As much as I’ve talked on stage in the past twenty-five years, I’ve never given a speech. I’ve never had a corporate job or a leadership position, and this is my first time going to college. I’ve never even sat and listened to a speech like this.
So, when Durham Tech invited me to speak at this year’s convocation — an event that brings together the faculty to kick off the school year — I had no idea what I should say. Fortunately, I knew what I wanted to say. That’s what I wrote and delivered.
Three things you should know going in:
The event began with a performance by The Divas & Dude, a cheerleading group aged sixty to eighty-seven. David Lynch would have hired them on the spot and wrote a movie for them to be in. I reference them when I start the speech. Unfortunately, their performance is not included in the event recording.
I practiced this speech for three weeks, mostly so I wouldn’t cry. I cried anyway — twice.
Almost everyone hit the podium microphone at some point, which made an awful sound. I thought, “Yeah, see, I’m a professional, and I’m not going to do that.” Of course, I did it at the worst moment possible.
You can watch and listen to the recorded live stream here:
As a non-traditional student, I’d like to thank The Divas & Dude for reminding me that I have so much to look forward to (laughter).
In 1989, I graduated high school with a GPA of 1.8 (Audience member: “Yay!”). Yes! You get it.
I had a great career in music. I have a great career in music, and I’ll always be thankful for that. But I was curious about science, and I used to drive my bandmates crazy by listening to physics lectures in the van (laughter).
When I was 47, I was diagnosed and treated for ADHD. And when Covid shut the music business down for two years, my girlfriend suggested that I take a class at a community college and explore my other interests, an idea which honestly terrified me, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
So, I met with Eliza Murphy at the Orange County campus (cheers). I did really well on the placement tests, and she said, “Why don’t you start on a degree program?”
I said, “I’m a singer. I just want to take a math class (laughter).” And I signed up, registered for Precalculus I. Amanda White could not be here today, but I hope she gets to see this. Amanda White was a life-changing, amazing teacher (This is the first time I started to cry because she really was, and is). I had fun. I made my first A (cheers). I signed up for another class.
Then Lea Bingham emailed me and told me about this meeting for NC State’s C3 program. Now, if I could pick, in my wildest dreams, an institution to study physics — what if I could? I would pick NC State. I filled out the form and went to the meeting to see what it would take, and when I finish my Associate in Engineering here at Durham Tech, I will transfer to NC State to study physics (cheering).
Sometimes — maybe most times — I feel like someone made a clerical error (laughter), and they’re gonna call me and apologize. I’ll go back to playing music. But I learned something here that helps me when I feel that way, and I learned it last semester in Intro to Chemistry.
There’s a number called a mole. Like a pair or a dozen, it’s a number with its own name. A mole is basically a six followed by twenty-three zeros. A huge number, but atoms are very small, and you need more than a dozen in lab.
So if you have six followed by twenty-three zeros of an atom, the atomic mass of that atom becomes its weight in grams. That’s something we can get our hands on. So, if you have, say, hydrogen’s atomic mass is one. Oxygen’s atomic mass is sixteen. If you have two grams of hydrogen and sixteen grams of oxygen, you make a mole of H20, right? (Audience member: “Right!” and laughter) I made an A in that class, too!
How much is that? Really?
A teaspoon holds about five and a half grams of water. So. Count with me (Audience member: “You oughta teach that class!” and laughter). That’s one. Two. Three. That’s about sixteen and a half; we’ll get a little bit more here (Audience: “Four.”). That’s close enough for engineering (laughter, nerd field intensifies).
(I hold up a shot glass with the water we just measured) Now, if a bartender poured you a shot like that, you’d send it back (laughter). But I want you to imagine the Milky Way Galaxy. Two hundred billion stars. And that’s average for a galaxy in our universe, about 200 billion stars. As far as we could ever see, as far as light has had time to reach us from the universe, there are about a trillion galaxies in our observable universe. If ours is average, that means there are two hundred billion trillion stars in our observable universe. That’s a two, coincidentally followed by twenty-three zeros.
So, if you multiply all the stars in the universe by three, you’ll have the number of molecules in this glass of water. If you multiply that times three, because — H 2 O — you’ll have the number of atoms in this glass of water. Nine universes.
(I hit the damned microphone! People laugh. I die a little inside, but keep going.)
I came up with that little exercise to help myself imagine the scale of the atomic world. What I could not have imagined last year when I timidly signed up for a single math class, is that I would be invited to speak to you today and represent the student body (“Yes, Jonathan.” That is Charmaine Grafton, a single mother of four who completed two Associate degrees at Durham Tech and served as SGA president. You can go back to around 1:13:30 in the video and hear her speech.).
You taught me that I contain universes (I begin crying again. Dammit.). I am more than a GPA (cheering). I am more than a learning disability. You are more than your degree or faculty position.
Eliza Murphy. Amanda White. Lea Bingham. Jen Macy, I saw here. Harry McGuire and Bradley Collins taught me about the mole. Nancy Wykle, who invited me to speak today. Indira Everett, JB Buxton, and the Foundation Board that finds donors who provide generous support for students like me. I don’t know you all. I can’t name you all, but what I want to say to all of you — and I knew immediately when they asked me to speak what I wanted to say was — I know some days you feel like you are at best making a small difference. It is not small.
The value of what you do is uncountable. We’ve seen buildings come and buildings go. You are Durham Technical Community College (applause), and you contain universes.
I want you to stay hydrated (laughter). Have a great semester, and thank you so much for everything.
And thank you for supporting me in this journey. I am still a musician, and I’m playing these great shows!
August 16-18
Philadelphia Folk Festival
Upper Salford Township, PA
August 23-26
Shrewsbury Folk Festival
Shrewsbury, UK
Sept 17, 7pm
Songwriters Series with Jonathan Byrd, Abigail Dowd, and Alexa Rose
Flat Iron
Greensboro, NC
Sept 18, 7pm
Songwriter Round w/Kirk Ridge and Jess Klein
Yonder
Hillsborough, NC
Sep 20-22
Queen City Songwriters Invitational
Spearfish, SD
Your fan,
Jonathan Byrd
Congratulations! Great speech! What a great silver lining story. You read so many sad ones about the effects Covid had on families and your story shines bright as an example that even through Covid, many of us prospered.
I’m happy to hear you are still a musician! People need entertainment and they need to listen to wonderful music. Have a beautiful week!✨🤗💖🎵
This was so great to watch! Thank you. You continue to inspire.