Episode 89: "This Is Water"

As we prepare to graduate in three days, we felt it appropriate to examine and analyze another commencement address. This time, we chose to look at a well-known speech from our alma mater (Kenyon College) by David Foster Wallace. In this beloved address, often referred to as "This Is Water," Wallace examines the values of a liberal arts education. He emphasizes the mundane, soul-crushing and depressing realities of adult life, the daily battles and chores which face all of us in adulthood. He adds, however, that he feels the value of a liberal arts education lies in how one learns to think. He discusses the conscious choices one can make in perceiving the environment, social situations and the beautiful freedom in pursuing one's own beliefs through critical thought.