Schools

Director Joss Whedon to Wesleyan Grads: Mind Over Body Secret to Success

On a blustery Sunday afternoon on the country's oldest continuously used baseball field, Wesleyan University conferred 785 degrees to the class of 2013.

Taiko drummers heralded the start of festivities, as the school's 16th President Michael Roth welcomed new graduates who, he said, spent the last four years "in a bubble," earning an education "devoted to boldness, rigor and practical idealism."

Joss Whedon ’87 delivered the commencement speech. The writer, director and producer. He is the force behind such popular television shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and the 2012 superhero blockbuster film, The Avengers.

His speech acknowledged the difficulty of remaining resolute in one's path out into the world — from academia to the sometimes drudgery of everyday life. Whedon told graduates and families alike that although this day — a sublime accomplishment after four years of study — is as much a triumph as a march toward the inevitability of one's future.

He spoke of "the contradictions between your body and your mind, between your mind and itself. I believe these contradictions and the tensions are the greatest gift that we have," Whedon said.

"For your entire life, you will be doing the opposite of what you think you are," he said, admitted the struggle of the human condition.

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