A year before I graduated, Bradley Whitford (Josh from the West Wing for those of you who don’t know) was the commencement speaker. Although not a University Wisconsin graduate himself, he is a Madison native and his wife, Jane Kaczmarek (the mother from Malcolm in the Middle), is a Wisconsin native and a UW grad. And then there’s the West Wing – Wisconsin connection. I’m not sure why, but Sorkin always has something linking back to Wisconsin in all of his shows. (In the West Wing, Donna was a graduate of UW-Madison). And his speech was pretty good, as I hear from my friends that graduated that year.
The other speaker that year was Tammy Baldwin – the Madison area Congressional Representative and the first openly lesbian member of the House of Representatives (and probably Congress as well). And while her speaking talents are not fantastic, she commands a significant authority to speak.
Last year the commencement speaker was Andre de Shields. I didn’t know who he was at the time – but apparently he was also a UW-Madison Theater graduate and has become an award winning actor. His speech was also good. Last winter’s commencement speaker was Daily Show producer, former Onion contributer, and frequent guest lecturer – Ben Karlin.
I logon today (my homepage is the University of Wisconsin main page), and what do I see? “Scott Van Pelt to address Winter Commencement.” My initial reaction was: “that’s awesome.” Again for those of you who don’t know… Scott Van Pelt – an ESPN anchor (and one of the best ones at that) – recently called Madison the greatest college sports town in the country. And of course, I agree.
Of course then I thought about who my commencement speaker was. Odessa Piper, owner of Madison’s best (and most expensive) restaurant – L’Etoile. I should mention that she’s not a UW graduate… more over, she’s not even a college graduate. But after talking with some friends and finding out that she’s developed a fantastic restaurant with seasonal food that comes from the outlying areas around Madison and that her honorary degree was for this agricultural business model, I was ready to listen. And listen for some sense of that innovation I did… And I’m still listening.
Now, I may be an oratorical snob, but her speech was terrible. That’s why today’s news is particularly frustrating to me. Why does it seem like every other graduation ceremony I could have been involved in was much better than mine?
Oh well. There’s always this May.
