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The Obama camp says by the end of the night, they'll have the 2,118 delegates they need to secure the Democratic nomination. [NYT]
Cardinal George has removed Father Michael Pfleger from his duties at St. Sabina. [S-T]
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The state legislature has approved a bill that would give free mass transit rides for low-income disabled people. No word yet on how this will be implemented. [Trib]
Naperville Central's valedictorian plagiarized his commencement address. From the Onion. His speech. Onion's speech. Hoooly shit.
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Watch out for a deer, Logan Square residents. Police tried to corner the animal this morning, but it ran away. [Trib]
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The Chicago Botanic Garden broke ground today for a $50 million conservation science center, which should open in fall 2009. [Trib]
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As a former valedictorian, that's just embarrassing that the kid plagiarized his speech. I'm embarrassed for him and his family. But it also makes me wonder . . . what ELSE did he cheat on throughout high school? I can't imagine he just started cheating last week.
Naperville Central might want to go back and take a look at his last 4 years. I do think he should have the title valedictorian stripped from him. The valedictorian is supposed to be the best and brightest, not the biggest cheater.
No one gives a shit about the valedictorian's speech except their parents(sorry happygrl). Either way, he still got the highest gpa out of 730 kids. And he stole it from The Onion. Sounds like a cool guy to me.
ahh. a plagarizing naperville principal, a plagarizing naperville valedictorian.
but naperville has the best schools and is the best place to raise your kids!! (insert sad/ironic foghorn noise here.)
p.s. they weren't going to gun down the deer, were they? i get the whole cougar thing, but last time i checked, a deer wasn't going to eat anyone's baby.
why the whole freakout? what was animal control going to do with it?
If that kid really wanted to pull off the Onion's speech, he should have tracked down someone from the class of 2004 to do the Counterpoint.
Also, I agree that he probably cheated to get his stellar GPA, but that's not surprising -- as a former valedictorian myself, I was "defending" the title from two people who actively tried to get grades changed in classes where they got A-'s. The question I have is how he couldn't have been caught cheating prior to this. It's not as if he went about it the smartest way he could have -- stealing from the Onion? Really. Strip him of the title just for being so damn stupid about what he chose to plagiarize.
By the way, the title means squat after that day. I'mjustsayin'.
"And he stole it from The Onion. Sounds like a cool guy to me."
Sounds like a piece of shit who will likely cut corners and cheat in adult life, but I guess I am old fashioned in thinking stealing, including the theft of someone else's work and ideas, is wrong.
Didn't you people have parents who taught you this stuff?
The worst part is that Onion article is basically meant to be the most generic and cheesy valedictorian speech you could possibly give.
Oh Naperville...
Sounds like a piece of shit who will likely cut corners and cheat in adult life
The worst part is that Onion article is basically meant to be the most generic and cheesy valedictorian speech you could possibly give.
No no no no no no! It's a brilliant joke! Look at The Onion article again. The joke isn't that it's generic and cheesy, it's that the same speech is given everywhere, every year regardless of whether it's verbatim. This student gave the same speech, one that was constructed to show how useless the speeches are. It's some fantastically dry irony, so it's no wonder the administration and parents are crapping themselves.
Sounds like someone with marvelous critical thinking skills and a great sense of humor. Someone to watch for good things if humorless curmudgeons don't stiffel this free thinker.
"It's some fantastically dry irony, so it's no wonder the administration and parents are crapping themselves."
Irony? Sounds like this person is riding an old trend, and could not be bothered to come up social commentary that has more bite. Sounds like this person barely tried, hardly a good trait for a supposedly top student with "marvelous criticial thinking skills." I see little evidence of brilliance in this stunt, even though I admit such speeches usually suck.
A lot of valedictorians read Chicagoist, it seems. What about people like me, the low GPA/high SAT kids who were smart but just didn't give a fuck about school?
No celebratory words regarding Obama? Well then, let me be the first -- WOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, Yok. The comedy in The Onion article was the "counterpoint". The joke just isn't there in the "point". Piece of shit couldn't even credit "The Onion". If I were one of his teacher, I'd be interested in looking into any of the papers he wrote for my class. Well, in any case, he lost some respect, and lacks integrity. And who cares if it's a speech that nobody will remember? That's not the point. What a dumbass.
A much much better (and funnier) valedictorian speech:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2008/6/3holub.html
Well, obviously that's the joke sparky. Jesus, that was my point. If a writer references something, he/she need not fully explicate the source. Not to try and elevate the kid's speech to literature, but if Joyce had to fully dereference (with citations) Ulysses, the book would be (even more) unreadable.
How many high schoolers have developed their literary skills to the level of Mc Sweeneys better pieces? How much did you know about what was old hat in the wide world of humor at 17? He's the valedictorian in high school, of course his idea is a little clunky, but now everyone gets to have their high horse crap on him.
Yok:
1. He plagarized. That's my point. It wasn't a reference. A reference is something like: "hey, that reminds me of the Simpsons episode..." What he did was plagarism.
2. I wasn't saying that this kid should even have the level or the talent of that of McSweeney's. Jeez. I was just noting a funny valedictorian speech, that was published on the website yesterday. Loosen up, Yok.
3. Did I mention that he plagarized?
4. Whether or not I knew what was humor when I was 17 is not the point (but, yes, I did know what humor was, as I was improvising at 17, and involved in the more comedic subjects in high school forensics). The point is that I knew what plagarism was when I was 17. He should too. See, he could have written his own speech, with the same critical thinking and dryness--fuck, he could have even sprinkled some of the Onion's shit, and could have said: "As Callie Gesmundo, 2007 Lakewood High School Valedictorian stated", or something along those lines, giving the obscure reference, and if and when people would her up, then they would get the joke. That, my friend, would have been funnier.
4. Oh, yeah, I think I mentioned that he plagarized.
"If a writer references something, he/she need not fully explicate the source."
In a speech and other works of non fiction, one is generally expected to cite direct sources unless one wants to be accused of stealing. In fiction, lifting passages from other authors without citation also is stealing. What is so difficult to understand about this? This person passed off another's work as one's own.
I know we are all supposed to shrug and look the other way when it comes to cheating--especially in this freaking city, for godsakes--but that does not make it right.
I know we are all supposed to shrug and look the other way when it comes to cheating
Obviously that's not what I'm arguing. I'm arguing that the speech, a performance, was not cheating since it's lack of originality was the point (structural irony). You think he's a piece of shit and I think he's cheeky. We'll disagree on this and agree to retire the discussion?