Someone is always graduating from somewhere. Every June. This year it’s my nephew, Owen, from high school. Since it’s in Santa Rosa at 3 on Friday, I am not going to work. Marika and I will have to leave the house by 11 to get to Dixon and pick up Emily and then get to the school in SR by 3. So no time for work. I would really rather not go. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kid but this is ruining my workday.
Emily did get up extra early and go to school but it’s a required work day. She is still going to leave early so another day of work will be needed as makeup.
Well the entire trip was screwed. Took forever. Place was packed. The private school we are heading to has what you would expect. Beautiful grounds, pristine athletic facilities, lots of people directing traffic and getting people seated. Not something we public schoolers are used to. The air of exclusivity permeates all. We managed to find parking which is amazing. We were late, sort of. Nobby told me 330 but it was as a 3 pm start. Hottest part of the day and outside. We were covered by a tent. That helps. Ceremony was completely pretentious. Completely.
It starts with procession of teachers and admin. No problem. Then students, again no issue. Then we begin. The first speaker is the principal. She spent ten minutes on why we are wonderful. They are inclusive and exclusive, and have high standards but accept the poorest (and the richest) and on and on. Amazing how wonderful they are. There education includes, kickboxing, mandarin, astrophysics, all manner of things barely available in the real world. This place is a fantasy for the well to do. It’s a bubble community so you don’t have to attend public school. Next speaker, was the trans representative of the student body. No problem, but again, seemed cliche to me. I guess this inclusion is the flavor of the day. I hear about it often in the media. It’s tiring. It’s old hat. It’s been done. Let’s find another form of personal tragedy for speaker. Next up, faculty rep speaks. He is gay and makes a big deal about it. This one is even older and more cliche. No one really wants to hear about it anymore. Let’s move on. I did note, lots of folks in the audience were from the rainbow coalition so I guess they are playing to the people that foot the bill. I don’t know.
Next up the choir sang and they were just great. I remember my high school graduation the glee club sang and band played. Only good thing that day.
Finally, we come to the awarding of diplomas. About 100 graduates so I figure 15 minutes and outta here. No. Each student, in alphabetical order (now that’s unfair) went across the stage. And, listen, the faculty spoke about that student while on stage no less than a minute. That’s right, two hours. It’s a grad version of a little league participation trophy. And they said nice things about each. That’s crap. My nephew is a total asshole. A shithead. Yet I hear from the faculty he is wonderful. Make each child feel special when they are not. What do they do when they hit the real world?
Well, now I know I will skip the next one. Nephew Alister is graduating from same fine institution of secondary learning in four years. Poor kid. Daily doses of sanctimonious crap called education. I will stick to public school.
We did have a fine party at my bro in laws house after the ceremony. Guest of honor, nephew Owen, left after about 5 minutes and did not return. Kids are so special. I felt so blessed by his lack of presence. I hope his dad was not embarrassed by the graduate disappearing. It’s like The Graduate when Ben sits on the bottom of the pool in scuba gear. There, but not.
This party was catered. So the food was really good. The wines were even better and my bro in law likes to spend lots of $$ on wine so all were expensive too. I tried every bottle that got opened and I was quite drunk by the time we left which was late. Fortunately, Emily was driving and she was sober. I fell asleep. Sadly my car was at her work in Dixon so I had to drive the last hour. The roads were empty but there was a lot of construction and repairs going on. I am surprised I didn’t run off the road.
We got home and pretty much dropped everything and just went to bed.