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All the reunion posts from this year got me to thinking about our own graduation. So I’m posting one of my favorite speeches from one of my favorite people. Our very own Claudia Calhoun.
Student Commencement Address
Claudia Y. Calhoun ’05
Mount Holyoke College – May 22, 2005
Classmates, families, friends: Thank you for allowing me to speak today.
It was important to me that I step on this podium and avoid clichés, aphorisms, and pithy quotes that we’ve all heard a million times. I have already sworn on the bible of ubiquitous and misinterpreted poems that I will not, no matter the circumstances, quote Robert Frost at you. Because, as I look out among my classmates of the year 2005, I see a group of people who have already decided to take the road less traveled: 116 is a popular highway, but not everyone turns off into South Hadley. And of those who do, not everyone makes it to these seats, in these gowns, among these amazing women and their supportive families and friends. I didn’t want to stand up here and quote quotes at you and tell you things you already know. I’ll leave it to the others on this podium – this array of unbelievable women – to give us the real advice. I want to tell you what I’ve been thinking about, as I’ve been wondering how the class of 2005, including myself, will make our impact. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, and here’s what I’ve concluded: I’m not worried about the world. Not as long as we’re in it. Let me tell you why.
During this year, I’ve thought a lot about my future, about what kind of work I can do – that is, what the marketplace will pay me for – so that I can move out of my parent’s house and into an apartment the size of a cheese grater. (Such is the trade-off for independence, I suppose.) This is difficult because I am an American Studies major. If you don’t know what that means, then you already understand the market value of an American Studies major. At one point, I was talking with my friend Kim, trying really hard to figure out what kind of job will allow me to combine my love for film history with my passion for social justice work. Or: how can I watch old movies all day long and solve the world’s social ills at the same time? This was a challenge. As I grew more frantic, Kim finally cut me off. “Claudia!†she said, “You can’t do it! You can’t make John Wayne fix Guantanamo Bay! Not with your first job out of college!†The specifics of my story are doubtlessly peculiar to me alone, but I see similar conflicts in the eyes of many of my friends in this audience. We ask: How do I reconcile my personal goals and desires with my value of public service? Will the world make me choose? Will I have to compromise myself?
But I’m not worried, because the fact that we ask ourselves these questions is perhaps the most important thing. It means that we are thinking about how we want to live in the world, how we will contribute, how we can use every day to make the next one a little better for somebody else. As long as we continue to interrogate our choices, we will never lose sight of what is truly important. And I have faith that we will make the right choices, because we had to make a million right decisions to be able to wear these gowns today.
These gowns are a symbol of our achievement but are also a reminder of how fortunate we have been. Not everyone gets a chance to go to college, and very few have access to the caliber of education that we have received here. We are immensely privileged. But out of that privilege, a college has been established, and our college has within it the resources to make radical change and to solve that inequality. Most crucially, Mount Holyoke has the power to educate us, its students, to go into the world and make it into the place that we want to live in: a more just place, a more equitable one, a fairer one, a more humane one.
We all have different visions of what the world should look like. But I’m not worried, not as long as we continue to have the courage to remember what we’ve learned here. I don’t just mean the things that we’ve learned from textbooks – though I hope to God that we remember some of that stuff or science majors will have spent $400 a semester on books for nothing. But we’ve learned other things, too. We know how to interact with different people, how to communicate openly with one another, how to set the terms for vigorous yet peaceful debate. We’re going to need those skills. From our first weeks at Mount Holyoke, the reality of violence against this country and beyond this campus has been an ever-present part of our consciousness. But on this campus, as opposed to too many other places in this world, we live out our differences. Let us remember how that’s done so we can show and teach others.
I will admit that I have worried in the past. Sometimes I have worried about the best way to be a woman in a coed world. As I understand it, it’s a different place beyond that iron gate. Out there, there are men, roaming about in record numbers, running corporations and legislatures and making decisions as if they were the only people in the world. Seventy percent of the 1.2 billion persons living in poverty are women. There are 140 million women living in the United States and there are 14 in the Senate. On average, white women in the U.S. earn 75 percent of what white men make; black women earn ten percentage points less than white women, and Latinas earn ten percent less than black women. We know that there’s much to be done.
But I’m not worried today. Look around you and you’ll see some of the smartest and best-educated women in the world. There’s nobody else better, stronger, faster, or more capable than we are. We’re going to have to start small – for example, Kofi Annan seems dead set on keeping his day job, and most of us won’t be allowed to run for president for 15 years or so. But until then, I know that we will make change every day. We will change the world every day that we walk in it and let people know: this is what I think, this is what I know, this is what I have learned, this is what I can do, this is what I will do, this is who I am. Booyakasha.
