Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / The Graduate

The Graduate

by | 120 Comments

This post is in: 

Today feels like Saturday afternoon, and not Sunday.

Still, it’s the perfect time for graduation photos, especially since it’s a graduation weekend around here.

How cute are these?  I’ll answer.  Oh my god, Susi is adorable!

Feels Like Saturday Open Thread 2

My personal favorite.  Look at that face, and the crooked ears and the hat.

Feels Like Saturday Open Thread 1

Or maybe this one!

Feels Like Saturday Open Thread

Not sure if that’s Miss Bianca or the person teaching the class!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  3. 3.

    PsiFighter37

    I still can’t believe Biden gave DougJ a shoutout at nerd prom. I didn’t even know that was last night, and that was a helluva way to get the morning fix on Twitter. Naturally, the NYT article covering nerd prom mentions the line but cuts off the reference to DougJ…couldn’t bring it to own themselves.

  5. 5.

    HumboldtBlue

    I learned recently that you can access up to 100 articles or journals a month at JSTOR for free just by registering with the site.

    Although, one does not need JSTOR to recognize Susi is cute.

  7. 7.

    Alison Rose

    Funny you should mention graduation, June is 25 years since I graduated high school. It somehow feels both like way less time and way more time than that.

  11. 11.

    CaseyL

    The cutest graduate!  And her proud Mom.

    Today Seattle is back to its normal dreary weather, making me all the happier that I did not waste yesterday’s warm sunshine but went out hiking.

    Today I need to cook something for the coming week, and am trying to decide what.  Will probably go for chili again, since it’s easy and I have all the ingredients.

  14. 14.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Doggo graduated! Congratulations!

    My first “great” (great nephew) is graduating from high school this year. His mother, my first niece, was born 3 days before I left for college.

    I was not expecting to be this old so soon.

  15. 15.

    Miss Bianca

    @Scamp Dog: thank you! How is your dog doing, btw? I remember a rescue Siberian or Malamute a few years back…are you two still together?

  16. 16.

    Yutsano

    I have a possible meet-up opportunity coming next month but it’s a very short window since I’ll only be in Seattle from the 12 to the 14th of May. We can discuss it but it will be a bit tight since the best day is Saturday for me.

  17. 17.

    MomSense

    Congratulations Susi and Miss Bianca!

    I just watched Biden’s speech from last night and it was a home run!  The man’s decency and good humor is right there at his core, at the surface, and in his heart.  He’s a fine person.  We are lucky he has given his golden years to try and restore our democracy.  He’s a champion.

  19. 19.

    Betty

    I wonder if Sammy has called his buddy, Clarence, to offer his condolences. That was brutal.

  21. 21.

    Scamp Dog

    @Miss Bianca: Yes! Meeca is doing well at 14, still up for 45 minute rambles around the neighborhood. I’m taking her to Michigan next week, to spend a month with my 91 year old Mom.

    Thanks again to all the jackals who contributed for her knee surgery after I got her, you’ve made a big difference in our lives!

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    Dark Brandon gives Roy Wood a shoutout. Sense of humor, another thing Republicans are required to drop.

    Has anybody done a welfare check on Michelle Wolf recently? Trump’s enemy list never forgets, even if he does.

  27. 27.

    Ruckus

    @Alison Rose:

    Do you want to know how long ago it was that the rest of us graduated?

    I’m wondering the range of years, I bet it is a lot different than many of us imagine.

  28. 28.

    Miss Bianca

    @Scamp Dog: Aww, that is good to hear! I must have missed the knee surgery bleg, I was MIA for a while here…glad that worked out!

  31. 31.

    eclare

    Just started watching Somebody Somewhere, so good!  Thank you for all the recs.

    ETA>  what a beautiful fluffball!  Congrats on graduation.  How big is she expected to get?

  37. 37.

    HumboldtBlue

    @kalakal:

    I texted my niece who is close to graduating and mentioned it to her, and she said that she has full access as long as she’s a student. Grad school is next for her.

    And I graduated high school in 1983.

  41. 41.

    eclare

    @MomSense:

    I took required gym in summer school to avoid big classes.  Plus we went bowling for two weeks.  The test was how to keep score manually.  I could do that.

    No sportsball for me.

  43. 43.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Let me tell you this. If we’re going to get even with Hitler, we can’t get on a soapbox because he’s too damn good at that. We got to ridicule him. We got to laugh at him. Then we can get even.

    ~Mel Brooks

  44. 44.

    Denali5

    I graduated 1964-also Knoxville, the Holston Warriors.  Now I live in the same town as the newly famous DougJ.

  45. 45.

    Miss Bianca

    @eclare: thank you! She will top out at about 40 lbs or so – she’s at least 3/4 of the way there now, feels like! :)

  46. 46.

    Frankensteinbeck

    The Graduate

    That movie made me realize there is a whole branch of humor that completely passes me by.  It’s famously funny, but I watched it, and I spotted almost no humor.  We’re not talking ‘that joke wasn’t funny’.  We’re talking ‘what joke?’

