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Bill Watterson Commencement Speech (1990)
- cryingpotato 3y agoA piece I read at least twice a year to understand how creative work is done - "Some thoughts on the real world by one who glimpsed it and fled"
- jraby3 3y agohttps://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html https://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html To save a search for anyone that wants to read it.
- cryingpotato 3y agoYou should be able to click on the title to get to it, but thanks for posting here too!
- ramraj07 3y agoI don’t know if I got anything very profound from it tbh - this sounds like just another commencement speech from someone who has very little in common with almost every person in their audience asking them to do something they would never do. Similar initially inspiring but later on making you question speeches include the ones from Neil Gaiman, Steve Jobs and Conan O’Brien. Honestly the most amazing speech is from David Foster Wallace. Some great wisdom that’s not easily found elsewhere that applies to the common man instead of the exceptional creative.
- jebarker 3y agoI disagree about Watterson's speech. It seems very actionable to me for the common man: define meaning in life for yourself, don't get stuck on the hedonic treadmill, think about what your values are and shape your life around them, etc
- cryingpotato 3y agoYeah I totally agree with this! The crux of the speech for me is "To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble."
- ramraj07 3y agoThis is not very different from telling a depressed person to just cheer up and go for a walk imo. No one told Watterson to love cartooning and hate “work” the way he says it with disdain. He was just born that way. And he also turned out to be an exceptional artist. People with exceptional skills should refrain from telling others to follow their paths. It’s disingenuous and not in the interest of the audience at all. Follow your passion will fail badly at you if you are bad at it.
- tracerbulletx 3y agoThis is a really negative outlook. The crux of the advice is to have a playful mind, and don't live a life of quiet desperation. This advice can apply to engineers, business people, and anyone else. It does not mean you have to be a cartoonist. In fact the reason I love programming is exactly the same as the reason he says he loves cartooning, because it allows us to play with ideas and learn new domains and problems and ways of thinking. Let's go exploring.
- jebarker 3y agoI don't think he's just saying follow your passion. He's saying be true to your values (and figure out what those are). If your values are that hardwork is important or providing well for your family is the priority then you can be happy doing those things.
- thowawatp302 3y agoHe's not telling them to follow his path. He's telling them to make sure the path they follow leaves them satisfied. I'm not particularly exceptional, and I give the same advice.
- gizzlon 3y ago
- zerbinxx 3y agoI agree on the DFW point. It’s rare for a commencement speech to hit the nail on the head, it almost always lapses into this “do what you love” shtick that isn’t really relatable for kids who studied business to pay off their incredibly large student loans - at that point, you love not being in debt
- cryingpotato 3y agoI've always been conflicted about the DFW speech as a wonderful tool to think about how to live from a man who seemed to have led a pretty troubled life. I keep coming back to the speech for its content, but can't help but think of the man who gave it when I do.
- ramraj07 3y agoYou can take the argument at its own merit. The a big chunk of the world walks their bride to the music of one of the most famous antisemites in history anyway!
- regurfvjtdf 3y agoIt’s gotta be tough to write a more realistic speech for those folks though: “if you don’t love business and making money you done fucked up. Even if you do? This was almost certainly a dumb idea.”
- dang 3y agoRelated. I thought there were others but can't find them... Bill Watterson's Speech – Kenyon College, 1990 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5587976 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5587976 - April 2013 (58 comments) Bill Watterson Commencement Speech (1990) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3412165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3412165 - Dec 2011 (14 comments)
- eiiot 3y agoFor those who want to learn more about Watterson, I read “Chasing Calvin and Hobbes” a few years ago and recently re-read it, really enjoying it both times. It’s a more in-depth view of the strip and Watterson as a person.
- 3abiton 3y agoI am not familiar with the story, what's your pitch for the book (without spoilers)?
- zooweemama 3y agoThat sounds interesting, could you share a link? I couldn’t find anything obvious by Googling. Thanks!
- constantly 3y agoI'm curious too. Nothing on Google, except this thread haha.
- naraic0o 3y agocould it be "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip"?
- hakdbha 3y ago[dead]
- qp11 3y agoJust watched the utter sewage that was Rebel Moon and was thinking someone needs to install Bill Watterson as content approver at Netflix asap, cause the amount of visuals to convey absolutely nothing is reaching new highs of mindlessness. Tools being used for no reason other than they exist. Its a sign there aren't enough Bill Wattersons in the room.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- wizerno 3y agoOn a tangential note, here's Calvin and Hobbes Search Engine - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26119380 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26119380
- pdm55 3y agoLinks re Bill Watterson: http://timhulsizer.com/calvin/index.php/words/ http://timhulsizer.com/calvin/index.php/words/
- tempodox 3y agoLink to a Calvin and Hobbes collection: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1985/11/18 https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1985/11/18
- quickthrower2 3y agoThe ol’ recurring dream! Freak me out too. And Randall I assume: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/557:_Students https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/557:_Students
- paulorlando 3y ago"my fondest memories of college are times like these, where things were done out of some inexplicable inner imperative, rather than because the work was demanded."
