New York is in the midst of graduation season, when freshly minted scholars don cap and gown to accept sheepskins and jobs they will probably remember as their most demeaning. But first they'll have the opportunity to ingest the wisdom of their commencement speakers. Also, it's an opportunity to get on TV and be tackled by security guards. David Letterman ran a top-ten list of signs that you have a bad commencement speaker. Shockingly, no mention of whether the speaker's name rhymed with Gov. Nelliot Schvitzer.

There are some standouts at area schools. Gov. David Paterson will be speaking at Hofstra University. Mayor Bloomberg will appear at Columbia's Barnard College, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will be at New York City College of Technology in two weeks, as will Chris Matthews appear at Hunter College, and Charlie Rose will be speaking at Fordham University.