Graduation Traditions: The World is Yours?

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Ahoy , hoy , ahoy to you , my friend and uh . Congratulations , man , uh , I guess , on all you've accomplished and you know all the things you've learned over these years . You have applied it into your shop , which is Boogie's Bodega , located on First Avenue North in Billings , montana , and I just you know . I think it's something to celebrate .

Speaker 2 0:24

Well thanks , man , I appreciate it . And something to celebrate . Well thanks , man , I appreciate it . And I appreciate the shameless plug Clowns . And it was recently the one-year anniversary . But more recently , colt's daughter , damara , graduated from high school .

Speaker 2 0:40

Yeah she did . Congratulations , kiddo . I couldn't be prouder of you . I feel the same way . Hell , yeah , that

Introductions and Congratulations

Speaker 2 0:48

would be it from the time we were building forts to now you're off to college and , yeah , just can't overstate how awesome I think you're doing . And , uh , yeah , thank you for always being a pleasant child to be around too , because because some are not , but Tamara was always awesome . I think we were more childish than she was when she was five .

Speaker 1 1:10

But that's yeah , that's pretty realistic there Also the fact that I think she was like about five or six when she Wu-Tang Forever and throwing up the W .

Speaker 2 1:22

Oh yeah .

Speaker 1 1:24

Yeah , you can't forget these things . Or her incredible combination of words when she was coming at you A tackle I remember that one was pretty good . Wow , yeah , so we're talking . We sound like old people .

Speaker 2 1:38

But congratulations , kiddo . We kind of are old people Owen . I suppose we are yeah .

Speaker 1 1:45

Yeah , whatever , fuck it Denial ain't just the river in Egypt , right ? For real , though , I agree with that statement . So we're talking about graduations , people . So now you've graduated in your knowledge of knowing what this episode is about , and congratulations to you . Out there in podcast landia Yay .

Speaker 2 2:08

Oh , and I must say and I can't confirm this , but you know , I think it's a good thing that DeMar graduated in Washington , because I think in Montana it's tradition that they beat you with a log for going to that damned learning place .

Speaker 1 2:20

So or you read about books , or in books what ? What are books ? I don't know .

Speaker 2 2:27

Anyway , yeah , that sounds about right .

Speaker 1 2:29

Yeah , I don't know if they've removed any books from schools in Montana , but it seems like it's a thing that would happen there .

Speaker 2 2:35

Just the ones with words , sorry . Picture books are fine .

Speaker 1 2:44

Yeah , all you need to know is keynote symbols , anyway . Anyway , all right guys . Hey , montana , how you doing today ? The first graduation ceremonies . They're very formal , religious and Latin-filled affairs . Okay , owen , they date back to medieval Europe , kind of . So they say specifically in everything I read that it was around the 12th or 13th century . The earliest universities like Oxford , paris and Boulogne , they were founded around that time .

Speaker 1 3:19

My friend , the stuff that they would do , you know , were more closely related to like religious stuff , I guess , like so , like clerical rituals is what they call them , you know , were like priests and and scribes that were just regurgitating quotes from the

Origins of Graduation Ceremonies

Speaker 1 3:47

bible or whatever they thought at the moment in time and believed in , and all these things and whatnot .

Speaker 1 3:53

So that's , that was the beginning of the sort of graduation as we know it , except for it was more of like a one-off thing , you know , because they didn't have I don't know if that's even the right way to say that , but they didn't have like big classes . It would be like , you know , a bunch of monks , you know , and one of them would complete their quest for knowledge , and then maybe he'd go on some sort of travel where he would , you know , preach and do things or find a new place to occupy beyond the monastery where they learned everything , and that was basically graduation . I think , like with a lot of this stuff , especially with , you know , the Catholic church style , which is what it was back then , it was more , like , you know , they would get like some sort of relic-ish type thing , not even a relic , like a scarf . That was like , hey , you know these things , you're allowed to tell people about God in these ways , right ? So I don't know if you read anything about that , but I don't know .

Speaker 1 4:57

What do you think about that ? That sounds about spot on , does it not ?

Speaker 2 5:00

That sounds about spot on it does . Yeah . And then I did see , you know , moving forward to I think it was 1912 , the Naval Academy , the US Naval Academy , apparently started the tradition of throwing your hat or your cap . I should say Before that it was not yours , you had to give it back . So it would be frowned upon to toss the academy's cap , but apparently that's where that tradition began . And then , of course , pomp and circumstance is always played , and that started with Yale University .

