Hannah Hosotani
Political Science
Toyonaka Osaka, Japan

We are graduating in the year of economic crisis, change, and Facebook. On my wall, a friend posted a link to a talk given by Isabel Allende about tales of passion. I now borrow Allende’s theme, though am unable to articulate it quite so eloquently, as I believe it applies to the class of 2009.

First day of classes freshman year: I went to Calculus I, a freshman seminar, and Spanish 101. At the end of the drop/add period two weeks later my schedule was set: Calculus II, International Relations and World Politics, and Chinese Religious Thought. So yes, I’m not saying there’s a connection, but my initial academic advisor has since mysteriously disappeared from Carleton.

Four years of classes. For the average student that is 36 classes, or 75,600 minutes in class. So, what has happened during that time?

During my sophomore year I went on a political science program to Washington D.C. with Professor Steven Schier. He organized for us to meet with about 80 speakers in less than 10 weeks. This included John McConnell, the former Senior Speechwriter to President Bush and Vice President Cheney (and also a Carleton alum), Tom Freedman, the former Senior Assistant to President Clinton and a leading Democratic political consultant (another Carleton alum), and Donna Brazile, a leading Democratic political consultant and director of the 2000 Gore presidential campaign. We visited embassies and news stations, and met with senators, congressmen, journalists and lobbyists. A surprising commonality many of our speakers shared was a genuine desire to change the state of things in the U.S. for the betterment of the people. As many of you are aware, Carleton is a slightly more liberal school, with a few more Democrats than Republicans. This distribution was fairly accurately represented in our D.C. group with 19 Democrats and 1 Republican. But with that said, I believe most, if not all of us were enamored with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia is known as a strong social conservative. First, he explained, if you believe in democracy, you believe in majority rules. Second, in making decisions, it is important to adhere to the Constitution. However, it should not be treated as a living document, but followed as it was meant to when it was adopted. If the people want change, then there will be amendments. He didn’t believe he always had the right answer but that it was better than the others. By the end many of us were nodding, not in agreement or support of his stance, but with an understanding of his reasoning. He had a passion to adhere to the Constitution as he believed the people created it.

During my senior year I took Borderlands with Adriana Estill. We read literature addressing border identities, which included not only the geographical, but also the cultural, racial, ethnic, sexual, religious, gender and lingual. Though a particular topic may not have been directly applicable to each of us, we could all relate to the literature as it addressed the development of identity as a conglomeration of various sub-identities. However, there were certainly the controversial issues. During one class, one student made the comment about an immigrant who had difficulty integrating into the American lifestyle though she had raised her child in the U.S. and had incorporated many Western customs into their daily lives. The student stated that it was the fault of the woman for not separating herself from her home country and culture. The fault of the woman. This evoked the memories of comments that I’ve received from others such as, “Do you speak English?” and a belligerent “Why are you here? Go back to where you came from.” It conjured feelings of isolation and unwelcomeness. But since when has the United States of America been a country of homogeneity? On the contrary, one of the great strengths and virtues of the U.S. is its unparalleled mix of people from around the world.

I then walked to my next class and bumped into Profesora Burdell, whom I had never met before, but who stopped to ask me if I was all right and then proceeded to talk with me, listening and sharing her thoughts with me. Later, as I talked with Profesora Doleman about my Spanish class, she asked how things were going and when I said okay and was about to move on to questions pertinent to the class, she asked me more questions. Next thing I knew, she was sharing with me her experiences and explaining to me what she had learned from them. Upon returning home, my housemates, who were busy and a bit sleep-deprived as many Carleton students often are, spent hours of their time talking with me.

It amazed me how so many people not only took time out of their day to comfort me, but also expressed a strong reaction to the content of what had upset me. And I know that I do not stand alone when I say that being at Carleton has been a great challenge at times, where the goal is to simply make it through the day. However, I also know that many will share great appreciation for the faculty, staff and peers who have truly become our friends and in some cases our family, as they have granted us strength, knowledge, love and support.

Through our time at Carleton we have interacted with others who exude passion, we have been supported and encouraged by those with passionate hearts, and we sit here together with our family and friends, beginning a future undoubtedly entwined with passion. Congratulations to the Class of 2009.