{"id":135761,"date":"2024-12-11T09:26:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T02:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=135761"},"modified":"2024-12-11T09:26:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T02:26:46","slug":"in-memoriam-nikki-giovanni-renowned-poet-activist-and-virginia-tech-legend-virginia-tech-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=135761","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: Nikki Giovanni, renowned poet, activist, and Virginia Tech legend | Virginia Tech News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"text_39538219_-200737838\" data-emptytext=\"Text\">\n<p>When she retired, she said she would miss talking with Virginia Tech students regularly. Her ultimate goal as a professor was to teach students to think deeply and ask questions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want my students to not accept what they are hearing, but to look and say \u2018what kind of sense does this make?\u2019 and \u2018what is going to be the end result?\u2019\u201d said Giovanni at the time of her retirement.<\/p>\n<p>One former student, now a New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning producer, can attest to the ways that Giovanni set him on a path to success. As a sophomore at Virginia Tech, author Kwame Alexander\u2019s first class under Giovanni was advanced poetry. It didn\u2019t go well initially.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was that student who argued everything and pushed back on anything she offered,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cI thought I knew more than she did about poetry. Yet she kept letting me take her classes, kept teaching me, saw what was possible for me, and shaped me into who I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Giovanni became who Alexander described as his literary mother.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so grateful and so much better because of her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Giovanni is survived by Fowler, her son, Thomas Giovanni, her granddaughter, Kai Giovanni, and other family members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin,\u201d said Allison Ragan, Giovanni\u2019s cousin, in a statement on behalf of her family.<\/p>\n<h2>Virginia Tech alumni, students, and faculty reflect on Giovanni\u2019s influence<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Will Furrer \u201891, former Hokie and NFL quarterback who majored in English<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Furrer said Giovanni\u2019s classes were the key to helping him find his voice. Her classroom discussions spanned multiple topics, from music and art to political issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think she was trying to work the room in a way that was challenging the way we thought in the past or the way that we would think in the future,\u201d said Furrer, an executive fellow for strategy for Q2 banking in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>He described Giovanni\u2019s pointed questions as constant voices on his shoulder throughout his career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the way in which Nikki was able to pass on her creative brilliance to so many others, with these very simple and portable lessons,\u201d Furrer said. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aileen Murphy, senior English instructor who directs the annual Giovanni-Steger Poetry Prize competition<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNikki Giovanni was a bright light in our lives. She regularly brought poetry to everyone\u2019s experience at Virginia Tech, not only as a teacher and a colleague, but also with the poetry prize that she established with President Charles Steger. Every undergraduate student, no matter what field they are in, is encouraged to submit a poem to this competition, sending the message that everyone is capable of making art focusing on, remembering, and celebrating the big and the small moments in our lives. There are many positive qualities of the Virginia Tech student experience, but this is one that gets to our very soul as a university.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kelly Barker, a junior at Virginia Tech, majoring in creative writing and professional and technical writing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Prof. Giovanni was onstage, it didn\u2019t matter if she was reciting poetry, singing, or telling jokes. The audience always hung on to her every word. She could work a crowd like she was born for it, and could make people laugh and cry with a single poem. Her spirit was infectious and her words and works uplifted everyone who was lucky enough to be her audience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Amy Price Azano, professor of adolescent literacy and rural education<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Azano invited Giovanni to speak and read her poems to middle school students who live in rural areas of the state for a one-week camp on Virginia Tech\u2019s campus. When Giovanni walked into the room, the students greeted her like they would a rock star.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI watched in awe as she captivated a room of middle schoolers,\u201d Azano said. \u201cNobody ever tells kids the truth, and Nikki spoke with them as if they were old friends. She entertained every question. We laughed with her when she shared that she had recently been an answer on Jeopardy, and that made her feel famous \u2014 but then the contestant answered \u2018Alice Walker!\u2019 On one hand, the campers knew they were in the presence of someone renowned, but her humility and humor and keen kindness made them feel like they belonged in the same places where she belonged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Giovanni taught the students that being authentic and sharing their own stories and truth is valuable, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know she belonged to the world and was, in fact, otherworldly, but she was also ours,\u201d Azano said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gena Chandler, associate chair of the Department of English and associate professor<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cNikki was a wonder. So many people knew her as a phenomenal poet and teacher, but she was an even more exceptional human being\u2014extraordinarily kind, compassionate, and loving.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async defer crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.vt.edu\/articles\/2024\/12\/clahs-giovannimemoriam.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When she retired, she said she would miss talking with Virginia Tech students regularly. Her ultimate goal as a professor was to teach students to think deeply and ask questions. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=135761\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}