well i'm not going to do this in crimson i shall do it in a completely unrelated colour. and so.

i tuned in at 9.10 to see a gigantic veritas banner hanging in front of widener. i was afraid i would miss the procession, but it appears not to have begun yet. aha i've just seen the gsas phd sign go by. and here's a man with a magnificent top hat! more of them. top hats do look so dashing! do harvard phds still wear mortar boards? they do! i did hope we'll get one of those six-cornered tams, ah well. i think it's terrific that the harvard commencement includes an address in latin! that will surprise the parents all right. someone just made a face at the camera. and here are some waving. i'm trying to spot von because i've just seen a dunster banner. aha i wasn't dreaming! the commentator just said that it was lowell house that came marching to the yard behind bagpipers. the stage is filling up with faculty. here comes a princeton robe. black with orange hood. and i see a few bright blue yale robes. but the majority of faculty have crimson robes. what a peculiar kid! there's a girl in a b.a. robe standing on a chair doing some kind of unseemly dance. and here's currier house. we're all gathered in front of the laptop, bear and ponder and robert dudley and charlotte and mouse and me. the sheriff of middlesex county has just called the crowd to order. and now the crowd has risen for the national anthem. here comes the latin orator. she was magnificent. "whereas the romans demanded bread and circuses, we demanded veritas instead." and the senior speaker and the graduate speaker from the education school have spoken. as i watch the proceedings i'm rather glad i'm watching this from the comfort of home. the truth is that commencement always looks so wonderful on screen, but the realities of queuing up at 7 in the morning to enter the yard, passing through metal detectors and undergoing police searches, the milling crowd, waiting for three hours in the sun until anything at all interesting begins. the president looks terribly haggard and lonely in that uncomfortable looking jacobian chair. not a throne, yet like a throne, passed from president bottom to president bottom, like the scone of scones. i am back. i went away for breakfast after the masters of arts and science were presented and came back in time for the presentation of the school of public administration degree candidates. and now, at last, harvard college! the undergrads must have been waiting for so long. "i admit you to the fellowship of educated women and men!" for a moment i wish i were there graduating too, to be admitted to that fellowship of educated women and men. class marshalls are now shaking hands with president summers. the summas are presented. and now the provost is presenting the candidates for honorary degrees. carolyn walker bynum is one of those presented with a doctor of laws. i'm extremely delighted that a medievalist - and one whose book on fragmentation was the first i'd read on a medieval topic, is honoured today. and now the sheriff again: "as high sheriff of middlesex county, i declare that this meeting is adjourned." applause break out, and suddenly the bells are tolling all over cambridge! now president summers is coming off the stage, the procession is in reverse, red carnations in buttonholes and proud tilt of top hats, the heavy crimson robes of the faculty, the arms of each house waved high, and the undergraduates are heading back to their houses for a special luncheon and the presentation of their own diplomas. the phds are going to sanders theatre to receive their awards. well there you go. that was harvard's 2005 commencement.