May 8, 2017 & May 12, 2017 & May 21, 2017

Mike Pence got booed by and walked out on by a number of University of Notre Dame students the weekend of May 20.  I fear this poem may never stop growing new legs.  Another new stanza now added between the DeVos stanza and my final one.

With Betsy DeVos and the Illinois Governor booed at college commencements in the last couple of days, and other controversial commencement speakers dominating the headlines, I went in and added one more stanza right before the end.

We're Not Like Everybody Else (But, Then Again, Neither Is Everybody Else)

Our commencement sparkled under blue skies:

But, Penn State rocked from fraternity lies,

Hazing led to dead pledge,

Much like the dead that came before,

At the Marine Corps, Clemson, High Point,

Initiations, condemnations, explanations,

Exaltations, justifications, grand jury

Examinations, prosecution charges

As finals week wraps up.

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Hey, look at us,

We're not like everybody else,

But, then again,

Neither is everybody else.

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See the first kid in the family earn her degree:

In the meantime, Ann Coulter might speak,

UC Berkeley brings in riot police,

Tensions rise, hatred never dies,

At Middlebury, NYU, Vanderbilt.

Snowflakes, rights to congregate,

Free Speech debates, the right

Salivates, the pendulum has swung,

"College is poisonous."

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Hey, look at us,

We're not like everybody else,

But, then again,

Neither is everybody else.

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Local farm kid graduated with little debt:

Still, academic fraud taints Tar Heel blue,

Enroll, practice, rarely attend,

Same at UConn, the 'Cuse, and then

Add in UK escorts, ignored Baylor

Rape reports, major sports completely

Out of sorts, financial rewards,

One-and-dones, the headlines

Erode the public trust.

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Hey, look at us,

We're not like everybody else,

But, then again,

Neither is everybody else.

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Our speaker's words, do much "and then some," ringing true:

But Betsy DeVos at Bethune-Cookman booed.

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner too,

Speaker cancelled late at Texas Southern U.

Students turning their backs, their achievements

Hijacked by Boards for political gains,

Speaking fees on top of technology fees,

And it's the students who are pilloried,

"what's the big fuss?"

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Hey, look at us,

We're not like everybody else,

But, then again,

Neither is everybody else.

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Two weeks later, ceremonial memory faded:

Just down the road, ND went in for a Pence,

Some of the sterling class went out of the event,

Even in a common religious sense, a commencement,

Gets intense, students take offense,

VP attacks PC, cites integrity, the love of He,

As if these homilies mean more than the record he

Leaves behind wherever he goes,

Or now is racking up.

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So, look at us,

We're not like everybody else,

But, then again,

Neither is everybody else.

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These few make the news, distort the public view:

But for most of us, even the scandaled too,

There is so much we do to advocate,

Elevate, matriculate, graduate,

Nurses, welders, engineers,

Accountants, teachers, financial managers,

Even dreamy philosophers, writers,

Historians, videographers, sculptors.

Learning is never superfluous.

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So, look at us,

We're not like everybody else,

But, then again,

Neither is everybody else.

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