On commencement, old friends, and the mystery of the mind

There are those who say of believe that the mind goes a million directions or so a minute. For others, it’s billions. For some it’s thousands. But the direction that a person’s mind travels changes with the seasons, the moments, and the times of days, the different aesthetics of music, art, and travel. A person’s life is decided by where his minds and heart guides him, too. And if it’s a place that he wants to be, then it is the right direction. If it’s the wrong place, or the wrong time, that direction he took was to a point of no return, and made his life miserable and meaningless.

Speaking of meaning, what is the meaning, the symbolism behind commencement? People travel down a path club in black, with two rows of instructors greeting them. In the distance, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, other family members and friends, and many more people young men and women who walk down the gap between the two lines. In the distance, Edward Elgar’s “Pomp & Circumstance” is playing lustily. And what is the meaning of these men and women tossing their hats in the air? That college spirit, that undying devotion to learning what is feels to be young…what is that?

When I was getting ready to graduate from Long Beach City College, I went down this path. My father and mother were cheering madly. I didn’t see them until I was in my seat. They were in the bleachers section, at the bottom, and my dad was dancing like that fool Willie Revillame of Wowowee. Only then did I realize where I was. I was in the middle of the new SprinTurf field at Long Beach College, on a white plastic seat, donning a gold Alpha Gamma Sigma stole, bedecked with pins, presenting t6he clubs and awards I won at the college. That stole is now encased in my room.

I had tears in my eyes. I was screaming in joy. I was ecstatic. That, I think, is that natural feeling one gets from being at a Commencement ceremony. I earned a dual degree: Liberal Arts and Computer Business Information Systems. The odd thing was that I would take one more class at the college in the summer before going on to Long Beach State.

But aside from that, commencement is a fun event. At the JC level, it’s a great day for about a thousand or so recipients of certificates and Associate degrees. When I wrote this on paper to prepare it for blog, it was less than three hours to the 80^th Commencement Ceremony at Long Beach City College. For some people I know, this is the biggest moment of their lives. For me, it’s a time to reflect on my commencement at the campus two years ago.

Last year, I had other things to do, so I couldn’t stay for the entire ceremony. This year, with Paul Rodriguez being the guest speaking this year, I was inclined to stay, and get his autograph. And this would be for my mom. There is a very strong wind, just like two years ago. Seems the times haven’t changed much.

I look at the field, the lines, the turf, and the track surrounding it. And my heart starts to race. Suddenly, I long for college football season to return. Long Beach City College still has the only college football team in this city. And I long to cover once again those games at Vets Stadium, and those games in the Mission Football Conference. I remember last year like it was yesterday. El Camino had one of its greatest seasons since 1987, when they won the National Championship. Last year, the Warriors, led by Boo Jackson, JJ Bass, Kayne Farquharson, and the linebacking duo of Vuna Tuihalamaka and Elisha Mueller, defeated Saddleback College in a thriller that was won by a missed Saddleback College field goal wide right. They would then defeat Bakersfield with some last-minute heroics, before crushing San Francisco to win the state title. While Blinn College got the national crown, they wouldn’t have stood a chance against ElCo. We may never know for sure.

And I wonder...will El Camino and Saddleback reload this season? Or will “Home Base” get their mojo back? In a disastrous season for Jerry Jaso’s Vikings, they took comfort in winning back the Crosstown Cup from Frankie Mazzota’s Cerritos Falcons.

Back to the Commencement. Paul Rodriguez, the Original Latin King of Comedy, and co-owner of the Laugh Factory, graduated from LBCC in 1980. His son is a celebrity skateboarder, and even has his own line of boards, shoes, etc. He did speak before, and that was in the early 90’s. So it’s been awhile. Of course, I was in elementary school/junior high at that time. I would pass by Veterans Stadium during bus rides up and down Clark Avenue. I liked the baseball scoreboard, and the letters-Veterans Memorial Stadium, Long Beach City College-were prominent. It was after seeing this stadium that IU wanted to be a student here. The rest is history.

I suppose, when it comes to the best football stadiums out there for the colleges and high schools, Veterans Stadium is a gem. Every seat has great sight lines, the restrooms are of satisfactory standard, that small-town feel is evident, and the press box is quaint but luxurious, given what it is. The steps may be a workout, going up and down, but I suppose it is work it.

I guide a new visitor to Vets where to go for the ceremony. It’s not like a high school commencement. The local high schools won’t be holding theirs until the second/third week of June, but, given the numbers of students there, every seat will be reserved, and there will not be a seat left here. At this commencement, you can come on in without having to reserve a spot. Odd, but I will be surprised if there are no seats left.

4: 20 p.m. 100 minutes to commencement of the Class of 2007. At this point, all of the colleges at the Beach have already held theirs. I am just relieved that I got a C in IS 340, securing a 2.0 GPA for the semester (pending appeal). I really didn’t eat much. I wasn’t that hungry. It’s a strange feeling. You look at pictures of burgers, friend and other sandwiches, and you start to feel sick to your stomach because they are precursors to heart attacks and high blood pressure. I yawn. I was bored. So, I decided to walk back to Jack in the Box, and order a salad for dinner. Changed my mind. Japanese food. I was dying for it.

55 minutes to Commencement. The wind has died for now. I talked with a good friend of mine, Volunteer Center Coordinator Pat Hicks, who was one of those organizers of the occasion. She told me that it was doubtful that I would get Paul’s autograph, given the layout of the ceremony. Good thing I asked so as to get a background for what would go on. Looks like I’ll just have to film his speech instead, which I did.

The crowd slowly starts to fill up. By the way, I wolfed down a simple meal of curry and tempura.

