poetry reading

A story that the Roanoke Times published about a poetry reading that we hosted at HERE.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/142344

moving on, sort of

Here comes yet another new development in my life's adventures.

On Friday I was offered and accepted a position in development with Synchronicity Theatre Company in Atlanta. I will move there just after the first of the year. This position is part time to start with (20-25 hours per week), but the organization hopes to help me work toward it becoming full time over the next year.

[Pause for commentary: I have to say that I'm excited and nervous to be moving to Atlanta. I got a bit of a taste for living in the big city while I was in Minneapolis, and it was really fun. The grocery stores alone, my god! But I just started hearing the stories of the water shortage down there over the weekend. An interesting time to move into the area for sure.]

At the same time, I have negotiated with my current work, HERE: Honoring Experiences, Reflections, and Expressions, that I will continue to work with them from a distance at 1/4 time, returning to Blacksburg once a month, in order to conduct an event in April close the anniversary of the shootings. The event will be a multi-disciplinary artists response or reflection, with visual art in the lobby and then a performance inside the theater (spoken word, dance, music, etc.).

All in all, I must say, I'm pretty excited. Life is good. I'm going to be able to move forward into this next chapter of my life and still be able to contribute to the ongoing healing work of this community that I love so much. How could I ask for more?

Cheers!

miss destiny rides again

I traveled thousands of miles. Changed planes at Munich. I bought new clothes. There were buses and multiple hotel rooms involved, and did I mention the train ride from Florence to Venice?

I jumped from island to island of Greece and even hid out a little in Turkey and Croatia.

But still, alas, despite my best efforts, she found me. On the last week of our three-week adventure through the Mediterranean, Miss Destiny reared up and said, "I will not be left behind in the United States!" After complaining wildly about being left behind--something about another restraining order from Dolly Parton, fear of waterboarding, and the many pashminas there being in her color pallet, I agreed to let her tag along.

All this is to say that, thanks to a little encouragement from the new friends we'd made on the bus tour before we embarked on the cruise, also attributable to the giddy energy that came from a hilarious woman named, Diane, who was celebrating her birthday, oh and, by the it was Cowboy night, I entered, and ultimately won the ship's version of "American Idol," which was known on board as Princess Pop Star.

I know that you're going to ask two questions because I've already told this story a few times.

What did I sing? I Hate Myself for Loving You by Joan Jett.

What did I win? No, I did not win another cruise. I won a glass clock. I was rather disappointed until I realized that I had neglected to buy anything for one of my grandmothers on the trip. Problem solved. ;)

surreal weather day

As I walked out my door this morning, I realized that I could put my pansies and rosemary, etc. back out on the stoop. I'll probably be able to leave them there all week as I leave to go home for Thanksgiving.

It was another one of those surreal moments that come around when I realize that I'm having complete dissonance with the weather.

Global warming.

I just don't see how anyone can possibly question its validity at this point. I recently helped to work on a play where a woman who was dead and in the Underworld. She was hugged by her granddaughter, whom she no longer recognized. After the embrace, she stepped back and said, "How funny. Like warm snow." I thought about that line this morning as I walked away from my house in a light jacket and the absence of mittens. Will I have to describe snow to my niece when she's my age?

I wanted to kick myself as I realized that, despite my best intentions, I hadn't been able to get my act together enough to walk into town today. Too much running around to be done. I think, in the end, it's the errands that are my ecological footprint, rather than the commute.

And then, as I came into town, I passed a young co-ed on the street walking along in a tank top. It made me think of another great piece of art which is a scary-as-hell cautionary tale for where we might be headed--"Oryx & Crake" by Margaret Atwood. It rather foreshadows our future in terms of global warming, capitalism, and biological research all at the same time actually. A great read. But, it'll keep you up nights, I'll tell you.

This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a tank top.

oooh, baby, baby, it's a wild world

As I'm getting ready to embark upon the "trip of a lifetime" with my parents to the Mediterranean, I'm finding myself to be quite nostalgic about another time when I went on another great trip with a family member. This is me and Aunt Marilyn in Hawaii in May 2004. It was Marilyn's trip of a lifetime.

We saw Elvis. Twice.

