Today's blog topic was originally to be yet another tribute to my beloved hot dogs.

In light of Virginia Tech's recent tragedy I will post pone this topic for a later date. I want to say I am speechless, but that would not be true. I am full of sorrow, and enraged with questions. But these questions that keep my mind and stomach churning seem to be over looked by the media.

All the media seems to focus on in the aftermath is how the university let the students down but not warning them sooner. I disagree with the media. From what I have read the university did all it could. It was thought that the original gunman in the dorms was a student at another school and authorities were dispatched to investigate, it appeared to be an isolated incident.

The school is not at fault for what happened. But those who were in close contact with the gunman should have done more. It appears that there were plenty of warning signs.

The authorities did what they thought to be the right course of action. Why would they disturb the students crucial class time during their final days of the semester? Final projects to complete last minute exams to cram for. Routine is what makes this time bearable.

Virginia Tech has a large sprawling campus, much like that of my school, Oklahoma State. When this 'massacre' (as the media has dubbed it) occurred all I could think is how would this be dealt with at OSU? The campus is so large and so open. I can only assume that it would be dealt with in the same way.

In the stories that followed I now have new heroes. The Professor Liviu Librescu who survived the holocaust and then placed his life on the line so that his students could escape. The students in Norris Hall who held the door shut while being fired upon, and the Eagle Scout who made a tourniquet of electrical chord and saved his own life. These are true heroes. Hopefully these people will set a new standard. Too long we have been with out good examples. This is what a Hokie is made of.

Much like Oklahoma State showed its true colors in the days after the Ten died. We showed that more than simply bleeding orange and black, we lived it. We showed that we could remember those that we lost with honor, while moving foward and looking on to a better day.

Friday I ask each of you who read this to wear maroon and orange, show Virginia Tech that we will support them as they recover and that we will not forget.

Transcript of Nikki Giovanni's Convocation address

Delivered April 17, 2007
Nikki Giovanni speaks at Convocation

Professor Nikki Giovanni speaks

at Convocation, April 17, 2007.

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 devastated 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 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.