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  • 1999-03-31 (xsd:date)
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  • Kurt Vonnegut MIT Commencement Address (fr)
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  • Origins: Kurt Vonnegut was not the 1997 commencement speaker at MIT. That honor went to Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations. The speech attributed to Vonnegut was actually a 1 June 1997 column by Chicago Tribune writer Mary Schmich. As with many other good bits of writing and speech, the attachment of a famous name to the works brings them to the public's attention in a way they could otherwise not have achieved. (Echoes within echoes: Georgia State University graduates may remember Ted Turner's speech at their graduation in 1994. Turner, facing a skin cancer operation, told them: The one piece of advice I can give you is put on sunscreen and wear a hat.) In 1998, the text of the Mary Schmich piece was turned into a spoken voice recording featuring the voice of Australian actor Lee Perry. Titled Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen, the piece immediately became a cult hit in Australia, and by early 1999 the song was taking America by storm. 2002 saw the Vonnegut/MIT commencement speech tale circulated anew, that time identified as the speech given to the graduating class of 2002. (en)
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