# Farnoosh's Commencement Speech, a Brookdale Park Surprise & Montclair's $4 Million Market

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-montclair-pod-7145507/farnoosh-s-commencement-speech-a-brookdale-park-surprise-montclair-s-4-million-market
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-montclair-pod-7145507/farnoosh-s-commencement-speech-a-brookdale-park-surprise-montclair-s-4-million-market.md
Podcast: [The Montclair Pod](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-montclair-pod-7145507)
Published: 2026-07-02T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/the-montclair-pod/episodes/farnooshs-commencement-speech-a-brookdale-park-surprise-mont
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6753786ea8461f164e67bf3a/e/6a45c435e80d75fcb8a2baf4/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-montclair-pod-7145507/episodes/farnoosh-s-commencement-speech-a-brookdale-park-surprise-montclair-s-4-million-market
Duration seconds: 3461

## Resource

With 36 hours' notice, Farnoosh was asked to deliver the commencement address at Montclair High School — and we play you the full speech. We also debrief all the "this is so Montclair" moments from graduation day, debut our new Saturdays in the Park series with a remarkable chance encounter at Brookdale Park, and catch up on spiking real estate prices, a school principal shuffle, a stolen car on Bloomfield Ave, new e-bike rules, and everything happening this Fourth of July. In this episode: Principal Freeman called Farnoosh 36 hours before graduation and asked her to give the commencement speech — her first thought was that she was in trouble Farnoosh's full address to the Class of 2026: the theme was "don't hang up on yourself," drawing on her own stories of nearly leaving Penn State, being told to change her name to Tina, and getting laid off ...twice. Graduation day chaos: a two-line debacle at the amphitheater, a photographer form emailed at 4:26 p.m. for a 6 p.m. ceremony, a wave of graduating seniors smoking cigars, and a mystery bus ride to an adventure park in Williamsburg that ran until 4 a.m. — Project Graduation turns 46 this year New series: Saturdays in the Park — Mike kicks it off at Brookdale Park (formerly a golf course) and has a chance encounter with a veteran named Michael Jackson who is walking the park as part of his rehabilitation after six strokes, and who it turns out may have been aboard the USS Kennedy the same day Mike toured it as a kid Mike rode the elevator at the MC Hotel with members of the German national team, corrected one player on the difference between New York and New Jersey, and his stepdad Barry sent them off with an Auf Wiedersehen — Germany lost the next day Next week: what the hell is going on with the lack of World Cup marke…

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