Happy UMM graduation - the way it should be

The photo above shows University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks addressing the 2010 University of Minnesota-Morris graduation, held Saturday. Photo by Brian Williams - morris mn

There was no suspense Saturday as to whether the UMM graduation could be held outside. Contrary to some other years, everyone could look forward to the most pleasant type of late-spring, early-summer day. It really felt more like summer than spring. People massed on the UMM campus mall to celebrate the milestone that each of UMM's graduates was marking.
Parking can be a little problematic on a day like this, so I bypassed motorized transportation. I used two-wheel transportation and could pedal right up to the periphery of the mall.
I used to joke with a friend about how it was clear that spring was here when you'd see hippies flying kites on the campus mall. That seems like eons ago. So long ago, the mall was level, sans any special landscaping, and the level topography would be quite essential when building up speed to get a kite aloft.
Today if you look around the campus you will see a few students who have the outward, cosmetic traits of hippies. I don't intend that as a denigrating label. Hippies were a cog in a significant cultural transformation, the blessings of which seem taken for granted by today's youth.
Today's hippie-appearing kids are a testament though they probably aren't terribly aware of that.
In the wake of all that generational tumult, no longer would "authority" have the tyrannical, oftentimes irrational kind of hold over us. The tumult of the 1960s opened the door for a freer discussion of issues. The issue with the greatest immediacy was the military draft. The draft fed into a war machine that plunged us into sheer hell for what seemed like an eternity - a period of time that just happened to coincide with my most formative years.
As a news media aficionado, I soaked in the rebellion of the times that permeated our culture and fundamentally influenced the news media which at the time were a somewhat monolithic enterprise - no Internet, social networking or other "democratizing" tools. "Social networking" might mean visiting the local coffeehouse.
When TV anchorman Walter Cronkite came out and proclaimed, in a somewhat reserved way really, that the U.S. venture in Viet Nam was ill-fated, it was considered a seminal moment. Cronkite like so many others felt "honor" had to be weighed as we made our exit from bloody Indochina.
Those hippies flying kites saw things more clearly. Viet Nam was something to forget. It was something to learn from. The draft was a miserable anachronism. "Make love not war."
These thoughts began drifting through my mind Saturday when a news report appeared on HLN about a belated commencement out east: Would you believe a ceremony for the 1970 graduates? The original ceremony had to be cancelled. Can you believe that the tumult in our nation was so serious that a commencement ceremony had to be cancelled? Kent State had just happened. Youth were killed by National Guardsmen. It was a scary time beyond anything that today's youth could imagine.
Discontent among youth was reaching a boil. Would the nation simply come apart at the seams?
This nation with its dependably resilient air clawed through the debacle of that era. Most of the principles promoted by the youth of that time pushed through the storm clouds and came to be respected.
Civil rights and the environment became embraced in meaningful ways. We need a generous reminder of that in light of the current debacle of the oil spill.
The military draft ended. Not that the pacifists won completely, mind you. Boomers have been tested sharply through the years in terms of adhering to their principles. We have a sort of "back door" draft system today in which a very disproportionate number of military volunteers come from a socioeconomic background in which options are limited. Military service all through time, everywhere, has been marked by this trait.
The idea of our National Guardsmen going overseas to risk life and limb is a back-door maneuver as well. And the venture in Afghanistan could boil up into a domestic imbroglio. But there are quite few signs of that now.
It's nothing like when UMM was the site for Viet Nam War "moratoriums" that drew impassioned crowds to Edson Hall. I was there for a couple of those, actually by accident. I was junior high-age at the time but had been recruited to fill out the french horn section in the UMM concert band. The regular band director was on some sort of leave. The high school director filled his shoes for a time and I was plucked from the public school.
Band rehearsal was cancelled a couple times to allow for the moratoriums. I didn't get the word and so I showed up on campus. Upon discovering the moratorium, I was gripped and couldn't leave. Those images remain fixed in my consciousness.
The emotions were raw. I remember a professor sitting in front who was either a "hawk" or said the kind of things that hawks approved of. "Hawks" and "doves" were the war debate dichotomy of the time. I wouldn't dare type the name of the professor, who is now deceased, because I'm plucking these observations from my memory through the mists of time. I was just a junior high kid. I would guess the year was 1968 or '69.
All this tumult would continue for another three years or so. So today, as I pass by the UMM campus on a beautiful May afternoon and observe all the festive trappings and ebullient mood among graduates, family and well-wishers, I'm struck by the contrast. I hope everyone realized how blessed they were, living in a time when college is an uplifting vehicle for enhancement and not a way to get a military deferment.
Today's commencement is a multi-cultural celebration. A rainbow of backgrounds are represented.
As I pedaled onto the campus periphery, I heard "Pomp and Circumstance" played by UMM musicians. I should mention that in my junior high adventure with the UMM band, I too played for graduation.
"Pomp and Circumstance" has been a matter of some controversy for Morris Area High School because it has not always been played for graduation. Some parents feel it's essential. School board members have been known to get angry emails when it's not played.
Is the problem that it's too traditional? If UMM deems it fully appropriate to play this chestnut, I think it's quite fine to have for the high school graduation too. There should be no question asked.
Over the many years that I covered the Hancock High School graduation, the band there had a percussion section intro to "Pomp and Circumstance" that scared me, such was its volume and suddenness. I got teased about that.
It's heartwarming beyond words to have been invited to the reception for a Hancock High graduate this year. I got to know this family through my work with the old "dead tree" media.
Graduations and receptions were always uniquely heartwarming because, as the cliche goes, they represent "an end and a beginning" with emphasis on the latter. The arduous challenges of classroom work were completed. Everyone could bask in the satisfaction of that and just take a deep breath. Relatives come from long distances. It's a uniquely satisfying time.
The sun-drenched UMM graduation included a speech from University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks. The student speaker was Bennett Smith of Donnelly. UMM hasn't exactly been a magnet for Morris area youth, so Smith's appearance at the podium had distinction, plus his speech had merit.
Smith was brought to the podium by UMM Chancellor Jacqueline Johnson. Regent Clyde Allen (chair) appeared at the microphone.
The Northern Wind Singers performed "Honor Song" in recognition of the campus's origin as an American Indian boarding school. The lead singer was almunus Gabriel Derosiers.
Jim Mahoney delivered a greeting on behalf of the UMM Alumni Association. The UMM band, 42 years after my adventure in its ranks, was under the baton of Martin Seggelke, and the choir directing was done by UMM's fixture in that department, Ken Hodgson. All that seemed missing was the "UMM Hymn" by composer Ralph E. Williams. But I'm biased on that.
An air of celebration pervaded the reception at Oyate Hall following the formal ceremony.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com