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Nikki Giovanni's Speech at VA Tech Convocation
WSLS NewsChannel 10 ^ | 17 April 2007 | WSLS NewsChannel 10

Posted on 04/17/2007 5:52:13 PM PDT by subbob

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To: LdSentinal
Yeah. What is God’s name is this about, and what on Earth does it have to do with a senseless slaughter? That was one of the strangest speeches I’ve ever heard. Then again, I don’t have a habit of listening to liberal speeches, so maybe they are all like that. I guess I gotta get out more.
181 posted on 04/19/2007 5:21:37 AM PDT by calmseas
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To: subbob

Probably the worst thing about this is that Nikkomie achieved greater notoriety with this speech. Before this, who ever heard of hear except for those in her socialist revolutionary circles. (I’ll bet she’s Castro’s favorite poet.)


182 posted on 04/19/2007 5:29:39 AM PDT by calmseas
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To: MinuteGal
Too much Freeper pounding, by the uninformed too often.
Thanks for your well done POV.

My morning email to local TV:
“Yesterday the FCA rightly cleared Imus of “indecency”. Now the FCA needs to take a look at NBC, again.
Showing a nonfiction breathing example of madness,
benefited who? It is easier to know why NBC decided to
add to their problems, than to waste time understanding that
an insane person can be a shooter, be it 1 or 32 persons.
NBC is not insane and needs to be accountable in their
shameful lust for ratings!”

I wish I could find email addresses for all TV stations.

183 posted on 04/19/2007 8:25:33 AM PDT by seenenuf (Progressives are a threat to my children!)
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To: ohioWfan; bpjam; word_warrior_bob
ohioWfan asked:
"Does anyone know what the 'Appalachian infant' thing is all about? Very strange, I thought...."
bpjam replied:
"When you mine for coal in West Virginia (where she is most likely referring to), you can destabilize the ground and cause settling of the soil which can be a hazard to buildings. ...."
But . . . the January 6, 2005 issue of the Washington Post indicates that it wasn't in West Virginia that the half-ton boulder "...hurled like a cannonball into Dennis and Cindy Davidson's house, right through the wall of the bedroom and onto the bed where 3-year-old Jeremy was sleeping. ...and continued its path, crashing through a closet before finally stopping at the foot of 8-year-old Zachary's bed. Zachary would be fine. Jeremy was crushed to death."

That didn't happen in the State of West Virginia; and it didn't happen because the ground was destabilized by coal mining. It happened in southwestern, Virginia, where "A bulldozer operator widening a road at a strip mining operation atop Black Mountain unknowingly dislodged the half-ton boulder that August [2004] night."

See Anger at Senseless Death: Boy Killed by Flyrock; Va. Residents Cite Flawed Regs at the following URL:

http://www.ohvec.org/newsletters/woc_2005_02/article_215.html

----------------

Also: As a West (by God!) Virginia "hick" (?) whose own property was destroyed by irresponsible coal mining practices, I lose all sense of humour when a valid question receives an obnoxious reply such as the following (by word_warrior bob):
"She needed to include white people, so the hick Appalachian infant is killed by a boulder rolling over their shack, think Cletus from the Simpsons."
word_warrior bob's attitude tells me more about him (and what he "needed"!) than it does about Giovanni and/or her Thug Life-inspired rah-rah sis-boom-bah cheerleading style at a convocation for dead students and faculty members!


184 posted on 04/20/2007 11:53:38 AM PDT by Hugh Moran II
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To: Hugh Moran II

I know about the mining incident, how many others do who heard the speech.

You don’t have much of a sense of humor do you? My comment had the same relevance to her speech comparing kids getting shot to elephants losing their tusks, it’s open for interpretation. I interpreted the appalachian parable to Cletus’ baby getting rolled over by a boulder in the lean-to they live in.

Art is our interpretation of what’s presented isn’t it? I have a strange sense of humor, so now that you think you know what I’m thinking, tell me what I’m having for dinner tonight.


185 posted on 04/20/2007 1:40:24 PM PDT by word_warrior_bob (You can now see my amazing doggie and new puppy on my homepage!! Come say hello to Jake & Sonny)
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To: word_warrior_bob

At my age—three-score-and-ten plus—you’d think that any mention of Cletus on the Simpsons would ring a bell, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, I haven’t watched cartoons since our granddaughter outgrew ‘em.

As for what you’re having for dinner? Lemme look into my slightly cracked magic-mirror and . . . hm-m-m. Veddy, veddy interesting. Is that blackbird baked in a pie . . . or crow?

8-}


186 posted on 04/20/2007 6:23:14 PM PDT by Hugh Moran II
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To: subbob
Nikki Giovanni's Speech at VA Tech Convocation

Who is this woman?...A black woman with an Italian surname not to mention two first names...very strange. Usually those names are used/reserved for the Porn Industry (...you never call yourself with a short version of your first name, so I was told)

187 posted on 04/20/2007 6:41:09 PM PDT by danmar (Tomorrow's life is too late. Live today!)
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To: word_warrior_bob
I know about the mining incident, how many others do who heard the speech.

I would guess most of the students and all of the faculty. The incident was in the town of Appalachia, about 130 miles from Blacksburg, and I'm sure it was the top story on every local newscast and paper, followed by the investigations, the protests, and the lawsuits.

188 posted on 04/20/2007 7:51:55 PM PDT by ReignOfError (`)
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To: rintense
When I first heard her, I thought it was a replay of the Wellstone Rally. That is the exact tone she took.

Thank you. That has bothered me since I tried to watch the service.

