A few weeks ago I received perhaps the most unlikely award of my career: an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Pace University while speaking at graduation. Never having finished my undergraduate education, this was a delight, checking an unexpected box on my life list. But the icing on the cake has been a couple of emails that followed. One was from a former grad student (I teach in the M.S. in Publishing program as well as undergraduate courses), saying that my speech about the power of stories had finally helped her family understand her career choice, and another came from the parent of a graduate, telling me about the importance of my writing to her recently deceased brother through a very difficult lifetime.
Most of the awards offer strength to me in proportion to how they were achieved: the ones that were voted on by my peers or by groups that I worked with closely are great sources of pride. But there’s a true warmth in the one on one feedback that my work has permitted: the people who have come up to me at comic conventions talking about the pleasure my stores gave them, or responses like these. There’s a real joy in being part of a community, whether it’s comics or a school.
To all involved in these, thank you…and to all of you who allowed me to do the work that qualified, thank you as well.