He draped a scarf around her neck and kissed her on the cheek. She nearly swooned.

We toured all over the great island of Oahu (before I knew that I could have been stalking "Lost" cast members). Marilyn slept upright through several nightly shows. Except Elvis. It was a great week.

Aunt Marilyn passed away on March 15, 2006. And it is partially thanks to her that my parents and I are going to be able to take this amazing adventure. So, we will buy a baseball cap and a t-shirt for you, Marilyn. But, we will not be seeing Elvis. I hope.

the 33rd stone

One of the privileges that I've had through this work is to get to know the mother of one the victims of April 16. She is one of the most extraordinarily strong, funny, steadfast, honest servant heart-types I've ever known. I hadn't had as much opportunity to interact with her husband before now.

This weekend we hosted a screening of the film, "The Power of Forgiveness," as a part of my work. (www.here-nrv.org) It was in the midst of a whole weekend of programming centered around the screening. As the long, exciting, and sometimes gut-wrenching weekend came to a close, this father pulled me aside to talk about a few things. We were coming out of a larger conversation that had been about various things, but which could have especially been the beginning of a Garden of Forgiveness in our community.

Someone had again brought up the subject of the university’s choice not to create a stone for Cho Seung-Hui, the mentally disturbed shooter, at the memorial. This father looked at me and said, “Do they even understand that it would be like planting a memorial to Lee Harvey Oswald right next to JFK?”

This man told me that he sees Cho as a victim too. It’s not about that. In fact, he thinks that this garden idea would be a real possibility for our community. But that’s a far different thing than to place a stone with Cho’s name on it in a row alongside his daughter’s.

We talked for a while longer, and as we did, I suddenly realized something. If we put a stone there, it wouldn’t really be a stone for Cho. It would be a monument to our own guilt. It would be a granite representation of…
…our feeling that we all failed Cho.
…our ignorance of the cultural, legal, academic, and social contexts in which he was languishing.
…our own sense of victimhood.
…our sick regret that we weren’t there that day.
…our indignation that on that day we thought “Crap, I don’t know what to do!” So, we signed a card. Or that we still don’t know what to do now.
…our embracing of his family and sense of disbelief that Cho’s parents now have to live in hiding under FBI protection—is it because of what their son did? did the parents of the Columbine killers, who were white, have to endure the same “security?”
…our ever-increasing loss of innocence, control, and sense of safety.
…our privilege that we carry with us every day, unquestioned, undeniable.

And as I’ve continued to think about this issue, I’ve continued to be frustrated by it. For those of us out here, who spin our wheels about the fact that Cho was a victim of April 16, along with the 32 other people who died and the 23 others who were wounded by gunfire. Not to mention the mental health fallout in all of us, especially those who had to jump from windows, see their friends mortally wounded, run into that building to help strangers, and the ones who bravely cleaned up the biohazard that it became...

Why not put the energy that we would put into creating a monument to Cho into social reform and action?

We should be concentrating our efforts on writing letters to congress, electing a new president. Educating ourselves on gun control. Giving blood or helping to prevent an over-reaction against our fellow citizens who live with mental illness. Let us not make a stone to the place in which we let him down, but move forward, co-creating a world where it might hopefully never happen again.

Even as I write this, I recognize that I’m propping myself up on an awfully high and prescriptive horse, and I encourage you that, if this missive has made you angry, that’s okay, but let that anger transform into action, not another coffee conversation.

I’ll leave you with one last thought. Over the last few weeks it has come to my attention that the local nonprofit community is down financially, decreased ability to fundraise, at least somewhat attributable to the VT tragedy. I remember hearing about this same phenomenon after September 11th and the attention and resources that were diverted there. Now I’m seeing it in a much more tangible way in my own community. What does it reflect if a tragedy of this nature means that, unbeknownst to everyone around, the local American Red Cross silently goes belly up or the YMCA has to close its doors while we’re all out here complaining over our coffee and scones about a stone?

