2025 Boston Marathon: Runners move through Natick, Massachusetts
More than 30,000 runners hit the streets of Natick, Mass., as they run in the 2025 Boston Marathon. The marathon travels through eight communities.
André 3000, Jennifer Coolidge and Sara Bareilles were all in Massachusetts this past month.
No, Met Gala was not moved to TD Garden at the last second, these three celebrities were actually in the Commonwealth to deliver commencement addresses to the graduating classes of different colleges in Boston.
Coolidge, recent star of “A Minecraft Movie,” spoke at the graduation ceremony of Emerson College.
The man known for the smash hit songs “Hey Ya” and “Ms. Jackson” and the woman behind the musical “Waitress” spoke at Berklee College of Music’s graduation ceremony, with the latter two receiving honorary doctorates.
Here’s what these three superstars had to say.
Jennifer Coolidge at Emerson College
Coolidge, who was born in Boston, gave her commencement address to Emerson College’s graduating class of 2025 in a way only she could, with powerful moments of inspiration carried by endearing asides and hilarious jokes.
“Don’t listen to the people who mess up the real story you’ve got going,” Coolidge said to the graduating students.
The actress, who graduated from Emerson in 1985, went on to say that she was so absurdly proud of the Emerson Class of 2025 and then said that they should give themselves the weekend to take a break, extending that break comically through New Years’ Eve.
“Congratulations, and as Elle Woods, my co-partner in crime, would say, “We did it,” Coolidge concluded.
André 3000 at Berklee College of Music
André Benjamin, popularly known as André 3000 and for his work as part of the hip-hop duo Outkast, spoke to the Class of 2025 at Berklee College of Music, first talking about his musical beginnings.
“You are the futures, and I’m excited to hear how y’all hear things,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin talked how he formed Outkast with his creative partner Antwan Patton, whose stage name is Big Boi. He said the graduating class should stay delighted in their work, that that passion will help them endure.
“Don’t worry about what people say, good and bad because the praise can kind of blind you,” Benjamin said. “Stay on your path.”
Benjamin received an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee, making him an honorary member of the Class of 2025.
Sara Bareilles at Berklee College of Music
Bareilles, also spoke to the graduating Class of 2025 at Berklee and also received an honorary doctorate of music.
“Music and art lifts me and, lots of times, it lifts somebody else too,” the songwriter said. “It heals me and maybe somebody else.”
She instilled her view of the brutal reality of the music industry into that graduating class: constant perilous uncertainty where artistic labor is at risk of being stolen or silenced by artificial intelligence and political demagogues.
“And there are so many trap doors, but there are so many trampolines,” Bareilles said. “And to find them, you just have to keep telling the truth, whatever that is, your blunt, broken, beautiful, perfectly imperfect human truth.”
Rin Velasco is a trending reporter. She can be reached at rvelasco@gannett.com.
