Living Extraordinary Lives

A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to a political blog (I think) with a headline that blared:  ‘YOU’RE NOT SPECIAL’: WELLESLEY HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER GIVES THE MOST BLUNT COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS EVER. Intrigued with the blurb that the publication chose to quote, I followed the link to the complete text and formed my own opinion.

Erm . . . to be blunt, the headline missed the point.  The point of David Mccullough, Jr.'s speech was not that the 2012 graduating class of Wellesley High School were spoiled and coddled, but that they should go out and make their lives something special.  With kind words and a humorous approach, he managed to deliver his message and still leave his students feeling positive about themselves.  I suspect he is a favorite teacher at Wellesley High School, which explains his role as faculty speaker.

I felt it such a good speech, I wanted to share it.



Mr. McCullough (purportedly the son of David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian) summed it all up in his closing statement.

Two Down, One to Go

Wednesday marked another milestone for my family.  My #2 son left college campuses behind him for good, packed up his family and set out into the real world.  With his Master's in mechanical engineering in hand, in another couple of weeks he'll start work with his new employer, Samsung, in a bedroom community of Austin, Texas.

They moved only about 102 miles from their apartment in College Station, but in their change in circumstances, they're moving to the other side of the moon.  Instead of starving students relying on scholarships and student loans to keep body and soul together as they have done for the past four years of their married life, a well-paying job promises comfort, security, and elimination of their debt.  Instead of a two-bedroom apartment growing increasingly smaller the larger their toddler and two cats grow, they are renting a new-ish, clean and well-maintained four-bedroom home with 2½ baths and a two-car garage in a nice neighborhood.  Filling up those rooms with furniture will take some time, but they've already made their first installment with a new flat-pack dining table and chairs.

Setting My Sites On the Ivy League

I wrote about my career challenges and my distaste for junior college a few weeks ago, so it may not surprise anyone to learn that stumbling upon this article caught my attention.  The Atlantic covered the unveiling of a joint effort between Harvard and MIT to develop exclusively online higher education opportunities.  I listened to the whole press conference, eager for the least bit of information.  My heart went pitter-pat.




Video streaming by Ustream

This I could do.  This I am excited about.  The greatest part is, the courses will be Harvard- and MIT-quality.  The exact same material and expectations.  A real opportunity to learn.  They will only be offering certificates—no degrees—but that's okay with me.  It's the education I want.  They don't yet indicate exactly what courses they will offer (I hope they offer writing), but I have signed up here to get on their mailing list.  I want to know just as soon as it's time to click on the dotted line.

In the meantime, I'll make the concession, do the prudent thing and sign up for this course in Excel.  It's offered by Harvard Business Review, a product of Harvard Business School, so it will still look good on a resumé.  When Paul took an Excel course at BYU-I, they gave him the link and said, "pass this."  I don't mind taking the course.  I just think it stinks that the world won't take me exactly on my own terms.

But, maybe I just might learn a thing or two at Harvard.  If you could take any course you liked from an Ivy League university, what would it be?

—A Chaotic Mind