2016年4月14日 星期四

Lum Laude Society Class of 2016 -- Nasrin

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The Cum Laude Society Established in 1906

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D-E Cum Laude Society Class of 2016

The Cum Laude Society Certificate to Nasrin


Mr. Deal介紹 Nasrin得到這殊榮的原因及他所演講的全文:      
                                                                                          
   Dear Nasrin,                                                                                                                                                                                    

After three roof-shattering years' tenure as the self-appointed belle of the Cum Laude Ball, I was going to sit this one out. I had my own one foot out the door, you see--not unlike all the seniors present here tonight. I figured I'd coast a little, indulge  in my own forty-four-year-old version of senioritis.

What pulled me back in was the opportunity to speak for Estella and for you, I should warn everybody in advance that there are no gimmicks and few jokes here. Just words from the heart, as the cliché goes, before we turn out the lights and you and I head off on our separate non-Dwight adventures.

But I've got some things to say, and Mr. Armitage foolishly gave me the last slot. Fret not, though! I promise to have you all out of here by eleven, midnight tops.

I think I saw Ms. DeVito's eye twitch.

Anyway, Nasrin: do you remember way back in September when you and I were catching up, and you were telling me about your summer, your hopes for the future, your uncertainty about where and how best to apply your prodigious talents? You flattered me by saying I should go into business giving teenagers advice on how to live--now it's Mr. Algrant's eye that's twitching--and I demurred, saying that as a teacher of literature, I got to introduce young people to the very best books ever written, and that all the advice anyone could ever need was in those.

I still believe that, but I'm going to give you some sage counsel anyway. As I said, before we turn out the lights.

Nasrin, first and last and always, I urge you never to lose faith in your own capacities. You are a woman of extraordinary academic promise, and young people with such gifts often receive them at the cost of a certain insecurity, a certain sensitivity to life's setbacks and criticisms. Do not let the odd college rejection or professorial disparagement make you doubt your own kills and your own intellectual worth. Your life--anybody's life--will be filled with doomsayers and shutting doors. Hum a jaunty tune and look for the open window.

Speaking of things not to lose, don't ever abandon the arts. Both as a one-woman audience for creative greatness and as a writer, musician, and artist of tremendous expressiveness in your own right, you will need the nourishment and self-ch
allenge that the artistic sphere has to give your. And the world outside your own fertile mind desperately needs the power of fearless creativity. I a Kosmos so often ugly in its callousness, you must endure as a forceful voice for truth and beauty. Write. Play music. Draw. These are the wellsprings that will sustain you and allow you to inspire others.

Finally, on that note, please consider teaching as a career. (Pause for Madame Tal to accuse me of le plagiat). I don't say that to many students: it always sounds self-serving, for one thing, and the pay is not great, and you have to go to so, so many meeting, really, the meeting, I cannot begin to descri--just kidding! one foot out the door, remember?--and it's hardly the world's easiest job. But for someone who perpetually brims with for literature and history and the sciences and art and music--someone, in short, like you-- it's a chance to make a profound difference in the lives of future Nasrin Lin, potential life-changing seekers who need a cynosure of their own by which to travel.

Whatever you do, Nasrin, my full faith in you ability to remake the world goes with you. It has been a great honor to be your teacher, and I wish you nothing but the very best of luck as you venture forth, the wide world and all its byways yours to pursue, wherever you would have them lead. 

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