Tulane University’s class or 2009 graduated on Saturday, May 16th at 9a.m. and my nephew was one of them. The commencement ceremony was held in the Superdome, yes the very same Superdome that housed people during the devastating events caused by Katrina.
The ceremony started with New Orleans jazz being played. WOW! Talk about authenticity.
The commencement speaker was Ellen DeGeneres, that famous, good looking lesbian that has won 12 Emmys, has an award winning TV show and is also the new face of Covergirl Cosmetics. She married the actress, Portia de Rossi. That’s the Ellen I’m talking about. She can now add receiving the President’s Medal from Tulane to her list of accolades.
Because I was sitting in the nose bleed section, I couldn’t run over and ask what she Portia and I were doing later – but it did cross my mind. I even told my family not to wait up, just in case. HA!
I am very proud of my nephew who graduated from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. When he was about three, I videotaped him studying ants. He loved learning about nature and how things developed, even at that age.
Thanks Ellen for making A’s graduation the best one I’ve ever attended. It was good to be a lesbian on May 16th in the New Orleans Superdome.
PS. The lovely Harry Connick Jr. was there as well.
May 19, 2009 at 3:38 pm
SteadyCat,
Wow, that must have been cool seeing Ellen! I really admire her. And congrats to your nephew.
Thanks, Monie. It was great being comfortable as a lesbian – and not in a gay crowd. It was a first and I credit Ellen for that.
May 20, 2009 at 4:05 am
It’s so pleasing to hear of folks whose calling came so early, and stayed!
I had no idea you’d been in the states so long — I should have had you come visit me in the castle! Oh, hold up, no, you weren’t here steadily, must have come and gone, cuz you entertained your niece in between, over there.
Well, anyway, put it on the list and I promise you an adventure!
XX
*laughs* I have been here just a week now and that time has been spent mostly with family in the small town I grew up in. I have yet another nephew’s graduation (there) this Saturday. After that, I can go to Atlanta and socialize with the gays. *whispers* and get some past due writing done.
At some point I would like to visit your castle. Cheers.
May 22, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Well, how long will you be in Atlanta? I’ll be back at the very end of June.
arrrgh! I’ll be long gone.
May 20, 2009 at 4:07 am
As for your comfort as a lesbian, didn’t you feel that in Atlanta? I ain’t never seen so many gay Black women in my life, non-stop, wherever I looked! Oh, but then you said in a NON-gay crowd, huh.
I hadn’t had a moment to rest in Atlanta. My family lives in a small town in Georgia and the graduation was in ahem… New Orleans. And guess what. Even in Atlanta we have loads of homophobes. Though we have a large gay population, the city is made up of people that actually live in the small towns surrounding Atlanta. We even have a major Klu-Klux-Klan contingent in one (or more) of those surrounding cities/towns. To make this long story short….when you are not out partying with the gays – you could run into homophobia in Atlanta – just like anywhere else. I had a black religious woman refuse to let me and my girlfriend (at the time) buy our airline tickets together even though I was paying for both of them. She made me stand in line as she worked on gf’s ticket. Was her treatment of me illegal? No. Though we were travelling together and I was paying…legally I was a separate customer. I still get angry about it. After she called me up to pay for girlfriend’s ticket, she made me get back in line to wait my turn before she would call me up for my ticket. I have nevere seen them do a heterosexual couple like that…especially when one of them is paying for both. arrrgh! I’m going on a tangent so I’ll drop it. Thanks for stopping by. x
May 22, 2009 at 6:49 pm
WTF? Since when do you even have to be a COUPLE in order to purchase someone else’s ticket????
*wink, wink and said in fake accent* jah wanna be a cupple and purchas mai ticket? When you’re gay and looking like a couple…in that case, you can’t do anything together if the airlines personnel doesn’t like you. Homophobes have a rule for everything and if the law doesn’t protect your gay rumpus, or if you have to catch a plane and can’t wait around to get details to sue their beezwax – thats when.
May 26, 2009 at 4:49 am
Ah, thank da lawd I’m single!
*laughs* Thats what they all say.
May 20, 2009 at 6:04 am
CONGRATULATIONS to SteadyCat’s nephew !!
You came to the States and didn’t tell me. Shucks. HA!
I watched the video and as usual the goodlooking speaker was funny. I had read about her girlfriend. I thought her including her difficulties due to her being gay fit well with telling graduates to go for their dreams.
@Salty – I’ll accept the Congrats for my nephew.
The speech was beautiful. I think it also helped the homophobes loosen up a bit. Either way, I loved it.
May 31, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Great University.. congrats to your nephew! And how cool were you to be able to hear Ellen speak at his ceremony!
Thanks. And yes, I was ultra cool. Too bad we didn’t meet up for tea.