So I’m not worried. I know how we think, what we know, what we have learned, what we can do, what we will do, and who we are. And it’s pretty damned impressive. Starting tomorrow, we’ll have our chance to let the world know. And it will change to suit us.
I have been a Mount Holyoke student for four years, and there’s one thing I’ve never done. I think it’s appropriate to do it now. I will quote Emily Dickinson: “Finite to fail,†she wrote, “but infinite to venture.†I can’t wait to see what all of us will venture.
Thank you.
1) What is your favorite MHC tradition?
Either Mountain Day or Elfing. Every fall i still look forward to the email from MHC saying its Mountain Day. Unfortuinitly, i no longer get the day off.
2) Favorite M&C?
chocolate chip cookies. but my favorite dessert was chef jeff cookies. a fun fact… when i was at reunion i asked about Chef Jeff, and was not happy the cookies at blanchard weren’t called Chef Jeff cookies anymore. He left the college in 2007 and started a cookie business with another partner. I think the company is called Zuzzy’s. Go Chef Jeff!
3) Favorite class? / Favorite professor?
Physiology with Sarah Bacon,or Biomechanics with Gary Gillis.
4) Favorite spot on campus to unwind? / Your favorite spot on campus?
The path around upper lake. There are a few spots to sit and think about things other than classwork. Also a really fun path to go for a run.
5) What would the you from college be surprised to know about your life today?
That i enjoy having long hair (sometimes), have two very hairy dogs (german shepherds), and enjoy spending nights at home with my husband.
– Nicole Mazzeo
1) What is your favorite MHC tradition? Why?
Ahh so many to chose from – i would have to say either convocation or the laurel parade.
2) Favorite M&C?
Magic cookie bars!
3) Favorite class? / Favorite professor?
Modern Architecture with Michael Davis
4) Favorite spot on campus to unwind? / Your favorite spot on campus?
Blanchard
5) What would the you from college be surprised to know about your life today?
That I went to law school – I remember always thinking to myself that I would never be a lawyer.
– Alanna Barton
1) What is your favorite MHC tradition? Why?
Laurel Parade!!!!!!!!!!!
2) Favorite M&C?
Hmm… I liked the lemon bars. Those were awesome.
3) Favorite class? / Favorite professor?
Fave class: Attachment Psychology, Women in Sport
4) Favorite spot on campus to unwind? / Your favorite spot on campus?
Upper Lake! I loved upper lake! Also the attic in the delles. That was a fun trip with C$, Bel….and…who else joined us? HAHAHA
Kendall. I love Kendall!
5) What would the you from college be surprised to know about your life today?
It took FOREVER to get in my professional field after college. Who’da thought?! Mount Holyoke is such a safe haven and cannot be replicated. I sure miss the mother land!!
– Jess Padgett
1) What is your favorite MHC tradition? Why?
My favorite tradition is definitely the Laurel Parade because it’s so beautiful. I think that joining together with your classmates and singing “Bread and Roses” is the perfect way to commemorate the MHC experience.
2) Favorite M&C?
Graham crackers and peanut butter.
3) Favorite class? / Favorite professor?
Biology 200
Gail Hornstein (Psychology)
4) Favorite spot on campus to unwind? / Your favorite spot on campus?
Mead living room
Pratt library
5) What would the you from college be surprised to know about your life today?
I’m still teaching!
– Emily Welch
1) What is your favorite MHC tradition? Why?
I’d have to go with Mountain Day. Something about the unexpectedness of it … I still sneak out of work and go out to see nature and eat ice cream. I even convinced fellow alumna Kelly Huggins, an honest hard worker to the core, to sneak out of her lab at the UW a few years ago and join me for ice cream.
2) Favorite M&C?
Chocolate Chip Cookies, especially the edges. I wasn’t a big fan of the chocolate chip part though. I know, weird. But nothing beats the chewy dough and milk combo.
3) Favorite class? / Favorite professor?
My favorite class was a 300-level seminar with Professor Andy Lass. We had to pretend we were the thinkers and artists from the 1940s. It was wild: there were no lectures and no rules, we had to become the surrealists, the modern dancers, etc. I wish someone had told me what fun 300-level seminars were before my senior year! My favorite professors are all professors at MHC. Their love and dedication to what they do, their respect for the students, their dedication to quality teaching is unparalleled.
