"Everything is Going to be Okay:" Words for grads or commencement speakers?

New Yorker cartoonist BEK (real name Bruce Eric Kaplan) likes graduation speeches--even though they seem to occupy our thoughts only on one day, and don't necessarily say anything truly profound. They're "better in theory," he says. So he's put his cartooning pen to work to write and draw Everything Is Going to Be Okay: A Book for You or Someone Like You. In the process, he's created a book that will delight anyone who's had to give a speech as well as one that makes a great gift for a recent graduate. Here's how much he loves them:

I love graduation speeches. I have always loved them, I will always love them. Once when I was in my twenties, I laid on my old girlfriend's peach couch (which I still had, but not my girlfriend) and watched twelve hours of graduation speeches on Sunday being televised on that odd BOOK TV channel. I have never been happier.

In this Huffington Post piece, you can see a slideshow sample from the book, including cartoons, and Kaplan's thoughts on why graduation speeches inspired him.

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