{"id":1362,"date":"2015-05-08T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T04:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1362"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:24","slug":"may-8-commencement-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/05\/08\/may-8-commencement-days\/","title":{"rendered":"May 8 &#8211; Commencement Days"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Friday, May 8 \u00a0\u201cKarim Wasfi . . . \u00a0had decided to play amid the wreckage . . .\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/05\/Karim-Wasfi.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1363\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/05\/Karim-Wasfi.jpg\" alt=\"Karim-Wasfi\" width=\"727\" height=\"486\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/05\/Karim-Wasfi.jpg 727w, https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/05\/Karim-Wasfi-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy house is just behind that main street, so it was very symbolic for me to.\u00a0wake up, grab my cello and walk to that spot, get my cello out of my case, sit by the rubble and the shrapnel and the whole scene of death and the scene of fire and the scene of human beings turning to ashes, and play. \u00a0. \u00a0. \u00a0. \u00a0. \u201d<br \/>\n\u201cIraqis needed to experience beauty, not just endure one bomb after another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These three days \u2014 Law, Dental, McNichols mark a pause in the year for the university to breathe and appreciate achievement. \u00a0Days about our students and their families, and about their teachers and the host of UDM employees who have mentored those students. \u00a0Days of play and pride. \u00a0 Last night I came across this remarkable piece in The Washington Post. \u00a0It did not feel out of place during UDM\u2019s days of celebration. \u00a0We base our commitments to teaching and mentoring on the principle that Karim Wasfi made real in the bombed street of his Bagdad city neighborhood. \u00a0 All the excitement and beauty of commencement never means to whistle past the rubble and the wounds. \u00a0Like the Iraqis and life-long, \u00a0we need to experience beauty, not just endure . . . \u201c \u00a0 Commencement weekend\u2019s dancing runs as deep as the years of \u00a0tests and assignments that required this year&#8217;s students to suck it up, all these years of learning.<\/p>\n<p>To quote cellist Wasfi one more time: \u00a0\u201cWhy do we keep on doing this? \u00a0Because we appreciate beauty and we want to build, not to destroy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blessings on these days.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today\u2019s Post:\u00a0\u201cAfter car bombs explode, an Iraqi musician shows up with his cello\u201d \u00a0Loveday Morris \u00a0May 7 Washington Post<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Washington Post article is not very long &amp; its video runs 4:36. \u00a0 Listening to Karim Wasfi\u2019s playing is today\u2019s poem, wordless and exquisite.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/wapo.st\/1AFQe6n\">http:\/\/wapo.st\/1AFQe6n<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[jwplayer mediaid=&#8221;1364&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, May 8 \u00a0\u201cKarim Wasfi . . . \u00a0had decided to play amid the wreckage . . .\u201d \u201cMy house is just behind that main street, so it was very symbolic for me to.\u00a0wake up, grab my cello and walk &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/05\/08\/may-8-commencement-days\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1365,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions\/1365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}