Parenthetical post
While Liz tries to find time to finish up the L.A. recap of our West-coast trip, I figured I'd post a little something, :-).
This past weekend was Commencement at Yale, and my little sister Victoria is now officially done with school and ready to enter the real world. Well, after her 7-week world tour with her a-capella group...sheesh...
Liz and I headed up to the Haven on Sunday morning, getting there in time to grab a quick bite at Claire's before Class Day on Old Campus. The carrot cake, Lithuanian coffee cake and banana chocolate cake did not disappoint, let me tell you that! The weather was horrible for Class Day, and true to predictions it started raining pretty heavily about half-way through the ceremony. Anderson Cooper was the guest speaker, and let me tell you, he was really funny! His speech was sooooo much better than Tom Friedman's (my Class Day speaker)! I'm sure a transcript will be available soon, and when it is I'll link you to it, but in the meantime here's an excerpt from an article on the Yale Daily News website:
"Cooper also remarked that standing on stage in front of the 1,281 graduating seniors made him feel old -- especially since he was already in his senior year of high school when the class of 2006 first entered the world.
'The only thing about high school I remember is my senior prom … if what I remember is true, it is very possible that some of you are my children, especially you with the blue eyes and freakishly gray hair," said Cooper, pointing at an audience member. "Let me just say that if that is true, for legal reasons I can't say that whether you are my children, but I'm bursting with pride today, and I'm sorry for not being around for the last 20 years.'"
Good. Stuff.
Maybe Yale finally got the memo that the students like hearing funny/entertaining speeches? After all, Harvard has had Conan O'Brien and Ali G and Princeton had Jon Stewart!
That night I hung out with my sister and her boyfriend Joseph (Liz had to head back to NYC that night), ran into and shot the shit with some old friends (Conor, Josh, Amanda), had a beer or six, etc. You know the drill.
Sunday was Commencement, proper, and after several speeches, presentation of honorary diplomas (notable recipients: Sandra Day O'Connor and Edward Albee) and the like, my sister finally got called up to receive her piece of paper:
"Victoria Emilia Newman."
Yup. Her dean got her name wrong. Sigh... You have no idea how often this happens to me, despite there not being even a hint of a "w" or a "u" in my last name. Heck, her dean even contacted her before the fact to make sure she got the pronunciation ok! Chalk another one down to a dean's inability to read from a piece of paper... At least my sister took it in stride, and afterwards was joking around and doing her best Jerry Seinfeld impersonation. "Newman!"
After that we neglected to pay $25 a head for the privilege of eating in the Morse dining hall, and instead headed to Yorkside (that was surprisingly empty; I guess all the other parents and students sucked it up and paid) for some grub. I was almost lured by the sound of a chicken parm grinder (and I have fond memories of Yorkside's chicken parms), but in the end decided on a slice of pepperoni and a slice of sausage, since I had to eat quickly to make it to my train.
By 5pm I was back home in NYC, with a bit of a sunburn from the day's gorgeous weather, and ready to start packing for my business trip to Boston (first ever business trip! w00t!). Hopefully by the time I'm back (Thursday evening) Liz will have posted the L.A. recap, ;-).
Luis
P.S.- some pics from Commencement can be viewed in the usual place. Just click on the "2006 - Yale Commencement" album.
This past weekend was Commencement at Yale, and my little sister Victoria is now officially done with school and ready to enter the real world. Well, after her 7-week world tour with her a-capella group...sheesh...
Liz and I headed up to the Haven on Sunday morning, getting there in time to grab a quick bite at Claire's before Class Day on Old Campus. The carrot cake, Lithuanian coffee cake and banana chocolate cake did not disappoint, let me tell you that! The weather was horrible for Class Day, and true to predictions it started raining pretty heavily about half-way through the ceremony. Anderson Cooper was the guest speaker, and let me tell you, he was really funny! His speech was sooooo much better than Tom Friedman's (my Class Day speaker)! I'm sure a transcript will be available soon, and when it is I'll link you to it, but in the meantime here's an excerpt from an article on the Yale Daily News website:
"Cooper also remarked that standing on stage in front of the 1,281 graduating seniors made him feel old -- especially since he was already in his senior year of high school when the class of 2006 first entered the world.
'The only thing about high school I remember is my senior prom … if what I remember is true, it is very possible that some of you are my children, especially you with the blue eyes and freakishly gray hair," said Cooper, pointing at an audience member. "Let me just say that if that is true, for legal reasons I can't say that whether you are my children, but I'm bursting with pride today, and I'm sorry for not being around for the last 20 years.'"
Good. Stuff.
Maybe Yale finally got the memo that the students like hearing funny/entertaining speeches? After all, Harvard has had Conan O'Brien and Ali G and Princeton had Jon Stewart!
That night I hung out with my sister and her boyfriend Joseph (Liz had to head back to NYC that night), ran into and shot the shit with some old friends (Conor, Josh, Amanda), had a beer or six, etc. You know the drill.
Sunday was Commencement, proper, and after several speeches, presentation of honorary diplomas (notable recipients: Sandra Day O'Connor and Edward Albee) and the like, my sister finally got called up to receive her piece of paper:
"Victoria Emilia Newman."
Yup. Her dean got her name wrong. Sigh... You have no idea how often this happens to me, despite there not being even a hint of a "w" or a "u" in my last name. Heck, her dean even contacted her before the fact to make sure she got the pronunciation ok! Chalk another one down to a dean's inability to read from a piece of paper... At least my sister took it in stride, and afterwards was joking around and doing her best Jerry Seinfeld impersonation. "Newman!"
After that we neglected to pay $25 a head for the privilege of eating in the Morse dining hall, and instead headed to Yorkside (that was surprisingly empty; I guess all the other parents and students sucked it up and paid) for some grub. I was almost lured by the sound of a chicken parm grinder (and I have fond memories of Yorkside's chicken parms), but in the end decided on a slice of pepperoni and a slice of sausage, since I had to eat quickly to make it to my train.
By 5pm I was back home in NYC, with a bit of a sunburn from the day's gorgeous weather, and ready to start packing for my business trip to Boston (first ever business trip! w00t!). Hopefully by the time I'm back (Thursday evening) Liz will have posted the L.A. recap, ;-).
Luis
P.S.- some pics from Commencement can be viewed in the usual place. Just click on the "2006 - Yale Commencement" album.
posted by Luis at 4:10 PM
2 Comments:
newman....
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHA
Well, at least she's living up to her family name, ;-).
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