Speaker 1 5:35

Yeah , I seem to remember like having to give back something at my graduation , like they gave us something we weren't allowed to keep . That I thought we really should have , but I can't quite recall , to be honest with you , because you know , as we , I'm old .

Speaker 2 5:54

I don't know . One of my last days at high school was planting schwag seeds all over , just hoping at least one would grow .

Speaker 1 6:05

Oh my god , yeah , we that's . That's amazing , I think the statute of limitations on that is yeah , and you were a minor .

Speaker 1 6:15

It's california yeah , for real , right . Yeah , we used to . We had an urban egg class in horticulture or whatnot , and , uh , there was a greenhouse . Well , of course , we would be like finding little spots to plant seeds all the time . The teacher would always find them , though , and you know they couldn't do anything about it if nobody said who did it . So , like we just kept doing it . It's like what do you expect ? All right , like , hey , I don't know .

Speaker 2 6:43

Give us the old college try in high school Right .

Speaker 1 6:47

Like what would we have even done if it started like budding and just stinking ? And then like what are you going to do ? You know , we were thinking that we were just trying to like see if we can grow some weed in school kind of guys . All right , give us a fucking break here , yeah . Yeah , so that doesn't sound , you know . It sounds like quite the transformation from the religious order which , like I said was wasn't even necessarily academic all the way .

Speaker 1 7:13

A lot of it was more about like rituals and such you know , so and basically , like the degree was the license to teach and whatever right I I understand that you did . Did find a couple other ones there . You know , the one , the one about yale , was slightly disturbing and I wanted to hear your version of it because I had kind of heard another one in a way , but very , very , very similar for real .

Speaker 2 7:43

Well , there's a statue right of a former president of Yale , or a bronze statue .

Speaker 1 7:52

Yes , it was the President , theodore Dwight Woolsey's bronze statue .

Speaker 2 7:59

And not like entirely clear , but something about not just like rubbing the foot but upper class and hoping to graduate with dead and urinate on the foot of the statue .

Yale Traditions and Statue Rituals

Speaker 2 8:13

And I didn't dive too deep into it as I didn't want to vomit up lunch . But hey , traditions .

Speaker 1 8:19

Yeah , okay , yeah , I don't know . I mean , I don't want to be attacked by any Yalians , so no , yeah , that that's pretty much what I heard the in their pamphlets uh , pamphlets , I read that they state that like the tradition or on their website , wherever the fuck it is . Does anybody have pamphlets anymore ? I don't know anyway , only the space is fake people . Yeah , those guys and their cardboard signs .

Speaker 1 8:47

Yeah . So what they say is that when people graduate they kiss the foot . Oh , right , right , yeah . But that's not the case in all reality . Everybody that went to Yale or knows of these things like from somebody they know or whatever . They all piss on the foot On the statue .

Speaker 2 9:05

Yeah , okay , yeah , and they said that it's been happening for so long that the on the foot On the statue yeah , okay , yeah .

Speaker 1 9:08

And then they Fuck that , yeah , and they said that it's been happening for so long that the bronze statue has a very distinct yellow discoloration . The reasoning behind it . Mama kept falling yeah , yeah , right , I know , isn't that interesting ? Pretty fascinating Us humans , you know . Think about your dogs , guys , you know . Pretty fascinating us humans , you know . And think about your dogs , guys , you know .

Speaker 2 9:31

Think about when you get all mad at them . Here we are peeing on statues , all right , we're not . I'm not , I don't know . I haven't even been to yale . I can't speak for cult but I have not either .

Speaker 1 9:38

I did not attend and I've never even . No , none of it . Uh , I have definitely . I don't know if I've ever peed on a statue I've definitely don't think I have , I do not recall I've peed on a lot of things though a lot of tires , and this is taking a very educational .

Speaker 1 9:56

Third , hey , you're on the side of the road , you know it is what it is . Guys , uh , cooey can testify . Owen's a friend , a friend of the show . We've heard many stories he's he travels a lot , so he has plenty of holy shit . I have to go the bathroom stories , just like me . Uh , the , the , the legend of the , the well , woosley , I don't even know how to say this guy's name . I'm sorry , guys , my bad . Uh , when he was president , he would attend like a regatta , uh , to support the yale crew team , and every during that he would kick off a boat with his left toe to start the race , and then , and they , it became a good luck thing that when he would do that , the Yale team would win . So that's basically where that comes from , although it has been said in multiple things that I that I read that it . It has no basis in fact . So all right . Anyway , argentinians take a similarly lighthearted approach . Owen , to commencement from university Graduates are not gifted with cards or flowers , but with a barrage of eggs , bottles of oil and bags of flour and anything else .

Speaker 1 11:04

The messier the better . But this reminds me of what we just read about weddings . Um , it's like a . Basically , they just yeah , this sticky , uh , this show , sticky pandemonium is a way to tease and draw playful attention to the graduates . That's what I , uh , that's what I discovered on my mission , but yeah , so apparently they pelt them with eggs and flour and oil . It sounds like they're getting ready to fry some chicken , like they're making like you know , I don't know bread , some chicken or something . My friend , let's see what else we got here on this fine day . We are in summer officially , aren't we now ?

Speaker 2 11:42

Yeah , yeah , I think we're a week into it . Yeah , I did see one that's fallen out of favor . Graduates of Notre Dame University would smoke with their professors on a porch of sorts .

Speaker 1 11:55

Oh , okay , like weed .

Speaker 2 11:58

No , I don't think so . It's in Indiana and I don't think Indiana's still cannabis-friendly . But , yeah , like pipes and cigarettes and cigars , I believe . But it is with smoking becoming , yeah , frowned upon . But that was an interesting one . I think , in New Jersey at least , when you graduate high school you're supposed to learn how to launder money for the principal . Again , I can't confirm that . What did ?

Speaker 1 12:25

you say now which one ? What school just anywhere in New Jersey ? The principal Again , I can't confirm that . What did you say now which one ? What school Just anywhere in New Jersey ? Oh , I was like wait what I was like glancing

Graduation Customs Around the World

Speaker 1 12:34

at my notes and I caught that , All right , Woke up this morning , yeah , so that's entertaining . In Mexico they serenade their graduates with mariachi bands , which just seems badass . I bet you that would be fun .

Speaker 2 12:52

Yeah , yeah , and again anywhere with tacos and enchiladas and señoritas , I'm fine with attending . Well , not , although , yeah , most anywhere .

Speaker 1 13:03

Most anywhere . Well , that's , these are thoughts of Owen McMichael .

Speaker 2 13:07

Okay , guys , this is what he thinks about people .

Speaker 1 13:10

Yeah , deep thoughts , Not with Jack Handy . Owen McMichael huh , Jack Handy , what a guy . Not a real guy , but what a guy . No , he's a real guy . Yeah , but no , but wasn't his name different .

Speaker 2 13:21

No , he was a writer and they were making jokes about yeah .

Speaker 1 13:26

Yeah , like it was a pen name or something is what I'm getting at .

Speaker 2 13:30

No , I think it was his actual name .

Speaker 1 13:32

Really .

Speaker 2 13:33

Yeah , they just like used his name to make fun of him . I cannot confirm that either , because we cannot confirm if our sources are functional , reliable , credible or even real .

Speaker 1 13:42

Yeah , ty , you know , jeez , I'm with you . These days , you know , everybody acts like that's a fucking new thing , like people fibbing about things , or like , you know , having an article that's false or biased or whatever , like pretty sure , if you look into it , that shit's been going on forever . Sorry , just thinking about it , I would have to go as far as like saying that there's been times where it was possibly worse , but maybe not . Nonetheless , oxford in the UK does a similar thing to what they do in Argentina , but they call it trashing . So it has to do because because of the opulent nature of the university it's kind of controversial . But then also they do it to like kind of you know , just , I guess at the end of the day they do it just to kind of like make a mess and be like , hey , fuck , you guys Go succeed , it'll get better from here . I guess . I don't know , but they make sure nowadays that all their trash is biodegradable because it became so controversial at Oxford University .

Speaker 2 14:49

Dang .

Speaker 1 14:50

Yeah , which ? This is something everybody knows by now . So I'm going to regurgitate some Internet crap . Think everybody knows by now . So I'm gonna regurgitate some internet crap . Uh , oxford university was uh around , uh during the same , around the time of the height of the aztec empire , so they were operating at the same time actually . Yeah , it makes a lot of sense , though I mean it's like you know , they just said right there , oxford , I said , and they said , well , it came about around , you know , in the 1300s and you know columbus didn't get over that way to discover the americas , supposedly , which he only landed in jamaica . People just saying a bunch of jews discovered america . A lot of people don't know that . But at the end of the day , that was like 1492 , so ox Oxford University had been around for a couple hundred years before Europeans even discovered the Americas .

