David Sedaris brought a lot of things with him to Symphony Hall last night - unpublished writings, translations of his books into Catalan and Italian, a packed house...he also brought Helping Hands.
And they brought a monkey...
Judi Zazula, Executive Director and co-founder of Helping Hands, Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, and Ayla (you can just see Ayla's head peeking out from under the blanket). Ayla made lots a friends last night.
Along with a lot of other funny, unpublished writings, Mr. Sedaris brought his Princeton-commencement-address-in-progress to the podium. Since I have already covered the fact of his Princeton assignment, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some other commencement speakers around the nation (with a slight emphasis on this region and the arts):
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Senator Barack Obama
Berklee College of Music
Melissa Ethridge
Boston College
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College at Perkinston, Oklahoma State University, the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the United States Military Academy
President George W. Bush
University of Pennsylvania
Jodie Foster
Roger Williams University
First Lady Laura Bush
Buffalo State College
Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton and Senator Charles Schumer
Cleveland Institute of Music
Violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo (ahem, a Celebrity Series artist many times over, thank you very much)
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Anna Deveare Smith and former President William Jefferson Clinton
Eastern Connecticut State University
Former poet laureate of the United States, Robert Pinsky (and Celebrity Series artist, 2002)
Harvard University
Newshour host Jim Lehrer
Juilliard School
Wynton Marsalis (look for him on the Series in 06-07)
Knox College
Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report
Merrimack College
Shonda Schilling
Rider University
New York Yankees manager Joe Torre (do the Yankees plan to be out of the running by then?) and Alice Torre
Westminster Choir College of Rider University
New York Times classical music critic Anthony Tommassini
State University of New York at Binghamton
Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie (Celebrity Series artist, 1999)
Syracuse University
Billy Joel
Tufts University
Lance Armstrong
Wheaton College (Mass.)
Cokie Roberts
New England Conservatory
Composer Joan Tower
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