39 minutes to commencement. I take a look at the program, finding who I know will move on. The person doing the welcome and farewell is Michelle Ernst. She is a TNT member, a Kassai member, and a fellow AGS Kappa comrade. She is the Student Trustee this year.

John Brunac, Tong president is one of the marshals for this event. That makes me happy to see one of my brothers raise the mace for the T-O-N-G. More cars roll in. More people roll in, and now the chamber orchestra (actually, Brass Ensemble) goes in to prepare. The Studio Singers are not going to be performing tonight, which is a bummer. Maybe this will give more room for Paul to chat with the convocation.

The Ensemble plays the same set of songs for each commencement. As the grads and faculty line up, the Ensemble starts with Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Procession of the Nobles.” (I know Nikolai more for “Night on Bald Mountain,” but I suppose this would not be proper music for the commencement, and believe it or not…it isn’t.) Then, the group of 8 old guys and 1 older lady play the “Triumphal March” by Edvard Grieg. (Again, the “Peer Gynt Suite” is what I feel Grieg is more famous for, but, unfortunately, this is not a free Brass Ensemble concert of songs to invoke nightmares of armies of grues and Boogeymen chasing you to your coercive submission. No, sadly, this is Commencement. Boo.) Next, the group plays the “La Peri” fanfare by Paul Dukas. La Peri is a ballet about one man’s search for immortality, and his meeting with a Peri, a descendant of a fallen angel that is between an angel and a demon. It’s the stuff anime and manga classics are made of, though the ballet part can be done better without.

Finally, the guys and girl play that British air of patriotism (“Pomp”), before wrapping up the cheesy strings of classical hits with a couple of processional fanfares by Elgar Howarth. This piece is more recent, given that this guy is still alive. I thought it was a collaboration of two people, but this was actually a living person (still living as of this blog submission) that created these fanfares. Ahhhh, England. How I long to visit you again.

20 minutes to Commencement. The people continue to file. Must. Find. Higher ground.

“La Peri” is playing. That is one of my favorite pieces of the set of music in this program. It’s actually 10 guys and one girl playing. All old folks.

This is a different procession from two years ago. My class and I would all roll in from the north end zone. This year, the grads are marching in from the south end zone, because the north end zone is reserved for the after-graduation function. There seems to be a problem with the gate, or they haven’t been given the signal to open it yet. But they, I mean the marshals.

I sigh in boredom again. Such was a commencement like this. They should have stuck to tradition instead. The faculty first rolled in from the center to the right side of the grandstand end of the track. Even the faculty were not queuing it right. Huge gaps (“Pomp” is playing.)

6:05 p.m. The first claps. Within a minute, the roar of the crowd, and the claps would be heard, with the whistles, and air horns. One group even brought in the pots and pans to give a down-home effect. A ripple, then a wave, and finally, an eruption. Applause, cheers, and happiness all around. Actually, it took about four minutes. And to no surprise, there were some seats left.

John is at the very end. Typical. He’s the only guy among the four marshals. Lucky bloke. Actually, this guy is a smart guy, too, being on the Dean’s List, and will be graduating with high honors.

This is very good crowd. I wonder if we can have this many to come out for the Viking football games. The doves fly. Peace all over the world. I intentionally ignore Michelle’s speech to see where those doves will go. After a few minute they fly off away from view, to wherever their final destination may be. We hope they have a good night. Or is it a good flight? Or is it both. I don’t really know; can you fill me in?

I just got Paul’s speech recorded. Some slight distractions. But otherwise, a good clip. The air horns are out in full force again, as well as those from Long Beach Poly, Jordan, Cabrillo, all vocal and ecstatic. I can’t wait for tomorrow. I want the Beach to extinguish those Flames.

I just realized something. There are empty seats in the graduates and faculty section, too. Too much seats, and/or a number of folks vacationed early.

Dr. Eloy Oakley speaks. He breaks the fourth wall, and places is back up again. Dr. Oakley announces the members on the platform with him that haven’t been mentioned, and I just realized the stole Paul was wearing was that stole of gratitude they were selling in the Bookstore stall outside of the stadium. >w>

Dr. Doug Otto accepts the Class of 2007 from Dr. Oakley, as per tradition, and after a speech, confers it to them, and the grads receive their holders. The diplomas are being processed (unless they graduated in December, at which they are already printed, and given to them). I struck a pose, acknowledging the pleasantly inevitable.

The beach balls are flying in the stands now. And grads are feeling the love. I meet my old elementary school friend Veronica Quijano. She has three semesters to go. She has a lot to catch up on. Seriously, she does.

After another hours of so, I take off. Oddly, as I read one of the back issues of the Viking, the article that showed the men’s volleyball team fail against the Lasers of Irvine Valley had this to say:

“[Adam] Church’s plays whipped the crowd into a frenzy, including one LBCC students who created his own blowhorn out of a game program and repeatedly yelled ‘Go Beach!’ at the top of his lungs.”

Little did Michael Brown, the guy who wrote this, know that while in appearance, the guy in question could visually have passed for an LBCC student, the guy in fact was an alumnus who has been a graduated for two years. And that guy….was me. Actually, have artificial noisemakers like this are not allowed at the Walter Pyramid or the Gold mine during volleyball games, and the cheer I did is something Long Beach States students, boosters and alumni do whenever the opposition is serving, and we return the volley. Therefore, I suggest to the people at LBCC to try this: “Go….BEACH! Long! Beach! City!” While it was proving to be ineffective against Irvine (I still detest UCI and IVC for making their city the college volleyball capital of America this year), it can be something the students can try for next fall, when the women take the court.