I attended Trinity College’s Commencement ceremonies in Washington, DC last weekend. Nancy Pelosi was the speaker. Before Nancy Peloisi spoke there were others who spoke, not any of them briefly. Two of them I thought were surely introducing Nancy Pelosi as their words were so flowery and biographical. But, no. They were just preparing to introduce another person who was going to introduce her.
Then, she spoke. “I was told to talk about my journey”, she said. Uh-Oh. She said she was handing out to each graduate an autographed copy of her 2008 book, “Know Your Power. A Message to America’s Daughters.”
That’s when my IPHONE became the power tool. The power to turn the restless into creatives. I was sitting in-between two young boys, age 9 and 7, who were all spiffed up for their mother’s graduation, but with an hour into the ceremony and we weren’t even close to the end, we were destined to get creative.
Quietly, we took photos of one another. They used drawing and sketching apps and phone apps that I had on my phone to draw on my photo and on their photos. They decided to give mine a “faded” filter which..um..I protested I’d already achieved quite naturally, but they insisted. It allowed the time to pass so by the time we looked up, Nancy was gone and we hadn’t been a disruption to those around us. Best of all, their mother’s name was called to come up and receive her well deserved Master of Fine Arts diploma.
Power to the app people. I love ’em.
I’d like to recommend that all sentient beings with young children to corral, to remember to bring their IPHONES and apps to graduation ceremonies just in case the speakers arrive but inspiration is not in their briefcase.