Yesterday was the official Convocation at my new school. One of the definitions of convocation is "a collective noun for eagles." This was not one a grouping of eagles. That would have been cool though. I bet the students would have enjoyed it more. Attendance was mandatory for faculty and for students who intend to graduate this year.
For those of you unfamiliar with this type of convocation, probably because you were able to skip it at your school, it is an official calling together of people for a special purpose. Some schools call their commencements convocations, some have them at the beginning of the year so they can prepare for what is to come, some at the end of the year to celebrate what was accomplished. We had ours in the middle of the fall semester, to signify ... uhm, something. Maybe it was so we didn't have to wear our regalia in August.
That was the best part of the whole show, getting to throw on my regalia. I skipped my PhD hooding ceremony because it was on my birthday and so was our favorite scooter rally of the year. Which would you have done on your birthday, partied with friends or worn a gown in front of a room full of people you might have contempt for (I have some issues with some of the folks at Northwestern. It's a love/hate thing)? So this was my first time to wear the full Doctoral robes. I looked pimp. Northwestern graduates get special gowns that are purple with black velvet accents. Almost everyone else was in black.
The downside, I was lined up with people I don't know yet so no one really to talk to during the actual ceremony. We opened with a prayer and closed with one plus three of the four songs sang had religious overtones. This is not a religious school. Technically. And the speeches were pretty boring. I'm pretty sure the wife slept through a lot of it. It was a lot of empty ceremony and I'm not sure who is supposed to actually enjoy it. Outside of the folks getting to make the speeches perhaps.
Still, there is importance in creating community and togetherness. Even if that togetherness is created by getting the faculty together to bitch about having to get together. And did I mention, I looked pimp?
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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2 comments:
I hope no one in charge of my job ever reads this, but, yeah, I slept through the first half. The second half had too much applause so I couldn't sleep through that.
I had a friend to the left, a better friend two seats away who I would have preferred sitting next to, and a gas bag to the right. She had bad breath and interrupted my nap.
Oh, and my name didn't get called for the official ceremonial line-up by rank for the convocation processional. I line-jumped and pissed someone off who was peripherally a friend of a friend. Oh well. She still got to sit by her friend.
And you did look pimp. Someone even stopped me and said, "I didn't know your husband was a Ph.D." She meant it politely, she's kinda spacey like that. I said, "Yeah, he's been teaching for ten years." She said, "Oh, I didn't realize." And then I followed her the long way back to our offices instead of ditching her for the shortcut because I felt bad for leaving her. Sucker, I know.
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