Pomp and circumstance

ASHLAND, Ohio – It is graduation weekend in Madison, and that means that roughly some 5,000 (former) students will be donning caps and gowns, walking across the Kohl Center stage and saying goodbye to their years at the University of Wisconsin.

The school put out a press release not too long ago with some interesting information on a few graduates – it really speaks to the outstanding group of people who help comprise UW.

And the Capital Times has a cute story on a mother and daughter duo who walked together last night:

When [Norma] Iribarren graduated from the UW in 1986,with a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction, she skipped the pomp and circumstance.

She said although she, her two children and her husband had been in the United States for 12 years and had become citizens in 1985, she still felt like too much of a newcomer to comfortably take part. On Friday night, she sat on the floor of the Kohl Center next to her daughter Jacqueline, who was collecting a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy analysis. The two walked across the stage together.

Finally, as many of you know, this weekend also marks my graduation. However, as you can piece together by my distant dateline, I have no plans of walking across the Kohl Center stage. So, yeah, I'm boycotting my own graduation.

You know – just out of principle.