I played this for a good friend of mine in 2009 (2010?), on the way to SXSW, only prefacing it by saying, "Look, I know this is gonna sound weird, but this is a commencement speech by this author I've getting in to, and I need you to tell me I'm not crazy and that this is very good." He assured me it was very very good, and even admitted to thinking beforehand "why the hell is he playing me a commencement speech, sometimes iammyownrushmore has the fucking worst taste in things."

Now it seems to have fallen into some weird, self-help-y, good feel-y, UpWorthy emotionally-manipulative clickbait niche, when, originally, it felt like such a labor of love and really, really meant a lot to a kid caught up in varying levels of depression, pessimistic dismissal of others, and a general ennui that felt never-ending. To really hear something that seemed to be tailor-made just for you, for another voice to show up in your head saying "you're...doing it all wrong, but that's okay, I'm there with you, it's hard, and let's change this, cause this is really important to your mental health" was very powerful to me.