We ARE Virginia Tech

Not so much has been going on really. At the moment I have a stuffed up ear with a touch of pain (I've started antibiotics), still occasionally having liver pain, found out that I am a true Omni - but I am still trying to eat more plant based foods since they are yummier, having my best friend moving back to VA in just a bit, and still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Whew! :)

I've been a bit down this week. I went to Tech for 2 1/2 years, I would go back if I had a reason to, I must admit. I loved it there, still love it actually. The shooting there felt so personal even if I hadn't been there in ages. A major tragedy at Tech! Why? It's such the last place I would have thought it would happen. And I'm upset at how the media is trying to place the blame on Tech and guns. They did the best they could have at the time, and the gun situation? If he wanted to get guns he would have found a way, it's not like he had a record and couldn't have gotten them in the first place. I do realize that he had some problems a few years ago, but I think everyone is optimistic that people change. I don't think it's a thing where people "don't want to get involved" but more of a "I can't believe someone could actually do something that horrible" that cause people not to do much. It is also hard for me to get away from all the media reports, it's feeling quite a lot like 9/11 in that respect. I've spent a lot of time turning the tv off, listening to my ipod and reading. It's just too much.

One good point....from the convocation....Nikki Giovanni's "We ARE Va Tech!" I held it together, losing it as everyone started the Hokie cheer. I am a Hokie, I am proud, and THEY can get through anything together.



We are Virginia Tech

We are sad today
We will be sad for quite a while
We are not moving on
We are embracing our mourning

We are Virginia Tech

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly
We are brave enough to bend to cry
And we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again

We are Virginia Tech

We do not understand this tragedy
We know we did nothing to deserve it

But neither does a child in Africa
Dying of AIDS

Neither do the Invisible Children
Walking the night away to avoid being captured by a rogue army

Neither does the baby elephant watching his community
Be devastated for ivory
Neither does the Mexican child looking
For fresh water

Neither does the Iraqi teenager dodging bombs

Neither does the Appalachian infant killed
By a boulder
Dislodged
Because the land was destabilized

No one deserves a tragedy

We are Virginia Tech
The Hokie Nation embraces
Our own
And reaches out
With open heart and mind
To those who offer their hearts and hands

We are strong
And brave
And innocent
And unafraid

We are better than we think
And not yet quite what we want to be

We are alive to imagination
And open to possibility
We will continue
To invent the future

Through our blood and tears
Through all this sadness

We are the Hokies

We will prevail
We will prevail
We will prevail

We are
Virginia Tech

Nikki Giovanni, delivered at the Convocation, April 17, 2007