Here! Here!

I cried Friday listening to my friend Ann Marie give a phenomenal speech which touched on many of the feelings I've been struggling with since April of this year.

With the doctoral degree that I am receiving, I become the second doctor in a very large extended family of passionate, loving, complex, and gifted people. While the diploma I will soon receive bears my name and is something that I will hold dear for the rest of my life, it is not solely mine. This doctorate comes with the knowledge that many, many people in my family have withstood and survived the viciousness of racial discrimination and the humiliating, dehumanizing effects of poverty in hopes that their children and grandchildren, my generation, would not have to endure these hideous cruelties. All of these fine, hard working, loving people always encouraged me to read more, study harder, and pursue higher education - a privilege that was out of reach and beyond the realm of possibility for most of them.