Happy Doctorate to You!

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
-- Aristotle

An Ode to my Favorite Scholar (by his greatest fan)
You lived in a cubicle
You slept on your books
You pondered the uses
of "take"s, "has taken"s, and "took"s
With verb paradigms and rogue particles haunting your thoughts
you waged war against grammars never before wrought.

You came and you conquered.
You completed the task.
You donned the tri-colored hood and the four cornered hat.
You have my respect and my honor
for the sacrifice paid
For the Lord and the Lono, and for linguists unnamed. ------

Celebrating the day: Mark gets a new office name plate.











The cake: "Happy Success, Dr. Mark!"

















The Burke sisters (Esther & LuAnne) with the graduate.