I’m going to take my clue from those parents I mentioned. The mother has picked up the mantle that her daughter was forced to lay down and is leading a service trip in Appalachia this fall. And the father is teaching a class in global service and leadership in the spring.

the case for national service

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1657799-1,00.html

tia shannon

I apologize to those of you who are not really close enough friends to care, but I just have to take a moment to gush and proliferate this on out to those who would want to know. Please witness my new nephew, Brixan Elijah, shown here with my beautiful sister and her husband. Brixan showed up yesterday at 5:50 EST weighing 7.9 pounds and everyone seems to be doing fine. Including Tessa, who wanted to know why there was a ball attached to her brother.




Oh, why can't I disapparate to Tennessee?

article from the Roanoke Times Current

Group focuses on art, dialogue after tragedy

A gathering is scheduled Sunday afternoon.

By Donna Alvis-Banks
381-1661

BLACKSBURG -- A new group in Blacksburg calling itself HERE -- Honoring Experiences, Reflections and Expressions -- is here to help.

Formed in May in response to the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech, the group wants to encourage ongoing community dialogue and artistic expression. Members hope a number of events will promote healing.

Susan Mattingly, director of the Lyric Theatre, is one of the group's founding members.

"We are focusing on the local, community-based response to the changes that have happened because of the shootings and the building of a new future that reflects that change," she said.

Shannon Turner, HERE's program coordinator, said the first event was held at Steppin' Out, Blacksburg's annual summer festival. Nearly 700 people visited the Lyric for a special exhibit of photos and a scrolling digital display about community response to the tragedy.

The next event, scheduled for Sunday, is a free ice cream social on Virginia Tech's Henderson Hall lawn. From 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., people are invited to gather to talk and participate in art projects.

"In some capacity, each of our events has an artistic component to it," Turner said. "We want to see if we're on the right path. Is there energy there for it?"

Turner and others in the group are hoping community members can express their feelings and their visions for the future through such projects.

At 3 p.m. Sept. 16, the Lyric will have a screening of filmmaker Martin Doblmeier's "The Power of Forgiveness," a documentary drawn from his interviews with people in places touched by extreme violence. After the showing, Doblmeier will have a question-and-answer session with the audience. Plans are for audience members to participate in smaller, topic-based discussion groups in the weeks following.

HERE also plans to continue community conversations by hosting regional "story circles" involving church groups, book clubs, first responders, health care professionals and other organizations interested in participating.

"We believe that the community should get to tell its own story about what has happened and what our future will be," said Holly Lesko, another group founder. "Through these activities we hope to offer opportunities to do just that."

Turner said HERE is open to everyone. To find out more about the group, call her at 951-4771 or e-mail shturner@vt.edu.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/128899

article about "The Power of Forgiveness"

A JOURNEY TO BLACKSBURG, VIRGINIA
An Opportunity to Serve, Forgive and Heal

The death toll of 33 made it the deadliest shooting in
modern US history. On the morning of April 16, 2007,
student Cho Seung-hui, a South Korean national and US
resident, walked the halls of the Virginia Tech campus
and shot and killed 32 people and injured 20 others
before turning the gun on himself.

For such tragedies, when the wounds go that deep for
not just a community but also for a nation, when the
pain resides – so vulnerable - right at the surface,
what can ever be done for those left behind: the
families, the fellow students, the community?

For the community of Blacksburg, Virginia – the home
of Virginia Tech - one outreach will take place Sept.
16 at an open event, which will present the screening
of the documentary film “The Power of Forgiveness” and
a question and answer session with Journey Films’
Martin Doblmeier, a local Virginian, and Azim Khamisa,
a San Diego man one who has experienced his own tragic
loss and found a way through the pain.

Khamisa - whose son Tariq was murdered in 1995 while
delivering pizzas by a 14-year-old gang-member Tony
Hicks - established the Tariq Khamisa Foundation (TKF)
with the intention of ending youth violence and
planting the seeds of hope, forgiveness and peace in
the minds of youth and adults alike. Reaching out in
forgiveness to Tony Hicks, and to Tony’s grandfather,
Ples Felix, Khamisa’s story is one of a dozen
highlighted in Doblmeier’s documentary.

In the documentary – which was taken on a 33-city tour
this year and will be presented on all PBS stations
early next year – Doblmeier visited locations that had
experienced extreme violence in order to document
people’s responses and the community’s drive to band
together.

