Giffords Urges Graduates at Bard to ‘Be Courageous’

Source: New York Times

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — Speaking uncertainly but smiling broadly, Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who became a public face of the gun control movement after she was shot in 2011, delivered a kind of blessing in her commencement address to Bard College graduates here on Saturday afternoon, urging them to “be bold, be courageous, be your best.”

Ms. Giffords spoke for no more than two minutes at the commencement ceremony, where she also received an honorary degree, but earned several standing ovations.

She did not address her gun control advocacy, which encountered a setback last month when the Senate blocked background check legislation. Instead, she left it to her husband, the astronaut Mark E. Kelly, to describe their joint efforts to curb gun violence and the shooting in which six people were killed and 13 others were wounded, including Ms. Giffords, by a gunman in Tucson.

Mr. Kelly, who has emerged as an ardent spokesman for his wife, told the audience of Ms. Giffords’s continuing recovery from a head wound, which left her struggling to perform basic tasks, including speaking. He said the gun control issue had moved her to re-enter public life despite her physical limitations.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/us/politics/giffords-urges-bard-graduates-to-be-courageous.html