If you can't say something nice ...

It's that time of year, when college kids sober up for graduation and commentators complain about who will be delivering the sure-to-be-forgotten commencement address.

We've already heard grousing over Rutgers paying Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison $30,000 to share her words of wisdom at this Sunday's spectacle. Last week, another New Jersey institution, Kean University, dropped 25-grand for Grammy winning singer/soulstirrer John Legend to grace the stage.

Legend, a Penn grad and all-around class act, seemed to more than earn his fee.

According to the Star-Ledger, he gave an "impassioned" 15-minute speech calling imploring graduates to use their knowledge for good and charity.

"Take that gift and go forth in the world with a mission for good," Legend said. "Find ways to give. Find ways to serve. Find ways to contribute to society."

Then, the nine-time Grammy winner sat at a piano in his graduation gown and played his hit "Green Light" and the 1970s social anthem "Wake Up Everybody" to a standing ovation from the record 2,730 graduates at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel.

Elsewhere, academics continue to question whether House Speaker John Boehner is compassionate enough to address graduates at Catholic University, what with having one of the worst records in Congress when it comes to helping the poor. Perhaps they'd approve if he donated his tanning budget to a soup kitchen?

-- Monica Yant Kinney

(read more at philly.com/blinq)