note to self: when i become a principal of a school, or MC of a graduation, i will not have a keynote speaker. nobody is coming out to be inspired. this isn't a tea or a dinner. the only thing the parents want to do is watch their daughter trip across the stage to receive a diploma, which really isn't a diploma, but a rolled up piece of paper. and the five parents whose daughters are speaking want to see their daughters speak, praying they won't mess up. they're the only ones who are listening to the speeches. it's not as if the girl actually wrote her own speech anyway. they may have practiced it over and over until they know it by heart, but it's still their dad's speech, with maybe a little help from the older brother, or even the mother, if she remembers how to use her hebrew sefer skills. the school i attended for my elementary years started a new thing a few years go, called a cantata. i would very much love to sit down with the principals and know exactly what they were thinking when they implemented it. each girl had two lines to say, set to Casio music. no that wasn't the entertainment tonight. the fun part was watching the girls who'd snuck their cellphones onto the stage with them, try to text their family members without being seen.

graduations.

what a waste of everyone's time.