Commencement

I Commenced. It was okay. The morning university ceremony was long and cold and dull. The lunch law school ceremony was casual. I sat with my family and cut up chicken for K, lined up when it was my turn, walked across the stage to get my empty Harvard Law folder, returned my gown and hood, and went home.

I walked across the stage with K and thought about how he had made me feel sick during my 1L finals and kicked me for the first time during Corporations and now we were graduating together. But then I realized I wasn't really graduating. Still, he's in my official graduation picture.

Tomorrow I will Commence back to work and in the fall I will re-Commence my law school classes.

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Dean Kagan did two things in her speech that I liked. One was to acknowledge that many law students feel they've lost their values by the time they graduate. She said that we should value our newfound ability to see both sides of an issue we used to think had only one answer. That ability clarifies your thinking and can help you decide what you really believe. People always complain that law school tears down your beliefs, so I liked her suggestion that it's our responsibility to build them back up using the skills that we've learned.

She also spent a few minutes talking about Barack Obama and his unconventional career path. She pointed out that the usual path for someone like him -- star student, Law Review President -- would be a circuit court clerkship, followed by a Supreme Court clerkship, followed by appellate practice at a top law firm. Instead, his professors scratched their heads when he went to do low-paying community civil rights work in Chicago. But look where he is now. Her point, she said, was not that following your heart will bring you riches and glory, but that it will take you where you want to be. I appreciated that, as we (most of us, anyway) prepared to start our careers, she urged us one last time not to chase prestige and instead to pursue what we feel is satisfying and worthwhile.

Read J.K. Rowling's entire speech here. Not only did she deliver graduation wisdom, but she also mentioned gay wizards in the first minute.

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Somebody pointed out that, since I like law school, I should be happy that I still get to come back after graduation. That's a good attitude, I think. I dislike ceremonies and crowds, and I love law school, so I'm actually glad this won't be my last memory of it.

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The conversation I had with the girl at the rental table when I returned my cap and gown about sums up my day:
Her: Ooh, can I see the diploma? I've never seen a Harvard Law one.
Me: I, uh... don't have one.
Her: Oh, do they mail it to you or something?
Me: No...