Merced and Michelle

Madame Michelle Obama spoke at the University of California's newest campus - in Merced CA. Merced is in a no-man's-land, to my mind, in more ways than one. Set in the San Joaquin valley of Central California, often referred to as the Gateway to Yosemite; in recent times though, known for less attractive reasons. Merced CA is possibly the foreclosures capital of the nation - one in every 82 house-owners have problems with their payments. There are undeveloped house tracts, unfinished houses and empty, decaying old neighborhoods. On one side of town though, there is hope - in the form of the UC Merced campus. And that is where Ms. Obama landed, in response to an audacious, hopeful request for her to speak at their commencement this year. As someone who was the first amongst her family to go to college, what she had to say resonated directly with some of the students at the tiny, new campus.

I've been to Merced a couple of times. It's not a pretty town, just a regular old ag-community. The only coffee shop there is the Starbuck's. In fact, it reminded me of some of the worst dead-end small towns in India. But the university campus is there, so there are students and they bring raw hope with them. Madame Obama would never have thought of visiting Merced if some hopeful student hadn't said (somewhat naively), why not invite the First Lady to do the commencement?

That's the key. There is a university campus, and there are students - and things happen because of them. It's the same anywhere across the world, from Oxbridge to Delhi University to tiny, tiny Merced.