Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What Cho Learned at Virgina Tech
Virginia Tech Website ^ | April 17, 2007 | Nikki Giovanni

Posted on 04/20/2007 11:58:48 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: academia; english; giovanni; vatech; vt
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-66 next last
To: bahblahbah
“Unity and Pride” for what? For “the cause”?

The was the only speaker that effectively united the audience as a school.

They seemed to respond very positively, and for that at least I am glad she was there.

21 posted on 04/20/2007 12:23:28 PM PDT by Wormwood (Future Former Freeper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: fooman

Looking at this may aid in explaining one thing .... now maybe I’m wrong but I remember hearing that this kid was set to graduate in a few weeks and he had a 4.0 GPA. Now, if that’s true, maybe a 4.0 at Viringia Tech means something than what it did back when I was in college but if his writings were so bad or horrific as his classmates and teachers keep saying .... why were these same teachers giving him all “A’s” in their classes!?!?

Have I heard wrong? Was he a 4.0 student?


22 posted on 04/20/2007 12:27:36 PM PDT by Mac94
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Wormwood
They seemed to respond very positively

That the students would respond positively to this nonsense is troubling.

23 posted on 04/20/2007 12:28:32 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The Drive-By Media is attempting to Cronkite the Iraq war.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

Agreed.


24 posted on 04/20/2007 12:30:32 PM PDT by fooman (Get real with Kim Jung Mentally Ill about proliferation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: bahblahbah
I agree. I don’t get the unity and pride theme. It seem like a unsatisfactory substitute for the living God, who offers real hope for an afterlife. School spirit is far as far as it goes, but it's no substitute for God.

But of course, not everyone believes in the same God on campus. Thus, we invite speakers to represent Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity lite (without any mention of Jesus) and unite under the banner of Virginia Tech.

I know it’s all they have. But it’s awfully sad.

25 posted on 04/20/2007 12:31:16 PM PDT by keats5 (tolerance of intolerant people is cultural suicide)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Mac94

I dont know. But there was a story in a UK rag that said he was intimidating some of his into giving him high grades!

Of course, his own grandfather is having none of this.


26 posted on 04/20/2007 12:31:59 PM PDT by fooman (Get real with Kim Jung Mentally Ill about proliferation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Mac94

You may have heard wrong. One of the first two victims, the male, had a 4.0 GPA.


27 posted on 04/20/2007 12:33:09 PM PDT by keats5 (tolerance of intolerant people is cultural suicide)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: keats5

It not like they about about to play the cavaliers in football or something.


28 posted on 04/20/2007 12:33:23 PM PDT by fooman (Get real with Kim Jung Mentally Ill about proliferation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler
We are the Hokies

They sound hokey.
29 posted on 04/20/2007 12:34:09 PM PDT by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wormwood

United in what? In seeing the connection between the liberal fantasy the institution gestates—support for gun-free zones, support for virulant anti-American, anti-Capitalist, anti-Western, anti-Christian indoctrinations—and the the rabid rampage and rhetoric of Cho?

And while we’re on it, what’s your tagline mean? If you want to be a former freeper, who’s stopping you? No time like the present.


30 posted on 04/20/2007 12:39:07 PM PDT by olderwiser
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: VirginiaConstitutionalist
VirginiaConstitutionalist asked:
"Huh? Is there a babies-crushed-by-boulders-because-of-greedy-miners epidemic I didn't hear about?"
Although this thread doesn't appear to be about the contents of Ms. Giovanni's so-called "poem"--but about whether Cho was taught to hate or not--VirginiaConstitutionalist's question seems, nonetheless, to be a valid one. So . . . perhaps an appropriate answer can be found at the following URL(?):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1819016/post?page=184#184

8-)
31 posted on 04/20/2007 12:40:19 PM PDT by Hugh Moran II
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: aruanan

It violates the first rule of good writing which is to write about what you know. Libs are always expending their feelings on imaginary people and abstract concepts. That’s why they never care if their programs achieve the objectives they are set up for. Just zone out and think how a baby elephant feels about ivory poachers, if you can.


32 posted on 04/20/2007 12:42:19 PM PDT by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Hugh Moran II

She should send a copy of this to the Mexican government so they can do something about the fresh water problem their children have.


33 posted on 04/20/2007 12:42:46 PM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Wormwood

Then all of their minds are messed up. At no point in the speech does she even offer sympathy for the dead. It’s about Africa and its problems or social injustice. There’s a time and a place, and the convocation was neither.


34 posted on 04/20/2007 12:45:44 PM PDT by Clock King ("How will it end?" - Emperor; "In Fire." - Kosh)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

Funny how the future always looks just like the past when it gets here.


35 posted on 04/20/2007 12:47:09 PM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clock King
There’s a time and a place, and the convocation was neither.

I disagree.

Her comments would have been wildly inappropriate at a memorial, but that's not what the convocation was.

36 posted on 04/20/2007 12:48:36 PM PDT by Wormwood (Future Former Freeper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Wormwood

Then what was it? It seemed almost purposeless. Was it just a venting of feeling? Was it a chance for the administration to show that it was “doing something”? Really, I want to know.


37 posted on 04/20/2007 12:50:18 PM PDT by Clock King ("How will it end?" - Emperor; "In Fire." - Kosh)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

Takes either a lot of ignorance or a lot of hate to promote you political agenda disguised as Convocation speech following the worst school shooting in the history of the U.S.


38 posted on 04/20/2007 12:51:24 PM PDT by Lee'sGhost (Crom! Non-Sequitur = Pee Wee Herman.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clock King
Was it just a venting of feeling?

Pretty much, yeah.

It was an opportunity for the student body to come together as one in the aftermath of a traumatic event. A moment of healing and affirmation.

You know, the kind of touchy-feely stuff that we make fun of.

39 posted on 04/20/2007 12:53:42 PM PDT by Wormwood (Future Former Freeper)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: VirginiaConstitutionalist; Hugh Moran II

Oops! I typed the wrong URL for thread titled “Nikki Giovanni’s Speech at VA Tech Convocation”. It should be:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1819016/posts?q=1;page=151

Scroll down to comment #184.


40 posted on 04/20/2007 12:53:54 PM PDT by Hugh Moran II
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-66 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson