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How’s it going there? Can you guys hear me?
I’m gonna put my rappin’ hat on real quick.
I’m gonna start out with a song because you guys probably have no idea what science rapping looks like.
So let’s just do this. It’s called Fossil Rock Anthem.
I’ve sold out to pop music for the 11 and 12-year old crowd.
So if anybody knows how to shuffle this is a good time to show off your stuff. I’m gonna teach you how to “shovel”.
The song is about paleontology and the history of life on Earth.
I encourage you to clap during the chorus.
Or get up and dance.
Fossil rocks are in the ground tonight.
They've been down there for a really long time.
They contain the history of life.
They've been down there for a really long time.
Fossil Rocks are in the ground tonight.
They've been down there for a really long time (They're the schist!)
They are literally on the grind.
Take your hammer out and... break that.
Shovel. Toss. Shovel. Toss. Grab. Brush brush brush. Admire.
Shovel. Toss. Shovel. Toss. Grab. Brush brush brush. Admire.
Look at the ground - partly rock.
Plus plants and animal stuck in their spot.
Huh - Each new layer stackin’ up, so the oldest on the bottom and the newest on top,
"So how old is your fossil, bro?" Well it was pretty far down so it's pretty darn old.
And I dated this one, so I gots to know. It’s from 3.5 billion years ago.
Yo, I got that lava flow, Volcano.
Air full of particles and smoke. There goes life as they know.
Now that's a blast! But most rocks ain't movin' that fast,
The sediment’s evidence - like a present tellin’ us of the past.
Fossil Rocks are in the ground tonight.
They’ve been down there for a really long time.
They contain the history of life.
They’ve been down there for a really long time.
Fossil rocks are in the ground tonight.
They've been down there for a really long time. They're the schist!
They are literally on the grind.
Take your chisel out and… flake that!
Clapping
Normally I’d make all of you do the shoveling too. But not today.
So that’s what being a science rapper looks like. Getting into speech giving mode now.
Thank you so much to the entire tutorial staff. To the council. To the management.
To the friends and family and to all of the graduates today here for having me. It’s a great honor to be here.
And I’m excited to share some stories with you guys about life.
As you just heard I pretty much just woke up in Japan yesterday. And here I am. I just got off the plane. Things are a little bit crazy.
In Japan I had nine 18-year old Japanese students in this seminar room staring at me, expecting me to teach them how to rap… about science… in English.
And none of them had every rapped before. They weren’t science students. And they barely spoke English.
With those nine faces staring expectantly at me, I kind of found myself thinking, what on Earth am I doing here? How did I get to this spot in life?
And in certain ways it’s a proud moment because I’m doing this crazy new thing. But it’s still shocking to me. So I want you guys to be thinking about, all you graduates, how did you get to this spot, right here right now?
In order to answer that question in my case, I could tell you how life is sort of like a vine – moving in this linear fashion climbing up from one point to the next –
from the first rap I wrote about frog dissection in intermediate school – to the fact that me and all my friends in high school just became really obsessed with the Wu-Tang clan for some reason–
to the first science raps I made for my students while teaching at Stanford .
But I’m pretty sure that that linear story of cause and effect - is wrong.
Because, as much as we like to look back and tell a story about the sensible way in which we go from one thing to the next, it’s not quite true.
And I the linear story does a disservice to the complexity of human existence, and the diversity of our passions.
Because a given life is not just one long continuous vine. It’s made of a multitude of branches shooting out in all sorts of different directions.
At any given moment, certain parts of us are growing, branching, flowering - while others are getting pruned, stifled, or just kind maintaining there – sitting there for a better day.
From sports to music to love, relationships, death, everything, each branch represents a feeling, a relationship, a hobby, a passion, an idea.
And some of our most complicated branches may lay dormant for years, only to flourish later on and become intertwined with others.
That’s kind of how I think about how I got to that spot.
So life is not a vine. Life is a shrubbery. Yes, it’s a great big shrubbery.
And you, graduates, are gardeners of those shrubberies.
And you’re just gonna have to forgive me because the rest of this speech is exploring that ridiculous metaphor.
So just as I could not have predicted that at age 25 I would be science rapping in Japan, you cannot predict right now, let alone dictate, exactly how you’re your shrubbery will grow and take shape.
But you can make sure that conditions are favorable for its growth.
So from my brief experience in this world, I want to impart a little bit of the gardening techniques that have allowed me to do the stuff I’m doing, in the hopes that you can contemplate your own success today – what brought you here - and also, maybe inspire some further flourishing of your shrubbery over the coming years.
To start off with, shrubberies need water to grow. And the key ingredient for that growth is knowledge.
This “knowledge” doesn’t have to be a textbook type of thing. It can be physical, emotional, philosophical, or intellectual.
And in that shrubbery metaphor, growth is synonymous with learning.
