Well, it has acutally been three weeks since this wonderful event at University of North Carolina-Asheville. I had mentioned it a bit in my blog a few weeks ago....the fun & warmth of the dinner party at my house, etc. However, I failed to mention that Doc Watson was an honored guest. there to be granted an honorary doctorate.
He's pretty old and he hobbled onto the podium with the help of an assistant When it was time for him to say a few words, he decided instead that he would sing. He sat down in a chair in front of thousands of people, chit-chatting casual as can be, humble and self-deprecating. The assistant handed him his guitar and right there, as if he were in your living room, started singing a few old tyme favorites. I jotted down the titles because I thought I might forget them and, of course, not only did I forget them but I can't find my notes! But, just trust me, it was fabulous! For about 20 minutes, he jammed & crooned, transporting all of as back to a simpler time. There was lots of toe tapping (never before had I seen so many people wearing cowboy boots with academic gowns - that's Asheville for you. We are, after all, the closest city of any significant size to the mountains of Western North Carolina) and cheering. It was, by far, the most entertaining graduation ceremony I've ever been to.
Doc Watson provided a wonderful icing on the cake to the opening ceremony in which Sam was awarded educator of the year by the Board of Regents from UNC. But, I may be repeated myself. I was so very proud of him, his dedication and commitment to his students made clear by the quotes from evalutations which were read out loud.
The fabulous third course, a treat for all present, was the commencement address delivered by Les Purce, president of Evergreen University in Olympia, WA. Just seeing someone from Western Washington made me feel all misty-eyed & nostalgic. But then, he was very charming, funny and impressive. He spoke of the importance of sometime putting one's neck out and beings oneself, (Omni Extaris is their school motto meaning, roughly, "Let it all hang out"). With that, he launched into a solemn delivery of the prelude to the Evergreen University fight song, words and music by Malcolm Stilson, 1971. After a few hymn-like verses, it morphs into a rousing march-like chorus, extolling the virtues of their mascot, the geoduck!
He's pretty old and he hobbled onto the podium with the help of an assistant When it was time for him to say a few words, he decided instead that he would sing. He sat down in a chair in front of thousands of people, chit-chatting casual as can be, humble and self-deprecating. The assistant handed him his guitar and right there, as if he were in your living room, started singing a few old tyme favorites. I jotted down the titles because I thought I might forget them and, of course, not only did I forget them but I can't find my notes! But, just trust me, it was fabulous! For about 20 minutes, he jammed & crooned, transporting all of as back to a simpler time. There was lots of toe tapping (never before had I seen so many people wearing cowboy boots with academic gowns - that's Asheville for you. We are, after all, the closest city of any significant size to the mountains of Western North Carolina) and cheering. It was, by far, the most entertaining graduation ceremony I've ever been to.
Doc Watson provided a wonderful icing on the cake to the opening ceremony in which Sam was awarded educator of the year by the Board of Regents from UNC. But, I may be repeated myself. I was so very proud of him, his dedication and commitment to his students made clear by the quotes from evalutations which were read out loud.
The fabulous third course, a treat for all present, was the commencement address delivered by Les Purce, president of Evergreen University in Olympia, WA. Just seeing someone from Western Washington made me feel all misty-eyed & nostalgic. But then, he was very charming, funny and impressive. He spoke of the importance of sometime putting one's neck out and beings oneself, (Omni Extaris is their school motto meaning, roughly, "Let it all hang out"). With that, he launched into a solemn delivery of the prelude to the Evergreen University fight song, words and music by Malcolm Stilson, 1971. After a few hymn-like verses, it morphs into a rousing march-like chorus, extolling the virtues of their mascot, the geoduck! For those of you who haven't been lucky enough to encounter a geoduck first hand, let me share a bit. The geoduck is a mollusk native to the Pacific Northwest. The geoduck (pronounced "GOO-ee-duck") is the largest burrowing clam in the world, weighing in at anywhere from one to three pounds at maturity. The appearance of geoduck's large, protruding siphon has led to the belief that the geoduck has the properties of an aphrodisiac. The geoduck has a life expectancy of up to 150 years with the oldest recorded at 163 years.
Here are the words & the link if you can handle the sheer emotion of it - http://www.experiencefestival.com/the_geoduck_fight_song:
Go, Geoducks go,
Through the mud and the sand,
let's go.
Siphon high, squirt it out,
swivel all about,
let it all hang out.
Go, Geoducks go,
Stretch your necks when the tideis low
Siphon high, squirt it out,
swivel all about,
let it all hang out.
As one who is often preoccupied by the way that she appears to others, this is excellent advice. We all need to allow our true but unglamorous nature to shine through once in a while to remind us that we are, after all, human and as such, utterly outrageously flawed...
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