  47. 47.

    kalakal

    @eclare: Even by the standard of British Public School names it’s considered silly.

    Truly beautiful part of the world, the local village is Giggleswick, across the river Ribble is the town of Settle. The local names are wonderful, Wigglesworth, Wham, Rathmell, Eldroth, Ingleborough, Pen-y-ghent, Austwick, Whernside.

  48. 48.

    M31

    speaking of chili, if you are a fan of Penzey’s spices, they are having a 1/2 off sale on spices that begin with B and C today — I stocked up on chili powder and cocoa today, such a deal

    and also basil and cumin and coriander lol

  50. 50.

    UncleEbeneezer

    So we had a nice service for my MIL yesterday.  Lots of tears but also a lot of laughs.  Her brother, a retired Methodist Minister delivered a great eulogy and many friends and loved shared wonderful stories and memories.  Some of her fellow majorettes from Class of ‘62 even showed up.  It was a nice surprise.  We then went to a hole in the wall restaurant for a group dinner that was pretty good.  Even the MAGA family members (who I dreaded meeting) were very well behaved and we got along fine.  All in all about as good a day you can make out of a funeral!

  54. 54.

    Miss Bianca

    @kalakal: Wigglesworth! I had a professor whose middle name was Wigglesworth – I think it was his mother’s maiden name. Always got my giggles (worth) out of it.

  58. 58.

    caring & sensitive

    @Josie: High school. I was 14 years old and had enough common sense to take 6 years to get my BA. Kept switching majors and faculties. In 4th year I enrolled in 2nd year Arts having been through Science and Engineering. Then I took a few years off before going to law school.

  59. 59.

    Ruckus

    @WendyBinFL:

    HS 1967 for me as well. Had to wait a bit for college, war you know, the possibility of being drafted, joining the Navy for 4 yrs to avoid being drafted, then college, and then realizing that if I went to school for the 8 years it would take to do what I wanted I’d be well into my 30s and beyond broke, I settled. A decent life ensued and so now I’m in my mid 70s, reasonably healthy, retired, still sane(ish), life has been reasonably satisfying. What’s the old song, can’t always get what you want?

  60. 60.

    Sxjames

    Graduated high school in 1976.  Bicentennial year (also two years after Watergate).  Much more optimistic about the future of the country, and the strength of our democracy. “The system worked” folks would say.

    That as a long time ago.

  61. 61.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Ahhhh, what a nice day: 2 animal posts (congrats Suzi!) and all my heavy stuff moved after 4 days of packing. Not doing much else for the rest of the day

  67. 67.

    kalakal

    @zhena gogolia:

    Lol! I also left out ( these are real) Idle, Booze, Land of Nod, and Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate ( that one’s a street name. Plus for Goon Show fans Eccles & Eccleshill

  69. 69.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @WaterGirl: oh gosh no! I work* at a tent rental business, so I hired 4 co-workers to bring one of the trucks over and they got it done in less than 2 hours. There were a lot of stairs, so I paid them each for their muscle.

    *I just ‘retired’ from my FT salary job there last Tuesday but will do some hourly shifts for a short while

  74. 74.

    Ruckus

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    The possibility of course existed. In my mind you did the best you could and took what came. I got extremely lucky. And no, it wasn’t all fun and games, not in any way, shape or form. Still I only got shot at once. Still can remember the sound of that shot going by. Good times.

    I ended up on a ship on the east coast, did 3 NATO cruises, have been to Gitmo, and on one return trip sailed from Berlevag, Norway (northern tip of Norway), Portsmouth, UK, The Azores, then into a storm with 40-50 ft swells heading towards the US, ending up about the Saint Lawrence Seaway, then south to home port, Charleston, SC. Normal 4-5 day sail across the Atlantic took 10 days. I believe that I, and 4 others out of just over 300 of didn’t get seasick. Good times.

  76. 76.

    S cerevisiae

    Graduated HS in 1981 with a class of just over 60 people.

    went to MN-Duluth for 2 years then took a 20 year summer break.

    Finally finished my Bachelors in 2006 at Prescott College in AZ.

    it sure doesn’t feel like 20 years ago, most of my courses at PC had a field component and I was able to take classes in Mexico and Costa Rica. I miss that but it was hard enough at 40 I doubt if I could hack it now

     

    I have a lot of great photos from those field courses, I wonder if they are too old to submit for on the road?

  77. 77.

    Josie

    @caring & sensitive: ​ Graduating at 14 is impressive. I also switched majors several times and wound up with a teaching certificate. Went back two years later for library certification and found my niche. It takes some of us a while to discover ourselves.​

  79. 79.

    kalakal

    @Josie: The ability to switch majors is something I envy about the US as opposed to the UK system.

    In the UK it is pretty general up to the age of 16 ( you do up to around 10 or so subjects) and sit a set of exams called GCSEs* ( O levels in my day). Then till 18 you (usually) study 3 subjects ( A levels) and get into uni based on your results but you are pretty set at that point. You can only apply to a course which requires those 3 subjects. So I did Maths ( pure & applied), Physics, and Chemistry and then studied Chem Eng for 3 years. If I wanted to change I was limited to closely related subjects eg Chemistry, Physics etc but no way could I do Law, or History, or French etc without going all the way back. Having to pick your career at 15 or 16 is bloody stupid.