- voisin 3y agoSounds like the ideal which “unschooling” aims toward. Look for the child’s inner imperative and give that the focus.
- cmsonger 3y agoOne of the smartest things I've done in recent years is to buy the complete Calvin and Hobbes and put it prominently on a table that I walk by daily. I turn a page a day... In the morning before I get coffee usually, though it's often too dark and I'll come back to read the two facing pages later. Depending on the day that means I'll read a Sunday strip and three daily strips or six daily strips. Once in a great while it's one Sunday strip and some custom art -- I presume from one of the books. Those days are a little disappointing but it's still one page turn a day. I'm re-reading Calvin and Hobbes at somewhere around 5x original speed but somewhere about 50x slower than if I were to sit down with it and turn pages willy nilly. I've been doing it about six months and I'm still in the first book of the three that comprise the complete set. It's a real added joy in my day and will be for some time. Some of the best money I've spent in a long long time.
- mysterydip 3y agoThey're right now working on shrinking the size, with the "portable compendium vol 1" out now with more on the way. I love the original books but they're a bit unwieldy for me to just pick up and browse, so I'm buying these as they come out.
- cmsonger 3y agoThe form factor is huge! In my case it works really well because I can read it standing up while looking down at the huge book. But that's a great edition to put out!
- iamwil 3y agoReminds me of the project where someone got a big eInk display to show the front page of every newspaper in the morning. Could be awesome to apply here to get a Calvin and Hobbes a day on the wall.
- cfr2023 3y agoYou are doing what I have been planning to do all year. Looks like 2024 will be the year for me.
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- shagie 3y agoAn excerpt of that speech as a cartoon done by Gavin Aung Than of Zen Pencils - http://www.zenpencils.com/comic/128-bill-watterson-a-cartoonists-advice/ http://www.zenpencils.com/comic/128-bill-watterson-a-cartoon... (published 2013 along with commentary) New Yorker's "Life after Calvin and Hobbes" https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/30/the-mysteries-bill-watterson-book-review https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/30/the-mysteries-... The Mysteries - by Bill Watterson, published October 10th, 2023 https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mysteries/Bill-Watterson/9781524884949 https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mysteries/Bill-Wa...
- programmertote 3y agoThanks for sharing the cartoon author's name. I have seen that before and didn't realize that Gavin is most likely a descendant from Burmese parent(s) -- his last name 'Aung Than' is distinctly Burmese. I immigrated to the US from Burma and it always brings me joy/pride when I see my fellow country people (or descendants of them) are doing something that contributes to the humanity/society. :)
- iancmceachern 3y agoThank you for sharing this. So beautiful.
- asah 3y agoHe buried the lede: "Drawing comic strips for five years without pay drove home the point that the fun of cartooning wasn't in the money; it was in the work." My advice is similar: don't do what you love, do what you can stand doing for 10 hours a day. When people ask about software development, I say: can you debug one line of code for 10 hours straight? if so, then you can be a software engineer. (actually, I've had to chase bugs for 3+ days straight, but I don't mention this lest it scare the kiddies...)
- dkqmduems 3y ago3+ days is standard for code in academia hahah.
- algeom 3y agoAcademic mathematician here. I’ve been stuck on something for the last 20 years.
- blast 3y agoCan you tell us what it is?
- KRAKRISMOTT 3y agoProve this, and the Fields is yours. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collatz_conjecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collatz_conjecture
- kwelstr 3y agoI have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem which this margin is too small to contain. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)
- throwawaaarrgh 3y agoThere's nothing wrong with leading a life of quiet desperation. What's wrong is cheating yourself out of happiness by not being grateful for what you have. So you're one of the unwashed masses in the garage waiting for the clock. Does that mean you have to be unhappy? Not if you can be grateful for what that affords you in the rest of your life, not to mention grateful the work isn't worse. You can always choose to change things. But don't change just because you don't think you're happy enough.
- EternalUsenet 3y agoThis is a very profound piece of wisdom. There are times where I dwell on how I should have invested my money a decade ago and wish I made different choices before hitting my mid 30s. Yet I have a lot to be thankful for now, despite my mistakes.
- LiquidPolymer 3y agoDon't beat yourself up. When i was in my mid-30's I had trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I had escaped the fate of every other member of my family: poverty, addiction, and early death. Compared to that, my investment decisions seem trivial.
- EternalUsenet 3y agoYou’re right. Having perspective can be very healthy, especially if one lives in a first world bubble like me.
- causal 3y agoI don't think he meant to chide those who don't love their jobs. Quite the opposite, really: he encouraged us to ignore how unprofitable it is to play, and play anyway.
- tracerbulletx 3y agoJust joining in the love fest for Calvin and Hobbes and Bill Watterson. Absolutely monumental work.