Famed poet Nikki Giovanni told about 700 FAMU graduates last night that they must be up for the challenge and be up for the fight, no matter the odds.
Giovanni recalled a 2004 football game between FAMU and Virginia Tech to illustrate how despite the odds Rattlers keep on fighting!
Nice speech, but it was entirely too short. She was up there for maybe 5 minutes! I wish she had talked a little more.
ReplyDeleteFive minutes?? Apparently Nikki didn't know that we're use to long, drawn-out speeches. Yeah, I think maybe she could've given us maybe 15 minutes. Dang.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Graduates for a job well done. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteFive minutes of Nikki's time is still a blessing. Congratulations graduates. Make us FAMU Alumni proud!
ReplyDeleteFive minutes and $3,500 later. I think girlF got a real bargain on this one. You know, of course, that FAMU is notorious for just hading out $$. Let's see: a roundtrip flight to Florida; room & board for two nights at a very lovely hotel; a chauffered limo to & from the hotel; meals for the duration. Five minutes of Nikki G's time isn't a "blessing." Girlfriend's been around a long time. She's tired. She needs to stay in Virginia, or at least when she gives a commencement "speech" make an analogy about something other that what the kids already know. Give 'em some news they can use, I say. Some folks don't know when they need to retire from the national stage.
ReplyDeleteNikki's "5 minute" speech had more substance to it than that German born FSU speaker Walteh Tschinkel. Instead of talking to FSU graduates about fire ants, he should have pleaded with them to stop cheating, selling drugs, and using drugs on campus.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, didn't FSU's President T. K. Wetherell spend a whole lot more than $3,500 to pimp his house?
Congratulations FAMU Graduates!!!
well I saw her at the Miami Book Fair and she stayed up there for every bit of an hour. I guess you get what you pay for. Id rather 5 minutes of golden nuggets of wisdom than 30 of nothing but unsubstantial fluff.
ReplyDeletedid we award her an honorary degree for her performance?
She got an honorary degree. And her speech was about 10mins. She took a peculiar approach, with the football story. But brought all together well with the ending.
ReplyDeleteSister girl speaks at a rapid fire clip and dropped lots in her short speech.
how did fsu get up here in the mix? i thought we were talking about our commencement.
ReplyDeletesisterGirl needs to go on home. i wish she had talked for al least fifteen minutes. i think she had a lot to say, but i'm not sure what happened along the way that prevented her from saying it. i blinked and she was gone.
ReplyDeletei for one am glad she didn't talk too long, i didn't wanna be up in there all night. heck we still calling every grads name and giving them time to walk across the stage in this day and age.
ReplyDelete1:14, for many generations of families, to have a member of the family "walking across the stage" is one of the proudest and fiercest moments in the history of their family. surely, you don't want to deny a family this one, short badge of honor, do you? Perhaps generations of your family is full of college graduates who've earned bachelors, masters, PhDs, MD degrees and law degrees. For some, however, that one graduate represents for them a lifetime of accomplishments. And judging from the number of attendees in the audience, there is a whole lot of pride going on in that Civic Center. People have traveled by car and have flown perhaps thousands of miles for this one moment of hope and pride. Today's younger generation just don't quite understand the magnitude of hearing a family member's name called as they receive that piece of paper. Today's young folk, the Google generation, are so in a hurry to move on and get past tradition until inevitably they lose a little bit of themselves in the rush. Be patient. Grow up. And try to understand.
ReplyDeleteI understand that a lot of you think that 5 (or 10) minutes of Nikki Giovanni's time was worth it, but seeing how famous she is, and the fact that she is a poet, you would think that she'd have more to say. The graduates needed to hear a lot more than that. The message was good, but I think that as hard as the graduates worked to make it that far, they deserved a little bit more of her time. And having a 15-20 minute speech is neither too short nor too drawn out.
ReplyDeletewhat graduates will remember, if anything, is that giovanni spoke for five minutes. what they won't remember is what she spoke about, which, of course, is the travesty if the situation. a national, well-renown poet graces the stage at the nation's premier university. everyone is waiting to hear her commencement address. what does girlF do? she makes a five-minute football analogy and takes a seat. i say the university is due a refund.
ReplyDelete...nation's premier HBCU. (i stand corrected.)
ReplyDelete