We pulled into the marina in Rock Creek on Saturday, May 20. Sunday, May 21, our about-to-be-a-college-graduate sent a text. “The senior art show opens on Tuesday night. Would you want to come?”

Immediate response, of course. “YES!”

Quick scramble to book an AirBnB, a few trips of stuff from the van and from Mischief to the recently-booked storage unit that’s a 5 minute drive from the boats, pack out of Calypso. And by Tuesday night, a little after 5 pm, after 9 hours on the road, we were meeting Bee and my parents at a restaurant in Bennington. Whirlwind!

The art show, a riotous celebration of senior visual art students, showcased individuality and a breadth of art in a way I’ve never seen before. There were paintings, graphic novels, films, sculpture, pottery, architecture. Beautiful furniture and structures. Bee said that the students had talked about the fact that this was the last time they’d ever be in a show like this, an uncurated explosion of incredible art of all kinds. No theme, no specific kind of art. It was breathtaking.

In a way, the senior art show was a precursor to graduation itself. According to the program, Bennington’s graduation has had the same simple theme since the first graduating class of 1936. Joy and Triumph. No valedictorian, no academic or other prizes. A formal recognition of the work accomplished, but no other trappings.

Each person of the 150 person graduating class (except for the small handful who had attended graduation remotely) walked across the stage to shake the hands of the president of the college and the head of the Board of Trustees. Each person took their diploma and turned to the audience (facing the official photographer). Each person, to a one, was wildly applauded and cheered by their classmates and families and all the rest of us in attendance. It was impossible not to be moved by the absolute joy and triumph. What a perfect theme for a college graduation.

Like the art show, the individuality that’s a hallmark of Bennington College was on full display. Many graduates wore caps and gowns. Many others didn’t. Some had stoles with their country’s flag colors. Some pirouetted on the stage or bowed to the audience. One memorable individual, a Shakespearean ruff around his neck, knelt deeply before the college president and presented her with a branch of some dead tree or another before pivoting and offering a similar tribute to the head of the Board. Some graduates ceremoniously moved the tassel from one side of the cap to the other as they posed for a photo.

It’s struck me in the few days since that incredibly joyous and triumphant day just how much of an accomplishment graduating from college really is. It’s years of hard work and tough choices, years of navigating friendships and breakups. It’s coming to terms with maybe not being able to do everything you want to do, but getting something done to the point of turning it in and moving on. There’s a lot of life skill, if you can reach through the trappings to identify it. The class of 2023 had a whole lot of additional pivoting thrown into it, too, with COVID completely screwing with the second semester of their first year and completely shifting the vibe of the entire second year. Here, head off to college. OOOPS JUST KIDDING! Do college from your family’s living room! Come back to college! OOPS JUST KIDDING! Yeah, you’re in college but PSYCH do college from your dorm room! Life skills of a different sort. Thank goodness the last 2 years were at least somewhat normal, or what may pass for the new normal. 

I hope, my favorite second child, if you’re reading this, that you are incredibly proud of yourself and what you, against a lot of odds and a lot of life stacking itself high in front of you, accomplished. Nobody can take that diploma and all it represents away. Hold your head up high. 

So much love.