Gradumation

| 10 Comments

I've posted a dickload of photos from the Boalt graduation festivalities here. Please peruse thoroughly if you ever expect to receive legal advice from me in the future. I have high resolution versions of all the photos if'n you want them.

High points:
- Gavin Newsom's speech. There aren't many things in the world that are boringer than graduation ceremonies (with the possible exception of photos of graduation ceremonies), and having someone as engaging and energetic as Mayor Newsom speak definitely lessened the sting. Gavin Newsom has so much charisma that he could be the Antichrist if he wanted to.
- The speeches by Dean Edley and Professor Harris were also very good. Neither of them made me feel particularly bad about pursuing a legal career that will allow me to pay my bills, but both made me kind of sad to be leaving Boalt.
- The "Nixon's Funeral" Shot. This was the first time my parents have been photographed together since I can't remember when, including my wedding and my college graduation.
- The steel drum band. It actually kind of worked.
- Owly the Graduation Owl, gifted to me by the incomparable Mrs. Lane.
- Seeing Professor Moran on stage. She was visiting at UCLA my 1L year and I had her for Torts. She wrote my transfer recommendation letter after she returned to Boalt.
- Seeing everyone one last time before we all start taking the bar review course together in a week.

Low points:
- My dad missing the pre-graduation dinner because he had to work late (still a latchkey kid after all these years); my mom and grandparents missing the post-graduation lunch because they wanted to get an early start on the drive down south.
- The reading of names being interrupted for a few minutes due to the arrival of the First Lady of Thailand. What, indeed, the hell.
- My FCC paper getting passed over for the Thelen Writing Award; me realizing that I may have had a better shot if I had mentioned some way in which the FCC's indecency campaign hurt minorities.
- Getting passed over for the outstanding female student of color award; finding out I wasn't even a finalist.
- The heavy-handed "This is a story about a woman who went to law school to make a difference" speech by the LLM student representative.

All in all I had a great graduation weekend. And now, the Bar...

10 Comments

ok, first off what i mean is congratulations, but more importantly, what? i thought you got cool hats when you got a master's or PhD? why is it the same stupid hat you wear when you get a BA? even all your professors are wearing the same stupid hat. when i got a BA, the professors all had these crazy weird hats and cowls and looked like magicians gone to seed. i was under the impression that you get a different hat, depending on where you graduate from, when you get a doctorate. why have you ruined my dream?!

Yes, I was hoping for the pillow hat. The square hat that I got was of higher quality than the undergrad version (which is probably why I didn't get to keep it). Dean Edley actually wore a puffier version of the square mortar board, which you can't really tell from the photos. Dean Ortiz wore a weird cross between a chef's hat and a beret, visible here. She's the diminutive woman standing between Gavin Newsom and Dean Edley (who is inexplicably wearing pink).

Hmm ... are you sure the reading of names wasn't halted by the *Taiwanese* first lady? Because I was talking to Lydia's (Taiwanese) grandmother, and although I accept that the first ladies of BOTH Taiwan and Thailand COULD have attended the Boalt graduation, I am doubtful.

But never mind that. A hearty congratulations, Matt. I will probably grow old and die without knowing how difficult law school is.

Ah. Well, they didn't actually tell is while it was happening. I just got the news second-hand after the ceremony from one of the students who was backstage when the delay hit. It's perfectly possible that she said "Thailand" when she meant "Taiwan."

The funny thing is that there was a woman graduating who's nine months pregnant, and she was backstage when the reading was interrupted. So a lot of us thought she had gone into labor, which would have made for a much better story.

So wait. Is lydia's grandmother actually a Taiwanese first lady or what? Or are you guys just being witty?

congratulations! hey, i was planning to hit the bar after i graduate too. though by the time i (under)graduate it'll probably have to be a soup bar or a parcheesi bar or something where the only way to pick up guys is to show them pictures of my hot granddaughters.

great pictures =) i like your robes better than the ones we got. and i wanted a funny beret hat thing, too. i was sad about that. i thought it was about time i got something cooler, but i guess we at least got those capes that choke you around the neck. congrats again!

better late than never: congrats! you and owly will make a great team!

Congraduations, Matt. I really like the photo of you in your nice robe and shades. It's a good look for you. Music PhDs get pillow hats. And they're velvety blue.

Tom, my grandmother is a first-rate Taiwanese lady, but she wasn't at Matt's graduation. However, I do believe the son of the president of Taiwan was graduating that day.

I was under the impression that the type of cap you got was a directly linked to the amount of money you were willing to shell out for the rental. The Ph.D. candidates in my departments all had different ones (cost of blue robe + blue puffy cap > cost of black robe + black mortarboard cap)...

Congratulations, and good luck on the Bar!

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This page contains a single entry by hb published on May 15, 2005 4:43 PM.

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