Invited by Doblmeier to attend the community
screening, Khamisa says he will be there to basically
answer questions and be of service in any way he can,
offering his own story of healing.

“I believe I can relate to the pain beyond what words
can describe,” he says. “I’d also like to relate the
view that there is a chance for personal growth from
this experience … not just for the victims’ families
but also the world at large.”

The event is sponsored by HERE: Honoring Experiences,
Reflections and Expressions, a group created by
community members in May with the common desire to
facilitate public dialogue and artistic response after
the shootings. Says Shannon Turner, HERE Program
Coordinator, the intention of the screening and the Q
& A session is to help fulfill HERE's mission, which
is “to create safe, sensitive, and diverse
opportunities for our community's processing and
healing.”

“We believe that providing intentional and
community-based opportunities for gathering and
sharing helps us in our individual and collective
journeys,” says Turner. “The events and gatherings to
begin this community experience are consistent with
our belief that coming together to share and listen to
our community stories will help build the road toward
a better future, for us as individuals and as a
community.”

She said that audience members at the screening would
be invited to participate in smaller, topic-based
discussion groups throughout the community during the
weeks after the screening.

Though the event is open to all, it can’t be confirmed
that the victim’s families or Virginia Tech students
specifically will be in attendance. It also can’t be
determined how those in the audience will receive the
movie or the presenters.

Turner is sensitive to the needs of the community that
is still healing from the tragedy. “We as a group are
not inclined to speak to how we think the event will
be received by the attendees or about how family
members and students are doing four months after the
tragedy. The community represents a multiplicity of
experience around what has happened, and therefore no
one individual or group can speak for the rest.”

Says Doblmeier, “I honestly never think of what will
happen. I know I am going into the event to listen as
much as to talk.”

Doblmeier, who began Journey Films in the 1980’s, has
created 25 films to date, each exploring faith,
spirituality and the drive for understanding. Of his
latest fair, he says, “Somehow we have become a very
angry culture. You see it in our movies, our nightly
news, even on our highways. A lot of people, myself
included, believe we have to start moving in a
different direction, and forgiveness is one step in
that new direction.”

The journey to Virginia came about during his 33-city
tour, when, while visiting Florida State, the chaplain
there had a contact with the chaplain at Virginia
Tech. After being invited to screen his film, he
instantly thought of inviting Khamisa to share the
experience.

“I believe he can speak to the hurt and suffering you
feel when you lose someone to a random act of
violence,” Doblmeier says. “There is no substitute for
that kind of wisdom.”

And can there be a positive result from this event?
Can there ultimately be positive change in a nation
that appears to get more and more violent? Khamisa
thinks the answer is yes. He says, “If violence is a
learned behavior, so then nonviolence is also a
learned behavior. We need to make a huge commitment as
a nation to teach non-violence and peace, and then
eradicate violence from our society. It's doable.
What's needed is a national will.”

This event, at least, reflects that will to open
dialogue for the sake of compassion and growth and
healing.

The Power of Forgiveness screening will take place 3
p.m., Sunday, Sept. 16 at the Lyric Theater in
Blacksburg, Virginia. For more information, contact
Shannon Turner, HERE Program Coordinator, at
shturner@vt.edu or 540.951.4771.

Story by Jim Ellis

sicko

go see it. nuff said.

a turn of events...

...when last we left our world traveler, she was waving goodbye to Minneapolis from the green Nissan, named "Esmerelda," and headed across the country to visit with friends and family, and eventually to seek her fortunes in Hotlanta. Now, a new episode emerges unexpectedly...

Dear Family and Friends,

I know that you were all thinking that I was headed to Atlanta in the next week or so after having spent nearly a month traveling and visiting people. However, while I was driving from Minneapolis to D.C., I got a very interesting e-mail, which spun life off into a totally new direction.

A group called HERE (Honoring Experiences, Reflections, and Expressions) coalesced in Blacksburg during the months following the tragedy that occurred in our community on April 16. These fine citizens consist of a broad cross-section of community leadership and some campus as well. They're desired goal was to facilitate avenues for community dialogue and artistic response to the new place that we find ourselves. After a certain point, the committee agreed that there was too much work to be done with just volunteers who all had full-time jobs and commitments in other arenas. So, they have asked me to come on board as their first staff member.

