The world is waiting for you : graduation speeches to live by from activists, writers, and visionaries / edited by Tara Grove and Isabel Ostrer.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Grove, Tara, editor.

Ostrer, Isabel, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Speeches, addresses, etc., American.

Baccalaureate addresses.

College graduates--Conduct of life.

College graduates.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (225 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York ; London, [England] : The New Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

""The voices of conformity speak so loudly. Don't listen to them," acclaimed author and award-winning journalist Anna Quindlen cautioned graduates of Grinnell College. Jazz virtuoso and educator Wynton Marsalis advised new Connecticut College alums not to worry about being on time, but rather to be in time--because "time is actually your friend. He don't come back because he never goes away." And in 2012 renowned physician and humanitarian Paul Farmer revealed to former Delaware co-eds his remarkable discovery-the new disease Empathy Deficit Disorder-and assured the commencers it could be cured. With more than a dozen contemporary graduation speeches that dissect the world as it is and imagine what it could be, The World Is Waiting for You brings forth the courageous people who've dared to transform the podium into a pulpit for championing peace, justice, protest, and a better world. The prescient, fiery feminism of Gloria Steinem sits parallel to science-fiction writer and embracer of darkness Ursula K. Le Guin, who asks, "What if I talked like a woman right here in public?" Legal and anti-poverty activist Bryan Stevenson enchants with stories of hope and unlikely triumph, while Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver asks those born into the Age of Irony to "imagine getting caught with your Optimism hanging out" and implores us always to act and speak the truth. The World Is Waiting for You speaks to both the young and the old, anyone who might take to heart the advice of Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards--"life as an activist, troublemaker, or agitator is a tremendous option and one I highly recommend"--and is the perfect gift for all on the verge of moving their tassels to the left"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Learn Not to Listen - Anna Quindlen; Be In Time - Wynton Marsalis; How To be Hopeful - Barbara Kingsolver; To All My children - Marian Wright Edelman; Who Will Defend the Earth? - Noam Chomsky; The Pursuit of Meaningfulness - Toni Morrison; Go the Distance - Gloria Steinem; The World Is Waiting for You - Tony Kushner; Allow Hope but Also Fear - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; On Empathy and Reason - Paul Farmer; Not for Profit - Martha Nussbaum; Know Your History - Oliver Stone; The Earth is Hiring - Paul Hawken; Make This World a Better Place - Isabel Wilkerson

Against Discouragement - Howard ZinnListen to Your Mother - Cecile Richards; Dont Wait to Change the World - Theodore M. Shaw; A Left-Handed Commencement Address - Ursula K. Le Guin; Contributors; Permissions

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781620970911

1620970910

OCLC:

905988804