[Provost Vincent Price]
As Provost, I have the honor of introducing our speaker.
Now, unlike him, I don’t rhyme a lot, but distinguished guests, like it or not, now’s the time for me to take my shot.
To show these graduates what I’ve got, and to explain Mr. Miranda why you’re about to take my spot. He grew up in the Bronx neighborhood of Inwood. An immigrant son whose father had come from Puerto Rico to the Big Apple. He came north to grapple, to seek a better life for himself and his people. Advising Mayor Koch on making things equal.
Mr. Miranda knows the Founding Fathers but he never bothered with Benjamin Franklin. You see— you see, Quakers, he didn’t go to Penn. His alma mater, that great school, Wesleyan. When he got there, he picked up a pen and, out of nowhere, the show tunes came to him. He founded a group, a comedy troupe, the Freestyle Love Supreme.
He wrote and directed it, unaffected by rejection, and after four years, elected to follow his dream. And that dream was to write and create, stories to demonstrate both love and hate. People who tried to advocate for those society dominates and how our fate can fluctuate forcing us to recalibrate the people who make this country great.
Now, our honored guest knows that Broadway shows can open and then close if the critics oppose. The audience slows, you see empty rows, and soon that petal falls off that particular rose. But he took flight, with In the Heights. The line snaked out of sight, and by all rights those Broadway lights they shone so bright, each and every night.
And then Mr. Miranda got a call from a Miss Tony, saying something about some big ceremony. Miss Tony said, “You should make room on your shelf. Four gold trophies. Three for your show, one for yourself.”
A rapid ascent, this was not his intent, but while it meant it paid the rent. Yet Mr. Miranda was still not content, a quick look at a book and then he was hooked, an incredible life that had been overlooked. It was Ron Chernow’s story of guts and glory. A man with a quill whose grill is still on the ten-dollar bill.
This was a fatherless man from the lowest station, who went from poverty to help found a nation. An immigrant, a striver, a man with drive. A founder’s tale that had to be told in a way that appealed to both young and old. This was the hero of an American sort, a Caribbean import. A life that was cut short. A man who wrote, and spoke, and dueled by the gun. A man who went by Hamilton.
Well, that show is still on the rise, let me emphasize and allow me to publicize, Hello Mr. Pulitzer Prize! You know the rest, and you know our guest. He is truly blessed with what educators try to do best. They open our eyes, they catalyze. They help us realize, make ideas truly come alive.
Graduates and guests that’s enough propaganda, put your hands together for Lin-Manuel Miranda!
[Lin-Manuel Miranda]
Yo! Someone call for the extra po-po’s, I’m ride or die for your Provost!
As Provost, I have the honor of introducing our speaker.
Now, unlike him, I don’t rhyme a lot, but distinguished guests, like it or not, now’s the time for me to take my shot.
To show these graduates what I’ve got, and to explain Mr. Miranda why you’re about to take my spot. He grew up in the Bronx neighborhood of Inwood. An immigrant son whose father had come from Puerto Rico to the Big Apple. He came north to grapple, to seek a better life for himself and his people. Advising Mayor Koch on making things equal.
Mr. Miranda knows the Founding Fathers but he never bothered with Benjamin Franklin. You see— you see, Quakers, he didn’t go to Penn. His alma mater, that great school, Wesleyan. When he got there, he picked up a pen and, out of nowhere, the show tunes came to him. He founded a group, a comedy troupe, the Freestyle Love Supreme.
He wrote and directed it, unaffected by rejection, and after four years, elected to follow his dream. And that dream was to write and create, stories to demonstrate both love and hate. People who tried to advocate for those society dominates and how our fate can fluctuate forcing us to recalibrate the people who make this country great.
Now, our honored guest knows that Broadway shows can open and then close if the critics oppose. The audience slows, you see empty rows, and soon that petal falls off that particular rose. But he took flight, with In the Heights. The line snaked out of sight, and by all rights those Broadway lights they shone so bright, each and every night.
And then Mr. Miranda got a call from a Miss Tony, saying something about some big ceremony. Miss Tony said, “You should make room on your shelf. Four gold trophies. Three for your show, one for yourself.”
A rapid ascent, this was not his intent, but while it meant it paid the rent. Yet Mr. Miranda was still not content, a quick look at a book and then he was hooked, an incredible life that had been overlooked. It was Ron Chernow’s story of guts and glory. A man with a quill whose grill is still on the ten-dollar bill.
This was a fatherless man from the lowest station, who went from poverty to help found a nation. An immigrant, a striver, a man with drive. A founder’s tale that had to be told in a way that appealed to both young and old. This was the hero of an American sort, a Caribbean import. A life that was cut short. A man who wrote, and spoke, and dueled by the gun. A man who went by Hamilton.
Well, that show is still on the rise, let me emphasize and allow me to publicize, Hello Mr. Pulitzer Prize! You know the rest, and you know our guest. He is truly blessed with what educators try to do best. They open our eyes, they catalyze. They help us realize, make ideas truly come alive.
Graduates and guests that’s enough propaganda, put your hands together for Lin-Manuel Miranda!
[Lin-Manuel Miranda]
Yo! Someone call for the extra po-po’s, I’m ride or die for your Provost!
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