HOUR ONE:
With graduation season winding down, Bob looks at commencement speeches that have become subjects in their own right. First, Bob talks with best-selling writer George Saunders about his book, Congratulations, By the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness. It’s an expanded version of the address Saunders gave in 2013 at Syracuse University.
Then, Bob talks with Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough Jr., son of the famous historian, about his 2012 commencement speech. McCullough expanded it into a new book called You Are Not Special: … and Other Encouragements.
We conclude our look at notable commencement addresses with audio of writer David Foster Wallace’s 2005 speech at Kenyon College, which has been called the best commencement address ever. It might have been all but forgotten, but after Wallace took his own life in 2008, the text surfaced on the internet. It was later published as a book, called This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life.
HOUR TWO:
Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, celebrated writer Michael Chabon turns his attention to San Francisco’s Bay Area. His seventh novel Telegraph Avenue centers around a vinyl record store on the border between Berkeley and Oakland.
Actor John C. Reilly discusses his career on stage and screen and some of his more memorable roles. Reilly’s work includes serious films like Boogie Nights and Magnolia – silly ones like Walk Hard and Talladega Nights – and an Oscar nomination for the musical Chicago.