Inauguration Day
I disapprove of apologizing-for-not-posting posts, so suffice it to say that I remember that I owe you an entry on yeast, and let’s pretend I didn’t start off this way. :)
Today was the inauguration of Beloit College’s new president, Scott Bierman—an Ithaca, NY native, incidentally. Any day when I get to dress up in my Cornell-red PhD robes and my poofy hat is a good day. It’s very silly, but I admit that like a little of the pomp, and a skosh of the circumstance.
I also get warm fuzzies from being part of a college with such a long history. Beloit College was established in 1846, before Wisconsin was even a state. (Cornell University? Meh, it’s okay… for one of your younger institutions.) Various speeches features lots of shout-outs to Andrew Chapin, Beloit’s first president, and Beloit’s crazy early days, when classes numbered around a dozen, and the faculty consisted of two professors. Hard to imagine how they conceived of a “liberal arts education,” vs. how we think of it today.
It was a very nice ceremony, quite in keeping with the air of anticipation on campus fostered by the new administration. And, the BSFFA kiddies and me were pleased by our new president’s allusions Terry Pratchett in his literate, history-conscious, warm, funny, and touching speech. (Now you wish you’d been there, don’t you?)
If that wasn’t enough, there was also an inauguration day 2.5-mile Fun Walk/Run starting at 7 AM. I managed a 12-minute pace in my Vibram 5-Fingers. (Yes, I changed shoes before the inauguration.)
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I’ll be very excited if I ever have a reason to wear the Cornell robes. But holy crap they’re expensive! It will have to be a very good reason!
My mom got mine for me as a graduation present. I was going to cheap out and get the generic ones from one of those online robes-R-us places, but I was getting terrible customer service, so I broke down and got the real ones from Herff-Jones. My justification is that most women spend that much (or more) on a wedding dress, which you wear only once. I spent much less on my wedding dress, and I wear my robes twice a year (at least), for convocation and commencement… Plus the occasional inauguration. :)