Pilgrads are a big Inside Joke

Pilipino and other culture-specific graduations are great. The 30 seconds that I spent speeding through thank yous and trying to maintain proper annunciation easily trump the 5 second trot across the Greek Theater and dissipated screams of my name from rows in the distance. My real graduation was boring. If I was in the crowd rather than the grad march, I'd be snoozing. Rather than irrelevant and cookie-cutter faculty addresses, we get to hear our peers squealing teary shoutouts at 200 mph. It's great. It's comedy. It's whatever we want to say.

After sitting in on pilgrads for 3 different schools, I realized that most begin or include the line "this is all about you (family/friends/peers/mentors/etc) in the crowd." For the most part, it is. Lots of gratitude, lots of cheering and screaming from the audience. When it's all said and done though, it's a lot about the people on stage and the secret codes that they use to ensure that nobody knows what they're talking about. Whether it's a crazy and drunken night, a lovey-dovey relationship, a rough patch in a friendship or just a made-up clan/crew/cru, inside jokes are a major component of the ordeal. They indicate sister/brotherhood, intimacy, legendary feats, ridiculous decisions, exclusivity. And no, that's not all bad. We've all got to shoutout someone in our own secretive way.

[REENACTMENT OF A SHOUTOUT THAT I HEARD ON THURSDAY]
"I'd like to thank Jose Rizal, Ducktales, skittles, FML, irish spring, banana republic, dark rain cloud and Phil Jackson"