SFSU Class of 2007

I emailed a lot of you, but I want to announce that Kyle Campbell Whitham McLeod will receive in absentia a diploma from San Francisco State University. Dean Cherny of Undergraduate Studies gave the nod and we will hear more by mail.

Kyle, while having a wonderful brain, after 5th grade became a mediocre student. He had inattentive type ADHD and massive learning deficits in visual spacial memory and v/s organization. He couldn't copy things accurately from a blackboard. He couldn't read a map. An audio-learner, he couldn't take in a lecture, if at the same time, he was trying to take notes. He had a mild dysgraphia, with atrocious handwriting (all the more interesting his quest to master tagging), and we were thankful that he took to keyboarding.

Ky began reading before his 4th birthday. He always carried a book with him. When he went through a comic-book period, I kept my mouth shut and patiently waited until he was back reading books again. His friends' parents were often in awe; I remember one parent definitely linking him up with her kids after she saw him--6th grade or earlier i think--reading Fahrenheit 451.

Ky was truly an autodidact. Every day, starting in high school, he read the news over the internet. ("Mom, did you hear? Le Pen won the election in France!" c. 2002.) He always knew what was happening. No longer could I simply make rash observations about some world event, without Kyle challenging me with actual facts. I've often spoken of how he'd mention a book and then, when I'd ask what class he was reading that for, would answer--with some disdain--"that's not for a class, Mom, it's from the library."

I read letters from his SFSU professors that broke my heart, as they described a young man who was an enthusiastic participant in class, who challenged the students around him, who brought in ideas from his other classes or reading. They also described someone who was not in class "just to get the grade." Homework was not his forte, and clearly stood in the way of higher grades, but I was pleased to learn from a couple of his college classmates that Ky helped write their papers. He was growing as a student and a scholar.

But just as important, Kyle was enrolled in, what we might call, L'Ecole Joie de Vivre. Taking it all in, staying up late, figuring out how to balance studies, a job, and plenty of partying. And then there was his music. He found the time to build a music collection of 9000 tunes. In his wallet were used tickets to a bunch of reggae concerts. I'm so glad he had fun. It would have been so sad if he'd died without having a hell of a lot of fun.

Ky didn't have a 6th grade elementary school graduation because he switched to Polytechnic at the end of 5th. He didn't get a Poly diploma, cause he was asked to leave at the end of 11th grade. Ky went to night school and, though he graduated, he didn't attend any ceremony and the diploma meant little to him.

So now he has earned a college diploma. It's a shame he won't get to hold it and to use it. And a shame he won't have the sense of satisfaction of completing college and being free for once in his young life to travel and to live however he chose.

Congratulations, my dear boy, on your achievement. And bon voyage.