the year i graduated from portland state, we had miss america and fellow student katie harmon speak at our commencement. she had accomplished nothing beyond being pretty and having good posture in heels (which, admittedly, is something).
the graduation before me was bill clinton, the one after me was outgoing oregon symphony conductor james depriest, whose speech totally moved me to tears. so..i feel shafted and like i have a viable beef where commencement speakers are concerned (granted, it could've been much, much worse).
and i know, portland state is no harvard (for one thing, harvard is now cheaper for someone at my income level!), but come on, who wouldn't be doing frickin' cartwheels to have jk rowling at my commencement. i don't think it's reasonable to dismiss the single most influential author of our time (doubt me, go take a look at the young adult section of your local bookstore) as "some children's writer." i also don't really get why she wouldn't compare favorably with bill gates--harry potter's as universally known as windows, but without the bugs (unless you count all of the camping in book 7).
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