Phi Beta Kappa address, “Keep in Touch”

As the 2009-10 president of Pomona College’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter, I was supposed to deliver the address at our commencement weekend initiation ceremony. I accidentally double-booked myself, though, by agreeing to speak at a one-day conference at Dartmouth; somehow, I’d forgotten than the initiation ceremony was Friday evening, rather than Saturday evening. Needless to say, I felt awful when I suddenly realized what I’d done — and of course the realization came in the middle of the night, waking me up from a dead sleep.

Anyhow, this is how I managed to get myself out of this goof: the first such presidential address delivered via video. Fortunately, the topic I’d planned worked well with the mediation. And now I get to share it with you.

(Incidentally, the bad audio sync is semi-intentional; when I realized that the sound and image were off just a fraction, I figured hey, the YouTube aesthetic seems appropriate here.)