Inter-Design: Nationwide Hokie pride.

I know a lot of people that currently go to Virginia Tech or have recently graduated from there. I also know many high school students planning to attend as well. A large community here in northern Va. has been affected greatly by this tragedy. Even before this event occurred, students always had Hokie pride and expressed love for their school. Now Columbine seems too close to home.

It made me realize how quickly things can change and how Internet use can be crucial at these times. The best way to contact my two cousins (who are brothers) and friends at school was through Facebook. Cell phones tend to be busy and it may not be a proper time to call. Facebook allows quick updates that gets the news out there to everyone. There are groups and notes written in support and I'm glad those I know turned out OK.

I've been watching the news constantly and sometimes I feel overwhelmed and stop watching. I cried again. But then, I started to check online updates at washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com and vt.edu.

There are also Mason Web sites for more info: Outreach and President Merten's letter.

Everyone should watch the Convocation video clip, especially Nikki Giovanni's address. Here's the transcript:

"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.