POET NIKKI GIOVANNI: LET'S GO HOKIES!!!!

Poet Nikki Giovanni, an alumnus of Virginia Tech University, closed the convocation today at a moving ceremony in Blacksburg that included Virginia Govenor Tim Kaine and President George Bush.

With students, faculty, family and friends sporting Tech's colors, the solemn event was marked by kind words, tears, and... audacity to move forward.

Heralding their fallen heros while comforting the campus community, the iconic Giovanni was a shining example of the true Hokie spirit. Her pronouncement to be "The Hokies", was a salve to the open wounds inside of the arena.

The cheers of "Let's Go Hokies" raised the roof and displayed this nation's collective need to be "family." As Giovanni so eloquently put it, "We are better than what we think and not yet what we expect to be."

Ms. Giovanni - You Are One Bad Sistah!