I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
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Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.Īnd 17 years later I did go to college. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. The first story is about connecting the dots.
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life.
Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
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