189 posted on 04/20/2007 7:56:52 PM PDT by armymarinemom (My sons freed Iraqi and Afghan Honor Roll students.)
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To: giobruno
How you can read his unbelievably bad writing and pass him?

Where can I read his academic writing? All I've seen are two plays. The plays are awful, but you don't have to be a playwright to get an English degree.

190 posted on 04/20/2007 7:59:59 PM PDT by ReignOfError (`)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
My point is that there are very few Catholic clergymen in the area where that school is located. That said, I’m sure that they could have found at least one if they had thought of it.

In Appalachia? Don't count on it.

Almost 20 years ago, we tried to find a Catholic priest to officiate at my great-aunt's funeral. One of the two priests in Northwest Georgia couldn't make it, because he was presiding at the funeral for the other. We had to settle for an Episcopalian, explain the situation, and ask him not to wear a wedding ring. We didn't burden the widower, a 90-ish man who'd had a stroke, with any of this information.

With the influx of Latinos to work in the carpet mills, I'm sure there are more catholic churches now, but finding an English-speaking priest might still be a problem.

191 posted on 04/20/2007 8:07:36 PM PDT by ReignOfError (`)
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To: ReignOfError

I should clarify that I heard about it here after the speech, hence my cynical reaction. That was what I thought when I heard it, as I’m sure many others did who didn’t know about the mining incident.

Apologies to all of you named Cletus and living in lean to’s :)


192 posted on 04/20/2007 8:57:38 PM PDT by word_warrior_bob (You can now see my amazing doggie and new puppy on my homepage!! Come say hello to Jake & Sonny)
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To: word_warrior_bob

I’m a lifelong conservative, long time reader, first time poster, but at the moment just proud to be a Hokie. I created an account because of the comments to this article. I normally enjoy the rantings on here as a conservative, and I normally would enjoy rantings against Nikki’s politics, but I don’t understand why some my fellow conservatives on this site can’t see the world other than through political lenses.

At the moment, I think most of us would just appreciate your support. Nikki had the right things to say at the right time for our community even if she did have shades of her own world view in there, and she is one of us who was also very personally involved in this tragedy. Try listening to the speech through human ears instead of political ones, and I think, or at least hope, you’ll have a different view.


193 posted on 04/21/2007 1:01:21 AM PDT by AustinHokie
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To: AustinHokie; kabar
At the moment, I think most of us would just appreciate your support. Nikki had the right things to say at the right time for our community even if she did have shades of her own world view in there, and she is one of us who was also very personally involved in this tragedy. Try listening to the speech through human ears instead of political ones, and I think, or at least hope, you’ll have a different view.

kabar raises the very important point that the audience at the convocation responded with a standing O. While we're all entitled to our own opinions, theirs trumps. If the people on campus thought it was appropriate and inspirational, then it was -- they were her audience.

But for all the political debates and personal quibbles, I hope you know and believe that the thoughts and prayers of everyone here are with the victims, their families, and the whole community, on-campus and off, current and alums. And most of us are stuck by the fact that, unlike FR, Hokies have not quibbled or been divided -- their unity has been an inspiration.

194 posted on 04/21/2007 2:12:10 AM PDT by ReignOfError (`)
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To: RepoGirl

Wow. I’m surprised she didn’t stick in a jab about global warming as well.

When confronted with this diatribe, I truly wonder if Virginia Tech wouldn’t be better served by having a resident marksman as opposed to a resident poet.


195 posted on 04/21/2007 12:46:20 PM PDT by JeffWoehrle
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To: AustinHokie

Most of us here support you and Virginia Tech.

If you have lurked, you have to know that the smug moralists on this site swarm to threads like these to puff themselves up.

The saddest part is that they aren’t pretending; they really believe what they’re saying.

Just remember MOST of us do NOT agree with them.

I personally thought Nikki was a gas!


196 posted on 04/21/2007 12:49:00 PM PDT by Howlin (Honk if you like Fred Thompson!!!)
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To: Bob J

Nikki is somebody stupid who demeaned these tragic deaths. This does not reflect well on Virginia Tech.


197 posted on 04/21/2007 12:49:07 PM PDT by Dante3
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To: subbob
Right up there as an example of leftist "intellectualism" with Maya Angelou’s Clinton inaugural “Doctor Lawyer Indian Chief....”
198 posted on 04/21/2007 12:53:10 PM PDT by Kozak (Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
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To: ReignOfError

It should be impossible to get a degree in the humanities with such an obvious inability to write cogently. I am referring to his “plays” alone, and on that basis alone he was obviously passed along with solid grades because the instructors at VT lack any intellectual conscience. Even if they were not afraid of him, they would have passed him. It is not just that his writings are crazy and violent, but they are stylistically indefensible; the entire play is a disaster. From what I can tell from his “plays,” and you can actually tell quite a bit, this man is not a college student, but a very angry retard who watched too much television. The writing is simply not at a university level. He should have been changing tires somewhere.


199 posted on 04/21/2007 3:40:37 PM PDT by giobruno
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To: ReignOfError
In Appalachia? Don't count on it.

My daughter lives in a suburb of Richmond, VA. The new Pastor of hercheurch was transferred from a "circuit" in Appalachia. I think he had 7 Catholic churches under his wing -- most of them in the 200-400 parishioner size. Perhaps even less. He traveled from parish to parish over a wide area to say Mass, so I know what you are saying.

Actually, I wanted to say that it was probably impossible to find a Catholic clegyman on short notice PERIOD. But I was sure that some other FReeper would jump down my throat, so I just conjectured that they hadn't thought of it, or hadn't tried hard enough.

200 posted on 04/21/2007 5:11:56 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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