    We don’t do minors, we study one thing and we study it a lot.

    Seems to have loosened up a bit since my day but not by that much

    *General Certificate of Secondary Education

    Ordinary Level, Advanced Level

  80. 80.

    Scout211

    @Alison Rose: I think both you and Suzanne mentioned in comments last year that you were 42. The same age as my daughter was last year, who also graduated in 1998. It definitely felt like a vague, internet, anonymous kinship. Of sorts. LOL.

  84. 84.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Ruckus: ​
     Well, typically when someone has fling with the farmer’s daughter shots will be fired.

  85. 85.

    Jager

    @WendyBinFL:

    I’ve got my 60th coming up, 12 couples, all ancient friends, are getting together at a Lake Resort in Nothern Minnesota in late August. We’ve got a busy travel summer, June, LAX to London, on to Amsterdam, back to LAX. July LAX to Boston, a few days in our old neighborhood, the Back Bay with our grandson, he’s there doing a PAID internship, then on to Cape Cod via a bareboat charter sailboat, from the Cape to Newport RI, then back to Boston and home to SoCal.

    I’ve trying to talk my wife into chucking it all, buying a big, but easy-for-two-to-handle sailboat, and saying to hell with it. What’s the old saying, “There may be snow on the roof but there’s still a fire in the furnace”

  87. 87.

    sxjames

    @MagdaInBlack:  Sigh, yes.  Graduated college in 1980, moved to Portland Oregon to join to the tech industry.  One of the most vivid memories of my first job as a ‘working adult’ was walking thru the factory where the PA system was tuned to Reagan’s inauguration / hostages taking off from Tehran.  Surreal.

  88. 88.

    Josie

    @kalakal: ​
     “Having to pick your career at 15 or 16 is bloody stupid.”
    I totally agree. At that age I planned to major in music. It would have been a mistake

  90. 90.

    zhena gogolia

    @Scout211: It’s when you solve the crossword puzzle, but then there’s some gimmick encoded into the puzzle that you have to figure out. Like certain answers begin with letters that then spell out a “meta” word that relates to the puzzle. Evan Birnholz of the WaPo has great puzzles but he’s too fond of the meta for my taste. I just don’t have the brain for it, I’m too impatient.

  91. 91.

    rekoob

    High School — 1980, Virginia

    College — 1984, Maryland

    Graduate School (MBA) – 1992, Illinois

    I’ve been fortunate to stay in touch with classmates and contemporaries from each over the years. Some of my B-school classmates and I got together in Northern Virginia last weekend.

  99. 99.

    schrodingers_cat

    @kalakal: You are like my double, My three main subjects were also  Physics, Chemistry and Math (2 exams in each) + Economics. Then I majored in Physics with a minor in math.

    Indian system is pretty similar to the British one.

  102. 102.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @kalakal: ​
      I did an IB diploma, which has a much broader range if subjects. Not to be parochial but I think is a superior set up simply because it doesn’t impose limitations as early as the British system.

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    OK I’m still giggling.

    But no it wasn’t about the farmers daughter. It was about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, walking along a road on the way back to base after dark. Missed the last bus, at like 7:30PM. I just love South Carolina. And BTW that was snark, just in case it wasn’t clear.

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus

    As long as we are celebrating family and all that, my niece ran her first marathon today. She finished in 4:08:03. She pulled a calf muscle around mile 15 and just gutted it out for the last 11. She was very happy and proud. My younger brother is simply beside himself. These are the moments he lives for. I am happy for both of them. Oh yeah, my 80 y/o dad got up at 3:50 this morning to drive over to watch whole race.

  108. 108.

    kalakal

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’d agree. Always thought an IB would have suited me better, I was pretty much even at everything, my 2 favourite subjects were history & physics which didn’t seem to have an obvious career path

     

    @schrodingers_cat:  Yes, very similar. My sideline was in numerical methods for computer science so I didn’t work as a chem eng for very long but went into IT instead which suited me better

  109. 109.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
      The IB program was started in Switzerland so it was quite efficient and willing to accommodate vicious dictators as long as they kept their bank balances high.

  114. 114.

    Miss Bianca

    And thank you all for your kind comments on beloved Fluff Muffin Susi – pour moi, this has been a very fun and happy thread for a Sunday afternoon!

  116. 116.

    EighthCousin

    Last…but among the oldest reporting: Graduated HS in 1960.
    (I’m two days younger than President Biden, and I don’t know how he does it!)
    I support him and Kamala Harris in whatever they need to do.

  118. 118.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: She was fine.*

    *Her definition of fine with respect to sports injuries is sort of “It wasn’t bleeding and the bone wasn’t sticking out.  I’m fine.”  And in a lot of cases the bleeding part would be ignored.

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