Commencement

My first year at DePauw is coming to its official close.  I will be based here at the university through the end of June (though departing from here for two conference trips, one to Boston and one to CHINA), but this is the weekend for all the ceremonies that mark the end of the academic year.

So far I've attended:
1) barbecue for the Prindle Institute student interns at the beautiful home of our director, Bob Steele
2) reception for graduating Philosophy Department seniors at the beautiful home of my colleague Jeff Dunne (side note: one of the features of life in Greencastle that most provokes envy from a transplanted Boulderite is the incredibly amazing houses that can be purchased for less than a quarter of what they would cost in Boulder - no, more like a fifth or a sixth of what they would cost in Boulder - you can get a stunningly restored Victorian charmer for $155,000!).
3) women's studies luncheon for Sara Lennox, prominent German studies feminist scholar who is receiving an honorary degree from DePauw (her alma mater) this year
4) commissioning ceremony for a student from my Rousseau class who has just become a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marines
5) graduation ceremony for students in the Posse Program - a terrific program that brings outstanding minority/first generation students from New York City and Chicago to DePauw and helps provide them with the support they need to succeed in this very different environment - this year, for the first time since the program came to DePauw fifteen years ago, all ten students in the New York Posse graduated together, many with highest honors
6) Baccalaureate service - beautiful music, moving interfaith prayers, great speech from President Casey who arrived on campus four years ago as a new college president, accompanied by this very graduating class, then brand-new freshmen
7) DePauw Under the Stars - campus trees decorated with fairyland lights or hung with Japanese lanterns, big band jazz, cake, free-flowing champagne.

And this morning: Commencement!
And then, for me as for the students: the rest of my life.