It is most exciting, humbling, and terrifying for me to take on this work, but I'm proud to do it. I'm starting out with a three-month contract with the option to renew at the end of that time if it makes sense to both parties.

So, to Blacksburg I return, if for only a brief stint. Wish me luck! I'm sure I'll have more stories to tell over time.

Thanks for all of your constant support.

(As always, this makes for a good time for you to hit reply and tell me what's going on in your neck of the woods!)

Cheers,
Shannon

hitting the road again

I know that it's been a while since you've heard from me. What can I say? The muse has not been with me over the past few months since I returned to Minneapolis. Part of it, I think, has to do with the natural mental lethargy that comes from having gone through what we all did at Virginia Tech. Another part having a lot to do with the fact that I've been extremely busy.

And this post carries no greater illusion than just to let you know where I'm at. No higher minded observation about life but a simple travelogue.

B-Girl Be happened. You can read about it on intermediaarts.org. That's the summit that I was here to work with. It was a whirlwind for sure. And, needless to say, I'm done with divas.

As soon as the summit ended, I flew out to Boulder, Colorado for a week to visit some good friends. We hiked, camped, enjoyed the hot springs, and ate our brains out.

So, now I'm back in Minneapolis and getting ready to hit the open road again. I'm going to D.C. this time. It'll be a 17 hour drive, but I'm going to break it up over the course of a few days. There I'll visit with some good friends as well.

After that, it's Blacksburg for a week to help develop a play, then home to Maryville to visit the fam, and eventually, I'll wind up in Atlanta which is where I've set my sites to live next. No job offers so far, but I apply for a new one almost every day.

I hope that you're all well in your respective areas of the world. Drop me a line and let me know how you are.

Love,
Shannon

we are virginia tech

“We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. WE are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech.

The Hokie Nation embraces our own with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the 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 are Virginia Tech."

~Nikki Giovanni

great lady with some great art to sell

this is the website for a woman i know named Mendel. she's trying to sell her art online. it's beautiful stuff and would go well in your brightly colored room or one that needs some jazz added in:

http://www.mendeldenise.com/contact_us.html

Wandering Around an Albuquerque Airport Terminal by Naomi Shihab Nye

by Naomi Shihab Nye

*please note that this is not by me, Shannon T. This has caused some confusion by other people reading my blog. There are other posts on this blog that are also not by me, but this seems to be the one that always trips people up. I do not speak Arabic, but I sure do wish that I did, especially after the number of people who've said to me afterward how impressed they were with this story...


After learning my flight was detained 4 hours,
I heard the announcement:
If anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any
Arabic,
Please come to the gate immediately
Well -- one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own
gate. I went there.
An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress,
Just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor,
wailing loudly.
Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her.
What is her
Problem? we told her the flight was going to be four
hours late and she
Did this.

I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly.
Shu dow-a, shu- biduck habibti, stani stani schway,
min fadlick,
Sho bit se-wee?

The minute she heard any words she knew -- however
poorly used -
She stopped crying.

She thought our flight had been cancelled entirely.
She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical
treatment the
Following day. I said no, no, we're fine, you'll get
there, just late,

Who is picking you up? Let's call him and tell him.
We called her son and I spoke with him in English.
I told him I would stay with his mother till we got
on
the plane and
Would ride next to her -- southwest.

She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just
for the fun of it.

Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while
in Arabic and
Found out of course they had ten shared friends.

Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call
some Palestinian
Poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took
up about 2 hours.

She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her
life. Answering
Questions.


She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies --
little powderedSugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates
and nuts --
out of her bag --
And was offering them to all the women at the gate.

To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It
was like a
Sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the traveler
from California,
The lovely woman from Laredo -- we were all covered
with the same
Powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better
cookies.

And then the airline broke out the free beverages
from
huge coolers --
Non-alcoholic -- and the two little girls for our
flight, one African

American, one Mexican American -- ran around serving
us all apple juice
And lemonade and they were covered with powdered
sugar
too.


And I noticed my new best friend -- by now we were
holding hands --

Had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some

medicinal thing,

With green furry leaves. Such an old country
traveling
tradition. Always
Carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.

