No Second Chances After Graduation Night
Language: en
On the day of my doctoral graduation, I stood backstage in the grand university auditorium, clutching my velvet tam and smoothing the heavy folds of my academic gown. My heart hammered with anticipation as I waited for my parents to find their seats. To be there for my graduation, my sixty-year-old parents had taken a grueling, twenty-four-hour Greyhound bus ride from our tiny Midwestern town. Before leaving, they had proudly handed out butterscotch candies to everyone in our small community, beaming as they told the neighbors: "Our girl is getting her PhD today. The university even…