Wallace Article...

Wallace's commencement speech had every good part of a classic college graduation speech:  a parable, sarcastic comments, realistic applications and a theme.  He speaks mostly about the realities of life, and seeing them for how they are, like the fish.  "This is water."  I appreciate the path his discourse takes; it borderlines cynical but he doesn't fail to make sure that his audience understands that everything is what it is.  I find that refreshing for a graduation speech, as most are fluff pieces aiming to inspire the listener to unrealistic goals.

That being said, he skips around a lot and tries to tie in a lot of little, separate stories that drag the audience on a long trip that isn't totally satisfying.  There is a certain limit of information displayed in a form like this that is acceptable, but Wallace surpasses it and I'm sure lost some of the attention of the students.  That was the hardest part for me; grasping everything he was trying to communicate and making sure it fit somehow into the whole picture that was his speech