Speaker 2 15:42

And before Billy passed the third grade . Oh , which was what a glorious day , Dude .

Speaker 1 15:49

I .

Speaker 2 15:50

Graduation cannot be mentioned without Billy Madison and the epic ballad . Absolutely not .

Speaker 1 15:57

Oh , my God , I'm glad you worked that in because you had mentioned it when we first brought up the episode . Billy Madison , you know now that I've matured slightly . I guess some of the stuff is coming out or whatever and it's an era thing , but overall that movie is great . I like a lot of the dumb humor in there , you know . It's just fantastic . Nonetheless , sorry . And plus Norm MacDonald's amazing . Anyway , oh , always .

Speaker 1 16:29

God rest . God rest indeed . Good old Norm MacDonald , american Treasure . He had some very weird jokes , yeah . I mean like one was like 9-11 . Yeah , it reminds me of that other tragedy , me , and it's like what . But how he would do stuff like that . It was like a whole different style of comedy and it wasn't like meant to just be purely offensive , I guess , but it came off that way quite a bit .

Speaker 2 17:05

Yeah , I've never heard that one yeah , it's from his stand-up stuff .

Speaker 1 17:09

I was reading actually about norm mcdonald jokes , just uh , in preparation for this episode for some reason . No , I'm just joking , anyway . So you know , I don't know , I graduated from high school . You think you did ? I'm just joking .

Speaker 2 17:31

It's undetermined , but I definitely didn't walk Like well walked away , yeah , right before I graduated Grad . Like well , walked away , yeah .

Speaker 1 17:38

Right before I graduated , graduated from the school of hard knocks oh yeah , me too . Definitely , to an extent , I feel .

Speaker 2 17:47

I've lived places without imported prosciutto okay .

Speaker 1 17:50

Okay , okay , alright , my bad dog , my bad

Personal Graduation Stories

Speaker 1 17:52

, yeah , before graduation , that was , that's very American of you , owen McMichael . Before my graduation they weren't going to let me Like , for whatever reason they just didn't because I had been in trouble and stuff . I don't know if I was on probation at that time or anything like that , but they just randomly were like nope , you're not able to because whatever reason I can't remember . And then like , so I was't remember . And then like , so I was there . And then they all like , like about five minutes before it all started , they told me I could come in the building and so that's kind of how it worked out . So I went from not being able to to being able to and that's my yeah , that's my graduation story , guys .

Speaker 1 18:34

Also . Uh , these days it's kind of crazy . I'm not trying to discourage anybody from like graduating high school , because I do believe like it is an accomplishment for real . Like going through school and finishing it to the full extent is a thing , guys , it really is . But I also know that there's plenty of people who just say they graduated high school when they put in job applications and it just nobody double checks that shit , dude , they really don't . And also , unfortunately , I don't feel that , uh , you know , being a high school graduate is a requirement to having a successful life or a happy one either .

Speaker 1 19:11

So , uh , if you didn't graduate high school or something of that nature , out there , my , my friends , don't let it hold you back . There's plenty of shit you can do , including lie on your job application . It may be the only time I encourage you to lie , but go ahead and do it on that one . So , hey , man , thanks for doing this episode . It was cool . We've been touching on some of our more real-life experiences . Owen , we're trying to get our fans out there , if you want to call them that , I mean , or I don't even know Whatever you guys are out there in podcast land , our friends .

Speaker 2 19:45

Our people .

Speaker 1 19:46

Yeah , I would like that better . I don't want fans . I like folks , man , in general I like our people . So all our people out there . We're trying to do these stories that are more in touch with what's going on in our lives . We're getting up close and personal ITS . I tell stories for life . You can check us out at pitlocksupplycom Maybe cop a shirt . If you're in Billings Montana , stop at Boogie's Bodega Cold Smoke . Boogie's Bodega you look up Cold Smoke because it is a newer business and it was

Final Thoughts and Show Close

Speaker 1 20:14

you know under that for a while .

Speaker 1 20:15

So that's what it is . Uh , check owen out and hopefully just have a good day indeed much love everybody .