Be yourself
by chuckofish
Jill Conway died last week. Here’s her obit in the NYT. She became the first female president of Smith College when I was a sophomore and I have to say I never really appreciated her until I was about to graduate. In her speech at the baccalaureate service at the Helen Hills Hills Chapel she told us to do what we wanted to do and not to worry about what we thought we should do. She said, in so many words, if you want to stay home and raise a family, do it. If you want to have a career, do it. Which is what my own mother had always said. It was quite freeing to hear it from Jill Ker Conway.
Be yourself. Don’t try to measure up to someone else’s vision of what you should be. Good advice. She was called a trailblazer, but really, she just didn’t want anyone telling her what she could or couldn’t do.
By the way, the Helen Hills Hills Chapel is really no longer a chapel. There is no longer a minister on staff.
It is just a “large space…for formal gatherings.” They have “coordinators;” it is a “center.” Please. When this change occurred quite a long time ago, I gave up on my alma mater and I do not support them, financially or in any way. I certainly never encouraged my daughters to go there! Tant pis, mais c’est la vie.
But as for Jill Conway, Into paradise may the angels lead you. At your coming may the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem.
dual personalities 