JK Rowling Speech

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I stumbled across this stirring 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech by Ms. Rowling (here Part 1 of 3 on YouTube) after being recommended to view Steve Jobs' speech at Harvard, also a good one. Though like the rest of the world I was well aware of her slightly famous wizardry books, having read a few of them, I should have figured she'd have a certain way with words. But I was still taken aback by her sheer brilliance at articulating both the painful and profound with such vividness and power, speaking so vulnerably and humbly from her own life about failure and imagination. Before this, I hadn't known much at all about her story, only that she'd enjoyed success only after struggling as a single mother in poverty. All the more I was struck by her frankness and sensitivity, her scope of compassion and courage, to call those privileged graduates (and the rest of us educated, too) to consider our responsibility in the world. With her charming, self-deprecating humor, it was refreshing to hear someone so astronomically successful appear so genuinely grounded and grateful and magical.