Cuban American poet Richard Blanco, who read at President Obama’s second inauguration, delivered Lesley University’s undergraduate commencement address on Saturday, urging graduates to not let their career goals get in the way of “living life first.” “Regardless of your career or degree or station in life . . . our creativity flows from living our lives first, and not necessarily the other way around,” said Blanco, who was the first inaugural poet to be openly gay and Latino. He was awarded an honorary doctorate at the commencement ceremony, as was performance and visual artist Nick Cave. Blanco received his doctoral hood from Lesley’s president, Joseph Moore , and assistant professor Aaron Smith. Meanwhile, at Tufts University on Saturday, Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post, delivered the Class Day speech at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
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