Sittin' in the Tab like a Boss

I teach English over at LDSBC, so last Friday I participated in graduation exercises there.

This was the second year in a row they held graduation in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. I got to sit up in the front stands facing the audience like an old-school GA, feeling like a boss. I even got to wear my Masters robes for a second time in my life!

The downside of sitting on the stand was that I was suddenly keenly aware that, if I decided to text or read a book when bored, the entire audience could see me. This made me a little self-conscious, especially when the ceremonies started to drag (as they inevitably do).

But then, by the low-standards of graduations, this was actually a pretty good ceremony--it was in a cool historic building, the graduating class was small enough to keep the diploma-process expedited, and an actual apostle (D. Todd Christofferson) gave the commencement address.

By contrast, I can't even remember who spoke when I got my AA; when I got my BA, the General Young Women's President spoke on memorization, like it was some sort of crappy mid-semester devotional (now, Elder Christofferson was clearly reusing a parts of a Conference talk for his remarks, but he at least gets points for acknowledging that people were graduating from college); and when I got my MA, 3,000-odd people got their diplomas, which took for frickin' ever.

Jefferey R. Holland was even there! His wife was receiving a distinguished-alumnus award, and he sat up in the stands with her. He didn't speak or anything, but for some reason I thrilled to glimpse him more than to see Elder Christofferson, even though they're both apostles. Serious, this is the man who can put the fear of God into you just by shaking his jowls. When he briefly glanced back at the faculty behind him, I got chills.

So yeah, LDSBC--small college, but they got cool graduations.