{"id":442,"date":"2009-06-21T22:12:47","date_gmt":"2009-06-22T03:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?p=442"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:43:08","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:43:08","slug":"david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/","title":{"rendered":"David Foster Wallace's commencement address is beautiful and tragic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making the rounds on the Internet the last month or two, fueled by graduation season and a story in the New York Times<\/a>, is a beautiful commencement address the author David Foster Wallace gave back in 2005.
\nThe insights on how to live life become that much more profound after Wallace’s suicide last year. Maybe he knew what he needed to do and unable to help himself, he wanted to save some of the fresh-faced graduates of Kenyon College the same pain he suffered?
\n

\"This<\/a>
David Foster Wallace's 2005 commencement address at Kenyon College has been printed in a book called "This is Water."<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nFrom a Wall Street Journal adaptation<\/a> of the speech, here are some excerpts:<\/p>\n

Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal-arts clich\u00e9 about “teaching you how to think” is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: “Learning how to think” really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed. Think of the old clich\u00e9 about “the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master.” This, like many clich\u00e9s, so lame and unexciting on the surface, actually expresses a great and terrible truth. It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in the head. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger. And I submit that this is what the real, no-bull- value of your liberal-arts education is supposed to be about: How to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default-setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone, day in and day out.
\n…
\nIn the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what<\/em> to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship — be it J.C. or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of ethical principles — is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already — it’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clich\u00e9s, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness. Worship power — you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart — you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a little hard to read, knowing how the story ends for Wallace, but I don’t think that takes away the wisdom of the insights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making the rounds on the Internet the last month or two, fueled by graduation season and a story in the New York Times, is a beautiful commencement address the author David Foster Wallace gave back in 2005. The insights on how to live life become that much more profound after Wallace’s suicide last year. Maybe he knew what he needed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[209,537,639,1339,1558,2280,2293,2819,2820],"yoast_head":"\nDavid Foster Wallace's commencement address is beautiful and tragic - Newvine Growing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"David Foster Wallace's commencement address is beautiful and tragic - Newvine Growing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Making the rounds on the Internet the last month or two, fueled by graduation season and a story in the New York Times, is a beautiful commencement address the author David Foster Wallace gave back in 2005. The insights on how to live life become that much more profound after Wallace’s suicide last year. Maybe he knew what he needed…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newvine Growing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-22T03:12:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-07T17:43:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/no-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Colleen Newvine Tebeau\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Colleen Newvine Tebeau\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/\",\"name\":\"David Foster Wallace's commencement address is beautiful and tragic - Newvine Growing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-22T03:12:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-07T17:43:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/34671ebbbb37e4c1cc97f2f5ac1b1646\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"David Foster Wallace's commencement address is beautiful and tragic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/\",\"name\":\"Newvine Growing\",\"description\":\"Live life intentionally\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/34671ebbbb37e4c1cc97f2f5ac1b1646\",\"name\":\"Colleen Newvine Tebeau\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/700a4f604ab1d15dc1062a892418c128?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/700a4f604ab1d15dc1062a892418c128?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Colleen Newvine Tebeau\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/author\/cnewvine\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"David Foster Wallace's commencement address is beautiful and tragic - Newvine Growing","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"David Foster Wallace's commencement address is beautiful and tragic - Newvine Growing","og_description":"Making the rounds on the Internet the last month or two, fueled by graduation season and a story in the New York Times, is a beautiful commencement address the author David Foster Wallace gave back in 2005. The insights on how to live life become that much more profound after Wallace’s suicide last year. Maybe he knew what he needed…","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/","og_site_name":"Newvine Growing","article_published_time":"2009-06-22T03:12:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-06-07T17:43:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/no-image.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Colleen Newvine Tebeau","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Colleen Newvine Tebeau","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/","name":"David Foster Wallace's commencement address is beautiful and tragic - Newvine Growing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-06-22T03:12:47+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-07T17:43:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/34671ebbbb37e4c1cc97f2f5ac1b1646"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/david-foster-wallaces-commencement-address-is-beautiful-and-tragic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"David Foster Wallace's commencement address is beautiful and tragic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/","name":"Newvine Growing","description":"Live life intentionally","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/34671ebbbb37e4c1cc97f2f5ac1b1646","name":"Colleen Newvine Tebeau","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/700a4f604ab1d15dc1062a892418c128?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/700a4f604ab1d15dc1062a892418c128?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Colleen Newvine Tebeau"},"url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/author\/cnewvine\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/no-image.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}