Today, We Are ALL Hokies

We Are Virginia Tech

by Nikki Giovanni

We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today, and 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 the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devestated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, 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 and reaches out 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 we are and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.
We will prevail.
We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

Because April is Poetry Month

"Ode to the Egret"

A grey gas-guzzler

travels on a country road.

A brawny brown bird

wanders into unknown danger.

flip flip

flap flap

fwooooooshh

FUMP

… ...

How unfortunate

for the poor egret.

A Glimpse Into My Classroom

I always find myself way too busy with school work for both my grad classes and the classes I teach! And somehow blogging seems to make it's way to the bottom of my list (along with hanging pictures, putting together bookshelves, and hanging shades!).

I have nothing interesting to blog about at the moment, so I thought I'd post a link to my new teacher website! Since teaching consumes roughly 70% of my life, you can see what I'm up to the majority of the time! :)

http://teachers.fsdb.k12.fl.us/~kilpatrickj/

Ten-Ten--Ten

I've been saying for quite a while that I was going to do a full marathon before my 30th birthday. No good reason, just as a personal challenge...something "fun" to do. In January, I realized I better get on this goal, cause I only have 2 years. So since the Princess Half it's been on my mind, but I can't decide when or where. I do know that I want it to be in a flat and fun place. Recently, a few runner friends of mine have suggested Chicago. And the Chicago Marathon is on 10/10/10 this year. That seems like a pretty good reason to do it...

(But my 10 year high school reunion might be that weekend...

so that might be a pretty good reason not to do it.)

What do you think? :) 10-10-10 Is that a sign?

A New Favorite

I mean seriously...it's like Ingrid Michaelson/Regina Spektor meets Meredith Andrews/Bethany Dillon....you have to watch if you haven't seen these girls. Tal and Acacia are sisters that are seriously anointed...love their sound! Enjoy! :)

I Should Have Paid Attention in Bible College

If you were to assume that I (as a graduate of a Christian University) have a pretty good understanding of theology....well, you might be wrong. When I was at Liberty I was way too busy working at the Y, curriculum library, and Club Body Co....being a prayer leader, SLD, and RA...taking way too many classes...doing a million practicums....and well, you get the idea. I was trying to make enough money to stay in school and graduate in 3 years. It was a bit insane.

And now I find myself saying (all too often), "I should have paid attention in bible college." I really took for granted the opportunities I had while I was there. Of course, I did the minimum to get by and actually managed a 3.5 GPA...but my religion classes were usually the least of my worries and often my worst grades. I had classes in New Testament and Old Testament. In NT I'm pretty sure I spent the semester flirting with a guy in my class (what?....I was a freshman, I didn't even think I'd stay at LU!)...and I don't even remember OT! Then I had 2 theology courses: the first I took in a video format (and got a C), the second I took in a one week intensive. (Clearly I learned a lot!) I even had a class in Apologetics...sadly it was pass/fail which translated to "I only have to go on test days".

Anyway...this week I once again found myself wishing I had actually paid attention in these classes. A friend of mine was looking at private schools and read the Apostle's Creed (above) aloud to me. And it really stunned me. This might sound crazy but I had never heard anyone say that Christ went to Hell for 3 days. My first thought was "People believe this!?" Then my second thought was "Wait, is that true?" And then my head became a flurry of thoughts and for some reason I suddenly doubted what I had ever believed. So after a few days of thinking I knew that this was something that I personally do not believe, but I wanted to learn where the belief came from. And so I found myself reading up on the Apostle's Creed tonight. Yes, this is what I was doing on a Friday night.

I really should have paid attention in bible college.

Another Reason I love St Patrick's Day...

...Noticing a trend?

(Sadly McDonald's was out this evening.)