And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones
and thought,
This is the world I want to live in. The shared
world.
Not a single person in this gate -- once the crying
of
confusion stopped
-- has seemed apprehensive about any other person.

They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other
women too.
This can still happen anywhere.

Not everything is lost.

A Brave and Startling Truth

Poetry excerpt :: 'A Brave and Startling Truth'
by Maya Angelou
(as found in Yes! magazine)

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.

letter from zenobia hikes

Thursday, April 26, 2007

To all Virginia Tech students:

I write to thank the students of Virginia Tech for all they have done to help themselves and their university in the crisis of April 16.

There are so many examples of student heroism, sensitivity, and humanity that one could cite: members of the Rescue Squad who put the safety of others before their own; persons in Hokies United, SGA, and GSA who worked to coordinate support services for fellow students; those who constructed shrines of remembrance for the fallen; staff on the Collegiate Times who worked to keep the community informed; individuals who in numerous residence halls, clubs, and associations reached out to assist those who needed a helping hand, a kind word, or a friendly embrace. These acts of kindness clearly underline that the cruel deeds of April 16 reflect badly on one terribly deluded person but do not reflect at all on the community. Or to put it another way, these acts of kindness show that “Ut Prosim” is not just an antiquarian motto—it is part of a living code.

Let me encourage each student to continue with acts of intentional kindness and to encourage his or her friends to do the same. I am probably stating the obvious, but the following reminders may be useful:

For professional and personal reasons, a fair number of students will carry a full academic load until the end of the term, while many more will need to complete partial loads. Out of respect for their academic obligations, especially in a trying time, please be careful about excessive noise and observe quiet hours.

Excessive noise also can be painful for persons who are dealing with grief. Many times they need a degree of quiet. So again try to be respectful of that need.

If you have a friend who appears to be in serious emotional distress, please do not hesitate to seek support for him or her at the Cook Counseling Center (located in McComas Hall). If you are not quite sure how serious his/her crisis is, remember it is better to err on the side of caution.

Students from all backgrounds have stated openly that the ethnicity of the shooter had nothing to do with his cruel acts, and it has been gratifying to see students refrain from biased racial remarks. Please encourage all persons, on- and off-campus, to take the high and fair road.

Sometimes persons who grieve will attempt to self-medicate by using alcohol. Since alcohol is a depressant, it tends to hurt more than help. Also if used to excess it can be life threatening. So please be restrained and thoughtful in this area, and encourage the same in others. Please be especially respectful in your behavior when you are downtown or in off-campus areas.

Continue to exhibit the qualities of a true Hokie--serving others, being considerate, looking out for each other, and protecting and helping each other.

Finally, know that we are proud of you.

With best wishes,

Zenobia Lawrence Hikes
Vice President for Student Affairs

last things

i’m sitting here on my last morning
as a blacksburg resident
i chose bollo’s of course
there was no other choice for me
for a place to go
to mourn
to celebrate
to reflect

almost ten years of my life
spent growing
changing
morphing into something new

i am the butterfly
emerged from chrysalis

i know i’ll be back
i’m leaving a couch and a tv
that will need to be picked up
one day
when i have a job

but from now on this place will be
a vacation destination
rather than a place called
HOME
where i could walk down the street
and know so many people
where i could feel
known
witnessed
responsible to others
to the community

now it will become the place
that i return to every so often
to touch back into
who i was
who i used to be
and the things that happened here

the things that happened here
used to mean a lot
now it means so much more
i’ve said this to many of you but
i can’t believe that i have to
leave my HOME when
it is in this time of pain
i wish that i could stay
and grieve, process, heal
with you

i wish that i could be here
when this place becomes what it
naturally will be
after the chrysalis
that will happen
when you’ve emerged from
the change that is inevitable
after what’s happened

i hope that you will report back
to me
the stories
the images
the little nuances
as quickly as possible
so that i can soak them in

because just as you’ve held me
with light and love
as i’ve traveled afar
now i will do the same for you

i love you all
i miss you already
i get in the car to drive now
into so much unknown

we are the same

pics

pictures of the prayer flags my fellow grad students made for the drillfield
they're so beautiful flying in the wind

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18264016/