Yesterday morning marked the end (for now) of my Stanford chapter. As the Magic School Bus, the Marguerite, a Chinese Dragon, a host of half-naked kids (gladiators, toga-clad frat boys, and bikini-clad sorority girls), and many pictures of Oprah walked wackily in to the new stadium, I was overcome with the first of many waves of nostalgia. Where else is the Stanford Duck Syndrome more alive than here, on graduation day, when we all pretend that we are an institution of non-serious students? The kid inside the Magic 8 Ball? Off to law school. The ones beneath the Pac Men characters? Pre-med. The entire set of pool balls on their caps? About to start at Google, McKinsey, and Goldman.
But this post is not about the beauty or mythology of the well-rounded Stanford student. Nor is it about the gems provided by a certain talk show host (although I did appreciate the speech, as well as the two books she gave every graduating senior). Neither is this post about my second time walking down the aisle in Memorial Church - an experience I hope to repeat again at least once in the future, perhaps to a tune other than Pomp and Circumstance. No, this short entry is meant simply to mark a milestone and a passing. It is with more than a little sadness that I confirm the rumor: after eight years of livelihood, lisame@stanford.edu is no longer with us.
However, as often occurs alongside endings, there is a new life in our midst. Effective immediately, I can now be reached at lisame [at] ucla [dot] edu.