I was pretty sure I lacked the wisdom to be the commencement speaker, but after stewing over the idea for about 48 hours, I decided that if the senior class at the University of Wisconsin wants me to come speak, I'll do whatever they ask me. I love that school.
I think from the very beginning with 'We Are Young,' there was never any question about where we wanted the song to go and what we wanted it to sound like. And we knew that we wanted it to be big, we wanted it to be booming over the speakers at an arena or something.
After doing some research with my agent, we found out Klipsch was an official Colts partner, and they were based in Indianapolis, which only added to my esteem for the company. I also have a passion for design and technology that developed while I was at Stanford and appreciate the quality of Klipsch's speakers and headphones.
The right of free speech cannot be parceled out based on whether we want to hear what the speaker has to say or whether we agree with those views. It means, quite often, tolerating the expression of views that we find distasteful, perhaps even repugnant.
I've always been very passionate about issues. Being speaker, you kind of have to park the positions on issues and focus more on the rules.
I believe that any type of education can be great, but an education about ourselves can create something wonderful. I am a comedian, but people have called me a motivational speaker. I don't really consider myself that at all.
'Hear My Heart' was constructed with the deaf in mind. I wanted a bass line that felt like a heartbeat. I wanted to be able to touch the speakers and feel a clear sense of rhythm.
One of the speakers asked how many women had been harassed or abused sexually in their life? There were thousands of women in the audience, and almost every one of them raised her hand.
I'm less shy now than I was as a kid. After Flight 1549, my family and I had to become public figures and more complete versions of ourselves. I had to teach myself to become an effective public speaker.
The next time you watch a villain or an actor whom you know to be a non-native speaker of the language, watch the lip-sync. You'll know the amount of work that dubbing artistes have been putting in to elevate the performance of the actors.
