Imagine leafing through your daily mail when you come upon an official-looking letter from a small local college inviting YOU to deliver this year’s college commencement day speech.
Why would YOU be asked, you wonder?
Is it because of your distinguished career, some award you won as a child, because you are a great humanitarian or a poet laureate? Perhaps you were asked because everyone else in the world was busy!
THE NEW YORKER magazine cartoonist, “Seinfeld†television show creative consultant, and HBO series, “Six Feet Under†executive producer, Bruce Eric Kaplan, a Brentwood resident, offered this premise as the focus of his eighth and latest literary accomplishment, “Everything is Going to be Okay: a book for you or someone like you†.
In this wise, witty, and soulful adult picture boo
k, the author examines one man’s existential crisis when asked to write a perfect, and perhaps even profound graduation speech. He notes that such presentations can be laden with sage advice, “often better in theory.â€
Kaplan, currently in NYC, co-executive producing and writing “Girls†, a new HBO comedy series premiering in 2011, has always loved commencement day speeches.
“I think the whole idea of what a graduation speech is and what it’s supposed to do is interesting. The thing I find so compelling is that they represent this moment in time when someone is trying to make sense of his or her life. We spend so much time blindly getting through our days–if we are lucky– and so little time stepping back and reflecting. Graduation speeches force you to reflect. They are about consciousness. Nothing is better than conscio
usness.†He hesitates, “except oddly, unconsciousness. Not that I really mean that, but I guess I do.â€
Self-taught artist, Bruce Eric Kaplan, known to single panel cartoon lovers as BEK, is celebrated for the diversity of his storytelling expertise. His offbeat cartoons, many of which have graced the cover of THE NEW YORKER magazine, have entertained readers globally for the last 20 years.
Kaplan is a father of two children, who were the inspiration for his first illustrated kids book published by Simon and Schuster entitled, “Monsters Eat Whiny Children†.
This prolific and boundless storyteller, cartoonist, television executive producer and comedy writer invites you to consider what advice you would render to those moving from the campus to community in 2011.
His best counsel?
“Everything is going to be okay, even if it isn’t.â€
