Photo: Rick Loffredo/NMHU
Slim Randles delivers the keynote address to the Albuquerque and Rio Rancho centers’ commencement ceremony on May 12 at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho.
Humorist to Graduates: Live Beyond Yourself
There are many people who sit around and wait to see what life brings to them. Cowboys are not those people, a noted humorist and columnist told New Mexico Highlands-Rio Rancho graduates.
“I am here today representing that pinnacle of evolution of the American cowboy,” said Slim Randles, whose column appears in 218 newspapers and magazines. “Why? Because there are some practical things leading to a wonderful life.”
“Cowboys tend to be aces in the attitude department, and for a great life you need a great attitude,” Randles told the approximately 200 graduates at the Santa Ana Star Center May 12. “Life should not be a spectator sport. Unfortunately there are those who sit around and wait to see what life brings them. Now is that the cowboy way?
“What did Georgia O’Keefe, Aaron Copland, Grandma Moses and Mark Twain all have in common?” Randles asked. “They were people with passions, people that lived far beyond themselves.
“Being paid for something you love to do is the very definition of success,” Randles said.
Randles has written newspaper stories, magazine articles, and books, both fiction and nonfiction. He was a popular columnist for the Anchorage Daily News and The Albuquerque Journal, and now writes a syndicated newspaper column, “Home Country”. He was also a columnist for New Mexico Magazine
“I have had to opportunity to hear many, many commencement addresses over the years and that was one of the most interesting and wisdom packed that I believe I have ever heard,” said Highlands President James Fries.