PBK by way of AMPAS

It's not just post-Actress exhaustion that has kept me quiet on this blog for four days. We are in the middle of Graduation Week here at Northwestern, which is a surprisingly busy time for faculty even as, and rightly so, it's a fairly leisurely interlude for the students who are still hanging around campus, waiting to toss their caps. One of the coolest gigs I scored at work this year was being asked to be the speaker at the Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony for our most accomplished seniors. Reading the unsolicited recommendation letters that these students prompted among their professors and mentors—students whom, I stress, didn't even know they were contending for this honor—cast a welcome, humbling light on a staggering series of undergraduate accomplishments. Maybe because I feel moved to celebrate these inspiring students as publicly as possible, maybe because I'm still not sure what to do with this blog post-Judy, maybe because I think you'll find it funny that I can't not talk about the Oscars, or maybe because I know I'm always interested when hobbyist bloggers reveal something about their "real" work lives, I am posting the text of my speech.

Enjoy, if you're so inclined ...or else, hang tight for something more closely resembling the usual programming. I might even catch a current release tomorrow. The possibilities are boundless, even if my energy at the moment is not!