In the climactic passage of her address, Kingsolver acknowledged the enormity of the challenges facing the Class of 2008—climate change, economic disruption, a carbon-dependent civilization running out of time. She told them the hardest part would be convincing themselves that change was possible, and hanging on when despair set in. Hope, she argued, is not a feeling that comes and goes—it is a daily practice, as deliberate as getting dressed. Her image of putting hope on 'with your shoes' transformed an abstract concept into a physical discipline. She closed with a poem she had written called 'Hope; An Owner's Manual,' reinforcing the idea that hope requires constant maintenance, improvisation, and above all, community. 'The ridiculously earnest are known to travel in groups,' she said, 'and they are known to change the world.'