Michelle Kempskie’s Post

This is among the most insightful and enjoyable commencement speeches I've ever heard: https://lnkd.in/eJ9HRjcC Some of my favorite highlights: "Just swing the bat and pray is not a bad approach to a lot of things." "Stop rushing to what you perceive as some valuable endpoint." "Find something where you love the good parts and don’t mind the bad parts too much." "So obsessed with getting to the answer, completing the project, producing a result which are all valid things, but not where the richness of the human experience lies." "Those of you that think you know what you want to do are very likely wrong, and perhaps even overestimating your ability to do it. You have convinced yourself that you know who you are and what’s going on in the world. You don’t know either." "We’re embarrassed about things we should be proud of and proud of things we should be embarrassed about." "The slightly uncomfortable feeling of awkward humor is okay. It’s not something you need to fix." "Most things do not work. Most things are not good." "Don’t think about having, think about becoming." "Try to enjoy some of the dumbness of it all."

Highlight on STLI Faculty Fellow for Excellence in Teaching Phil Wagner. In this short video, Phil discusses his STLI Fellowship project focusing on having productive conversations with students on difficult topics:

It's that wonderful time of the year – graduation commencements! I'd like to share one of the standout speeches from this year by Jerry Seinfeld. This speech is 16 minutes long and consists of 2,607 words (approximately 156 words per minute). It scores a 6.7 on the Gunning Fog Index, making it accessible at a 5th-grade reading level, and averages 9.51 words per sentence. Jerry Seinfeld’s speech follows a straightforward structure: tell the audience what you're about to tell them, tell them, then recap what you just told them. It’s simple, concise, and perfectly balanced with rhythm and cadence.

Brian Raines thoughtfully explains the continuing challenges faced by those of us who come to the profession from atypical circumstances. He also exemplifies the life-changing power of higher education. As we continue to grapple with the many challenges facing higher ed, it is essential to stay focused on stories like Brian's. I often wonder what the world would be like had we not spent most of human history excluding people from education and limiting their potential based on accidents of birth. While we will never know what we could have created, it is clear to me that destroying a system that in a very short time has created incredible intellectual capital, improved the human condition immensely, and overall made our world a better place is foolish. Yes, higher ed needs to be made better. We need to prioritize student success and support, we need to embrace meaningful intellectual diversity, we need to be better citizens of the spaces we occupy. However, there is no scenario in which those shortcomings warrant the wholesale destruction of the best system of education the world has ever known. Many of us on the inside know this and are fighting to protect one of our country's most valuable assets. Those of you on the outside need to join us in the fight. The world's most creative and successful economy was built on the foundation created by higher education. Destroy the foundation and the structure will crumble.

For anyone who hasn’t watched Seinfeld’s DUKE commencement speech – DO IT!!! I loved it! 16 minutes of hilarity with Jerry dropping pearls of wisdom left and right. Well worth the few minutes!! Some highlights….. 1.     Find something to do in life and put hard work into it; not everyone can find their “passion” 2.     Follow your curiosity rather than passion 3.     Hard work is never wasted 4.     Fall in love with anything and everything – even the smallest things 5.     Find something that you love the good parts and don’t mind the bad things too much – the torture you’re comfortable with. All good things that are worth it have a small amount of torture 6.     Use your privilege – be proud of what you should be proud of 7.     Work and Love are self justified in the experience regardless of the end point 8.     Work is wonderful and you should do something where you don’t regret spending as much time as you do at work 9.     Humor is essential to surviving life. Life is way too complex to survive it. It’s great to try and avoid offending people but not at the expense of losing any discomfort. Humor is the most powerful and survival essential quality you will ever have or need to navigate through the human experience 10. “I want to have the coolest job” is much more important than “I want to make a lot of money” Don’t think about “having” think about “becoming” – that is where it’s at. https://lnkd.in/dFnzZSwc

Here’s some solid life advice from none other than Jerry Seinfeld.

"We're embarrassed of things we should be proud of, and proud of things we should be embarrassed about." This pearl of an observation about contemporary woke culture is from the Commencement Address to the 2024 Duke University graduates by Jerry Seinfeld. Another one: "You're never going to believe this, but Harvard used to be a great place to go to school." In his brief address, Seinfeld gave his 3 keys to life, which are worthwhile contemplating as well. 1. Bust Your Ass - "Effort always yields a positive value even if the outcome of the effort is absolute failure of the desired result." 2. Pay Attention - "If you're in a small submersible that looks like a giant kazoo and going to visit the Titanic seven miles down at the bottom of the ocean, and the captain of the vessel is using a Gameboy controller, pay attention to that!" 3. Fall in Love - "Find something where you love the good parts and don't mind the bad parts too much. The torture you are comfortable with. This is the golden path to victory in life. Work, exercise, relationships - they all have a solid component of pure torture, and they are all 1000% worth it." Another golden nugget from Jerry: "I now have an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from Duke University - and if I can figure out a way to use that, I will! I haven't figured anything out yet. I think its pretty much as useful in real life as this outfit I am wearing." You can see the wonderfully entertaining address in its entirety at https://lnkd.in/grgE6aVx . #endwokeness #antisemitism #standwithisrael #campusantisemitism #commencement #seinfeld #lifeadvice #comedy #humor

https://lnkd.in/ebCA9ciC If you are ever to hear a full commencement speech of our current times, given by one who has dedicated his life to all things history, this may the one worth listening to.

Should be a great lecture

Having always been a fan of Jerry Seinfeld and I am glad that I took the time to watch his Duke University commencement address. As one would expect if was funny, but incredibly insightful and practical. Here are a few takeaways and lines from his speech which was a welcome breath of fresh air and things all of us should consider for our own lives. 👉 "Let go of this idea that you have to find this one great thing . . . Just be willing to do your work as hard as you can with the ability you have. Find fascination. Fascination is way better than passion." 👉 "Effort always yields a positive value. Even if the outcome of the effort is absolute failure of the desired result. This is a rule of life. Just swing the bat and pray is not a bad approach to a lot of things." 👉 "Privilege is a word that has taken quite a beating lately. Privilege today seems to be the worst thing you can have. I would like to take a moment to defend it. You went to Duke. That is an unbelievable privilege. My point is, we’re embarrassed about things we should be proud of and proud of things we should be embarrassed about. You didn’t fake your fabulous education. You earned it. Be proud of it." 👉 "Do not lose your sense of humor. You can have no idea at this point in your life how much you are going to need it to get through. Not enough of life makes sense for you to be able to survive it without humor." Great insight from one of the greatest. May we all fall in love with fascination, give our greatest effort in what we find ourselves doing, use our privilege for good and keep our sense of humor. #life #lessons #learning #humor #work #effort #seinfeld https://lnkd.in/ewfGNar9