Garrison Keillor, the beloved author, humorist, and creator of A Prairie Home Companion, delivered a commencement address that was equal parts unsentimental and deeply wise. After spending the first half of his speech making the case that nature wants children to become strangers to their parents — 'Nature is single-minded, it's cruel, it's only interested in the survival of the species' — he pivoted to what actually sustains people once they leave the nest. Friendships, he argued, are not secondary to family but may in fact be primary. He urged graduates to extend themselves to people they care about, to cross every boundary of gender, politics, sexuality, and class, and above all not to be 'so glib or so smartass or so passive or so cruel' that they miss making those 'intense sweet connections' with other people.