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Stay curious and you’ll make magic, LTU Commencement speaker tells grads

December 4, 2023

SOUTHFIELD—Curiosity can be risky, and even dangerous. But it’s also the key to success and solving life’s mysteries.

That was the word Saturday from award-winning author and journalist Charles Fishman, who spoke to nearly 200 graduates and their families at Lawrence Technological University’s Fall 2023 Semester Commencement, held at LTU’s Don Ridler Field House.

Lawrence Tech’s still-fairly-new marketing slogan is “Be Curious. Make Magic.” And Fishman said that’s how he came to be LTU’s Commencement speaker. “Somebody thought it would be good to have the curiosity guy come speak here,” he said.

Among Fishman’s published works is the New York Times bestseller “A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life,” which he co-wrote with Hollywood producer Brian Grazer.

But Fishman said his experience with curiosity goes back farther, to his days as a reporter. He said he was checking in to a hotel in Miami with his family over the holidays in 2010, and in the hotel was a bottle of Fiji brand water with a steep $7.99 price tag. Fishman said he started wondering, “does the water in the bottle of Fiji water actually come from Fiji?”

The surprising answer: Yes, it does. It comes from Fiji. Which is 7,500 miles from Miami.

“That question changed the course of my life,” Fishman said. “I spent the next two years traveling around the world, reporting on our crazy relationship with water.” The product of that research was another book, “The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water.” That book describes how the scarcity of fresh water will soon become a major factor in human life. And shockingly, in that research, Fishman discovered that more than half of Fijians do not have easy access to fresh clean water.

Fishman told the graduates that curiosity has many different powers: “It can give you courage. It can improve your personal relationships. It can jump start your career.” It’s also, he said, “a little impertinent, a little bit dangerous—not to you, but to the people in charge.”

Indeed, he said, the first story in the Bible is about people being curious to taste forbidden fruit, “and the message couldn’t be clearer: don’t be curious. All human misery stems from being curious. In the Renaissance, being curious could get you beheaded. Today, in some places, it can get you arrested.”

But he said curiosity can also “help you be a better friend, a better employee, a better romantic partner, a better person.” Curiosity, he said, means asking questions, and “Nothing demystifies the world like questions. You’ll get answers. And fun—the fun of discovery.”

Fishman said he wanted to impart three major messages to the graduates. First, “Show up in person. Everything is better in person, including sex. Especially sex. So go to the office. Go to the factory. Meet the person. Life is a carnival midway. Don’t scroll through it on a screen.”

Second, he said, “Have the courage to ask silly or even dumb questions.” Like, for instance, “Does the water in the Fiji water bottle actually come from Fiji?”

Finally, he said, “The most important message of this brief talk: Open a retirement account. This is the best piece of advice, aside from wear sunscreen, that I guarantee everyone in the room can benefit from.” The audience—made up mostly of parents and family members a lot closer to retirement age than the LTU graduates—applauded with enthusiasm.

Fishman is a three-time winner of the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. His writing has appeared in the Atlantic, Smithsonian, and Fast Company magazine, as well as major newspapers and news websites.

Lawrence Technological University is one of only 13 private, technological, comprehensive doctoral universities in the United States. Located in Southfield, Mich., LTU was founded in 1932 and offers more than 100 programs through its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences, as well as Specs@LTU as part of its growing Center for Professional Development. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 11 percent of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation’s top 10 percent. U.S. News and World Report list it in the top tier of the best Midwest colleges. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.

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Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom

  • What you will need to have and do
  • Download the mobile Zoom app (either App Store or Google Play)
  • Have your phone plugged in
  • Set up video stand phone holder

From Computer

Log in and start your Zoom session with participants

From Phone

  • Start the Zoom session on your phone app (suggest setting your phone to “Do not disturb” since your phone screen will be seen in Zoom)
  • Type in the Meeting ID and Join
  • Do not use phone audio option to avoid feedback
  • Select “share content” and “screen” to share your cell phone’s screen in your Zoom session
  • Select “start broadcast” from Zoom app. The home screen of your cell phone is now being shared with your participants.

To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera

  • Open (swipe to switch apps) and select the camera app on your phone
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