ADS Dinner

The Honors College brought in three ADS Alumni to speak at the dinner tonight. The first is a prof here and works in engineering and genetics. He spoke a lot about his own field, but mostly about how geeked he was about it and how we all need to find our passion. The second..."I believe in the power of pie." She talked about finding a favorite dish and making it your calling card. Our one female was stereotypically relationship-based. But it was very well done. The third and final (and good call on their part to have him go last) was Robin Sloan, the most recently graduated, who spoke about the need to "disenthrall ourselves." We cannot go be the best cog in the machinery. We need to innovate new machinery. "Don't sell out." He didn't actually say that. But he came close. Beyond not selling out, though, he was saying don't even take the normal, existent cool stuff. Create your own cool, better stuff. He was very motivational. And he said he enjoyed speaking to a room that was actually paying attention instead of on Facebook. "It's not just college students anymore...we do it in business meetings."
I ate a thoroughly fantastic strawberry. And some blackberries! 'Twas quite delightful.