My friend Brian Woodward of Richmond, Va., who I went to high school with 20 years ago, chose Stephen Colbert when I asked him: "Who should be my person of the year? Nikki Giovanni or Stephen Colbert?"
I have learned over the years to kindly ignore any advice given to you from people you went to high school with, even though Brian is smarter than most people I knew when Duran Duran topped the pop charts.
Thus,with all due respect to Colbert, I am choosing poet and Virginia Tech professor Nikki Giovanni as my 'Person of the Year.' Her words of inspiration united the Blacksburg community after the Virginia Tech massacre in April.
The person responsible for the shootings had actually been a student in one of her creative writing classes, and Giovanni was according to "The Roanoke Times" very disturbed by his classroom behavior. She read a poem at the memorial service to the slain students, which included the subtle, yet powerful message: "We are Virginia Tech. We are the Hokies."
Giovanni was born on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tenn. Her family then moved to suburban Cincinnati where she grew up.
I had a chance to talk to Giovanni when I was reporter with "The News-Messenger" newspaper in Christiansburg, Va. (1996-97) for a story about creative writing exercises that she was instructing at a local nursing home.
Giovanni had been diagnosed with lung cancer just prior to that in 1995. She had one of her lungs removed after surgery, which led to her decision to quit smoking.
According to Wikipedia, Giovanni denies that this life-altering change made her a proverbial 'better person:'
"If it takes a near-death experience for you to appreciate your life, you're wasting somebody's time."
Giovanni first gained prominence with several books of poetry, starting in the late 1960s: "Black Feeling, Black Talk," "Black Judgment" and "Re: Creation." These books also established her as a civil rights leader. She continues to speak out on social issues ranging from her opposition to the highly-debatable death penalty practice in America to gay rights.
She began teaching at Virginia Tech in 1987. Her deeply heart-felt words at the Virginia Tech memorial service also included a message of fortitude for everyone in the Hokie community:
"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 don't understand this tragedy. No one deserves a tragedy."
Other honorable people of the year (in no particular) include Colbert, who helped raise funds for firefighters who lost their lives in his native Charleston, SC.
They also include Madeline Albright- The former Secretary of State under Bill Clinton helped bring greater recognition to the genocide in Darfur.
Elizabeth Edwards proved a source of strength for all women battling breast cancer while supporting her husband John Edwards' run for the presidency.
Michael Moore who once again brought a relevant social problem to the nation's attention with his documentary "Sicko" about the grave injustices with the American health care system.
Cenk Uygur- a fellow Turkish-American who shares my negative views towards the neo-conservative movement which he discusses on his Air America radio talk show. Uygur is among a wide range of liberal talk show hosts who are fighting the right-wing hijacking of AM radio stations across the country on a daily basis.
And, lastly, this may be a shock to many of you, but I must mention Karl Rove. Regardless of how many of us view him politically, his 50-plus-1 strategy is likely to have a major impact on American politics, both right and left, for some time to come. And, the ironic heir to this practice may be none other than Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
If one wants to familiarize themselves with Giovanni's work, I highly recommend her 1997 book "Love Poems." It was dedicated to the late rap singer Tupac Shakur, who Giovanni greatly admired.
Useful links:
http://nikki-giovanni.com
http://www.colbertnation.com
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