As long as you’re immersed in a rich soil of books, conversations, and experiences, that shrubbery will never stop growing.
And lucky for us, knowledge has never been more accessible.
Universities around the world are putting their classes online. Your local library is full of ridiculously amazing books that you can get for free. And you can teach yourself just about anything just by going onto Google and YouTube.
And even if you think you’re finished with polytechnic forever, remember that all shrubs need to maintain that sweet liquid knowledge in order to keep growing.
As the most interesting man in the world might say (if knowledge is water), “Stay thirsty my friends.”
Read for pleasure, take an online class, build something new, or learn from you’re the people around you.
Which brings me to my second tip.
Surround your plant with other unique interesting, dynamic, inspiring shrubs.
These other plants should energize you, challenge you, take you to new realities and and bring you back to reality when you get too far away.
As the great philosopher Questlove once said (he’s the drummer of my favorite hip hop group, The Roots, in case you haven’t heard of him):
"The only mofos in my circle are people that I CAN LEARN FROM. I believe THAT is the first and foremost rule to a successful life. You are going to be as educated and successful as the 10 most frequented people you text on your phone.”
So when you come across a new person in your life who inspires you, challenges you, or brings out the best in you – hang on to them. Make sure they’re planted somewhere nearby.
But I’m gonna be honest. Coming across those people is not always easy.
It requires a willingness to meet a stranger, to make yourself vulnerable, and to say yes to strange invitations.
Like when you get an out-of-the-blue email inviting you to go to Kyoto University to teach science rapping.
And as terrifying, bizarre, and uncertain as those type of prospects may seem, it will stimulate growth.
Which brings me to gardening tip #3.
You’ve got to be willing to uproot that shrubbery every now and then, and expose it to a new climate.
Now I know what some of your inner shrubs are thinking right now – this climate is awesome (and it is awesome up here. I’m down in Dunedin and it’s a little bit brutal).
So this climate’s great, there’s this bird I know who comes and hangs out on my branch every Thursday, I’ve got this nice rock here that I’m growing up against – it’s all sweet.
But at the same time, that comfort and that ease can sometimes prevent a little bit of growth from happening. And when you get to that point and you feel a little stagnant, it’s time to actually seek out a little bit of discomfort.
Now one obvious way to do that, which kiwis seem to excel at, is to travel. But as great as travel is, you don't have to leave your country to challenge yourself.
You don’t even have to leave your city. You just have to do something a little bit out of the ordinary for yourself.
Pick up a new language – join a new sports team, go to a talk, volunteer with a community that you don’t normally interact with that’s nearby.
There are little nooks and crannies of adventure, discomfort, and growth all around us.
You just have to have the energy, bravery, and willingness to explore them.
Though that voluntary quest to leave one’s comfort zone may be nothing compared to the involuntary trauma that all shrubberies inevitably face - drought, flood, predators, fire.
But just remember my favorite type of bush - the California chaparral. This plant is fire-adapted, and instead of withering in the face of fire, it releases the seeds of the next generation.
In the face of trauma, it responds with growth.
Not just an inspiring tale of how to deal with adversity, but an important reminder that in addition to you (the gardener) and your life (the shrubbery) there are many other factors that influence your growth.
Insects that pollinate you, worms that help you recycle nutrients, or even those mama and papa gardeners that helped cultivate that shrubbery in its earliest days.
Because as the many proud parents, friends, and family members in attendance here today can confirm, you didn’t get here on your own.
As much as you should take ownership of that shrub, never take for granted the contribution of all those other factors that have helped along the way.
So even as you travel, leave your comfort zone, make new friends, and learn new things – remember the Six60 song that I heard today on an Air New Zealand flight – “Don’t forget your roots.”
Now the whole point of this ridiculous shrubbery metaphor is that we are complicated.
We don’t always have complete control over how our lives develop. The best we can do is to put ourselves in a stimulating and dynamic environment that encourages lifelong learning, and to make the most of whatever weather comes our way.
So back to the Japan thing. What did I learn from this bizarre, uncertain, scary new experience?
Since it only happened yesterday… I have no idea. Which is the whole point.
Someday I may be able to pinpoint some thing that I learned, some some new action that is gonna arise from it.
But I’d rather think of it right now as a bunch of little new sprouting branches within my shrubbery, building on what’s already there, and - who knows what’ gonna happen with them?
So as you sit here today, think about the many different parts of yourself that have been branching and flowering lately.
How has your experience at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic shaped your growth?
How have the people around you shaped that growth?
But also look to the future. Consider the type of environment that will allow you to keep flourishing.
Leave your comfort zone. Meet some interesting shrubberies. And when it comes to knowledge…“Stay thirsty my friends!”
So I got one more song. Tribe Called Quest. I try and shout out to all of you guys.