Crisis In The Horn of Africa

A great interview by Anderson Cooper:



E

Dear Mr. President

How did I not know about this song earlier?


To quote Aaron Sorkin's Lewis Rothschild from The American President: "I'm a citizen, this is my President. And in this country it is not only permissible to question our leaders it's our responsibility!"





What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?


-E

Ut Prosim: That I May Serve

We Are Virginia Tech

Growing up in Southern Virginia I learned what it means to be a part of a unit, that individuality can be best utilized when in service to the group. My attentions were focused on the more “practical” side of things; I sincerely considered attending the Naval Academy and pursuing a career in intelligence or medicine. The thought of being a writer or attending an art school seemed like a pipe-dream, an idea born out of a desire to agitate my father. And then April 16, 2007 happened. I had just come home from a visit at Pratt when my sister called and told me that there was a shooter loose on her campus.

I spent the day listening to CNN report the death toll like a baseball score. Seventeen. Twenty-One. Twenty-Four. Thirty. Thirty-Two. It was my first real lesson, that bad things can happen to good people and that nothing is ever fare or easy. Through that day and those to come I learned the value of living for yourself and for others, that I can keep going long after I think it can’t.

Three days later poet Nikki Giovanni gave a speech and reminded us all that, “We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.” I listened to her words from my car radio, and it was then that I realized what it means to serve, to have creation, art, be a part of the larger picture.