4) Favorite spot on campus to unwind? / Your favorite spot on campus?
The Wa-Shin-An Japanese Tea House and Meditation Garden. I wish I’d gone there more often.
5) What would the you from college be surprised to know about your life today?
That I can teach a killer yoga-meditation-breathing-leadership class, that I fell for an Indian boy and that I live in LA.
– Natalia Stefanova
1) What is your favorite MHC tradition? Why?
My favorite tradition is milk and cookies (M&Cs). After studying and writing papers, it was so nice to take a break each night to eat some sweets and talk about life with your doormmates.
2) Favorite M&C?
Chocolate chip cookies, Chef Jeff’s of course.
3) Favorite class? / Favorite professor?
Eukaryotic Molecular Genetics, Craig Woodard, the fly man
4) Favorite spot on campus to unwind? / Your favorite spot on campus?
Prospect lake watching the crazy ducks.
5) What would the you from college be surprised to know about your life today?
Probably that I live in Arizona. I always thought I would stay around New England, around my family and here I am miles from them.
– Anne-Marie Tyrell
1) What is your favorite MHC tradition? Why?
Junior Show. Junior Show was the first time I felt our class had really come together. It was amazing to see the excitement and enthusiasm build as the event progressed. It’s also the event that I felt we truly made a mark on our school. We were successful in creating a show that was actually pretty funny, and did it in a way that didn’t hurt or target groups of people.
2) Favorite M&C?
I was quite partial to the princess bars.
3) Favorite class? / Favorite professor?
I really loved my Northern Baroque art class with Professor Varriano, but Susan Smith will always have a special place in my heart.
4) Favorite spot on campus to unwind? / Your favorite spot on campus?
The library was always a favorite but I also loved the second floor of N. Delle my senior year. If you want to get all nostalgic though, sitting in the rafters of the old Blanchard with a Chef Jeff cookie and Fresh Samantha Smoothie was totally the best!
5) What would the you from college be surprised to know about your life today?
For some reason I’ve kept in better contact with some of my MHC acquaintances as opposed to some of my best friends. Not a bad thing just a bit surprising.
Also, there really are women from Seven Sister Colleges EVERYWHERE.
– Caroline Brennan
1) What is your favorite MHC tradition? Why?
The Laurel Parade. I love marching with all the other classes, I love celebrating the new alumnae, I love singing “Bread and Roses.” It’s just such a lovely thing to be a part of.
2) Favorite M&C?
Oh, this is hard. Mostly I remember regularly stealing bags of rice cakes from the bread bin, which was open during M&Cs, an action which Laura Khor rightly judged me for. In case you were wondering, that’s why there were no rice cakes in Prospect dining hall in 01-02. Oh, and I enjoyed me a cup of hot chocolate every once in a while. Aislinn-Marie Rocamora knows what I’m talking about.
3) Favorite class? / Favorite professor?
My favorite class was a seminar on the films of Alfred Hitchcock, taught by Elizabeth Young. The movies were fabulous, of course, and there was a really great mix of people, and the readings were awesome. I enjoyed that class so much — it’s the kind of space I want to create when I get the chance to teach my own courses.
Favorite professor: Mary Renda, of history. If I say any more, I’ll embarrass myself. Or her.
4) Favorite spot on campus to unwind? / Your favorite spot on campus?
The library. It’s beautiful, with just enough scary parts to make it interesting (ever been down to Cutter?).
5) What would the you from college be surprised to know about your life today?
I think that college-me would be surprised by how much Mount Holyoke, and my experiences there, continue to shape my life today. I’ve changed in a lot of ways since graduation, but college-me and today-me are very similar because Mount Holyoke helped me to be the person I [still] want to be.
– Claudia Calhoun
1) What is your favorite MHC tradition? Why?
I can’t pick one! Laurel Parade, Elfing and M&Cs are my top three.
2) Favorite M&C?
I remember once as a first year getting leftover chocolate eclairs. It was amazing.
3) Favorite class? / Favorite professor?
1. Meiji Revolution – Jonathan Lipman
2. Darwin – Stan Rachootin
4) Favorite spot on campus to unwind? / Your favorite spot on campus?
To unwind: 1904 garden. I used to fall asleep there all the time.
All time favorite: Wa Shin An
5) What would the you from college be surprised to know about your life today?
1. I actually found a job that combined Biology and Asian Studies
2. Because of that first tea demonstration I saw at Wa Shin An as a first-year, I have now been studying tea ceremony for 8 years and am working to become a sensei myself one day.
– Cone
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