form of the commencement speech, then shares personal connections to Goucher, including his grandmother Frieda Freelander (Class of '31). He reassures graduates that feeling lost, floundering, and questioning their choices in their twenties is normal, recounting his own years of struggling as a writer and performer in public radio and clashing with his parents. He advises that ideas and creative work require deliberate effort, and closes with a story about his grandmother encountering Hitler in 1932, urging graduates to keep building themselves so they will recognize their chance to change the world when it comes.
Key moments
- 01 Glass critiques the commencement speech as a doomed, cloying form even as he delivers one
- 02 He shares his floundering twenties as a poor writer and stiff performer paying NPR reporters to critique his scripts
- 03 He reflects on conflicts with his worried parents and advises graduates not to be a dick as parents adjust
- 04 He recounts his grandmother Frieda's hardships and her 1932 encounter with Hitler as a lesson about uncertainty
Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording