Cindy Sheehan in Greensboro and my Va. Tech column

Over the weekend, while I was back home in Salem, Va., a city that is a mere 35 miles from Virginia Tech, there was an anti-war protest by activist Cindy Sheehan. She was greeted by right wing bikers, yada yada...........According to an article by Sonja Elmquist, a talented reporter at "The (Greensboro) News-Record" who I met while working at a paper in nearby Reidsville (but who alas never speaks to me, as if it was her paper that I walked out on), there was no repeat of a certain incident in 1979 that locals know about all too well (it involved the KKK and the Communist Party and resulted in the deaths of four or five people- ugly!) and that was thanks to the Gsb PD.- who says people of my political persuasion don't like cops!

 The mood of the protesters and those of us who oppose the war was perhaps best summed up by retired Air Force Capt. Cam McQuaid, 63, of Chapel Hill (love that name!): "I dropped a bomb on Vietnam," McQuaid said. "And, I wake up crying now."

I am sure Jordan Green, who unlike Elmquist does return my emails, and other talented reporters from "Yes Weekly," a weekly paper in Greensboro, will have their own story about Sheehan on Greene Street. Their publication is also (I'm hoping!) slated to publish my column on Virginia Tech and why it is a special place to me even though I went to nearby Radford University (see entry below). The new "Yes Weekly" comes out tomorrow.

I am off to some western state known for .....well, Mormons :) My apologies to the great state of Utah- sometime ,I need to blog about the BYU Democrats who organized a protest against  (Vice) Pres. Cheney's commencement speech there.

Elmquist's article can be found (somewhere) at:

http://www.news-record.com

"Yes Weekly" can be found at:

http://www.yesweekly.com

And, when I have more time, I will add a link to the Greensboro Police Dept. I really mean that:)

I hope they found that crazy homeless guy who always pesters me on Elm Street......... 

 

 

Cuneyt Arkin, My 'Favorite' Turkish Actor

A part of me hates to bump an entry about Virginia Tech student Henry Lee who needlessly lost his life at all too young age for this, but for the longest time I have wanted to post an entry about Cuneyt Arkin. TheTurkish matinee idol will turn 70 in September. Arkin has starred in over 300 films, including my personal favorite Turkish melodrama "Hayatim Sana Feda" -My Life Belongs to You, Feda (1970). He also starred in the amusing nationalist Battal Gazi series of the '70s, in which basically all Byzantines (Greeks) are basically shown to be like Arabs in a Chuck Norris film. I actually wrote about 'Feda,' which also starred legendary Turkish actress Turkan Soray, in my college thesis on Turkish cinema! Arkin also starred in "Turkish Star Wars" (1982) which my friend Jason Garnett let me introduce at the Grandin Cinema in my hometown of Roanoke, Va. in 2005. We had 60 people come out for the midnight screening, and they actually paid to watch the movie! But, I must give credit to this entry to one person above anyone else_my good friend Bilge Ebiri, an independnt filmmaker in New York. He has several Youtube clips from the Arkin filmography in his commercial blog that makes my blog here look like "The Turkish Star Wars!" They were posted today. I really like the one from "Yikilmayan Adam"-The Man Who Couldn't Be Brought Down
(1977). Ebiri did not mention if he intends to cast Arkin in any of his own films, however.........wonder why?!

Links (may be blocked on public pcs, though the site is NOT an adult site):

http://www.nerve.com/nerveblog/screenblog.aspx?blogid=107

PS_ for info on the Henry Lee Memorial Scholarship see the entry below

Dead Poets Society, Entry #4, Langston Hughes

It is hard to make another entry about something else knowing that so many who lost children, wives, husbands and parents at Virginia Tech are still grieving. People in other parts of the country and the world may forget (the media will most definitely forget), but those of us from Virginia and those of us with a Virginia Tech connection never will forget what happened a week ago today.

I am thus continuing with my fourth poetry entry. I am planning eight more, but due to what happened, I will probably be posting poems for a while.

Today's entry, which is dedicated to those who lost their lives at Virginia Tech, is the famous poem "Harlem," written in 1951, by the great African-American poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967), who has been immortalized on an American postage stamp.

"Harlem"

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore_
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over_
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Final Tribute to the Victims

This will mark my 10th and final blog entry about an event which all of us associated with Virginia Tech and my home state of Virginia will remember for the rest of our lives. I was initially going to make a post about the arrival of Frnaklin Graham on the Virginia Tech. He is a man I am not too found of, since he called Islam, the religion of my late father Mehmet Gokbudak a religion of 'hate and evil.' Graham never apologized for those comments. Though I am a deist/Unitarian myself, I was very outspoken when Graham came to my hometown of Salem in 2003 for a crusade. I wrote a letter to the editor to "The Roanoke Times," and I recieved a racist anynomous letter in my mailbox as a result. However, I think the best thing for me to do is to pay homage to one of the Muslim students who was murdered on Monday. I saw one blogger in Egypt complain that not enough media coverage was being devouted to Waleed Mohamed Shaalam, 32. I would like to assure those of Arab heritage that many people in southwest Virginia do care about this man who left behind a wife and a young child in Zagazig, Egypt. The Muslim Students Association of Virginia Tech had these comments from Shaalam's roomate, Fahad Pasha: "He was the simplest and nicest guy I ever knew. We would be studying for our exams and he would buy a cake and make tea for us," Pasha said.
"The Roanoke Times" reported today that a funeral service was held yesterday for Austin Cloyd, 18, a professor's daughter originally from Champaign,Il. Reporter Albert Raboteau attended the service at Blacksburg Baptist Church. Stephanie Larson, a high school friend from Illinois, said the following about Cloyd: "She always had a smile," Larson said. "She was nice, and encouraging........I'm just grateful that I got to meet her."
Cloyd would have turned 19 on Tuesday.
Particularly hit hard by Monday's events is the Lebanese-American community. They lost two students according to www.arabisto.com, including Ross Alameddine of Mass., and Reema Samaha of Centerville, Va. (see earlier entry).
Memorial t-shirts have been made out for Samaha's memory (see link and email bellow), they are available for $17.
Donations are also being accepted for Henry Lee, 20, a graudate of William Fleming HS in Roanoke (see earlier entry). The address for a memorial fund in his name is:
The Henry Lee Scholarship Fund
3649 Ferncliff Ave.
Roanoke, Va. 24017

The names of all 32 victims as well as those who were wounded on Monday can be found at "The Roanoke Times" web site (see link bellow).

Links:

Roanoke Times
http://www.roanoke.com
Muslim Students Association of Virginia Tech (with info on donations for Shaalan):
http://www.msavt.org/main/default.asp
Other link:
http://www.muslimmatters.org
Link for t-shirts remembering Samaha:
http://www.dance-explosion.org/vt.htm
An article about Samatha is also available in today's (4/22) Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com

My Respective Alma Maters Remember Victims

Both my undergraduate alma mater, Radford University, a school that is only 20 miles from the Virginia Tech campus, and Hollins University in Roanoke paid homage to those who needlessly lost their lives on Monday.
Many Radford U students ventured to Blacksburg for the various ceremonies on the Virginia Tech campus.
According to the RU web site, Kathryn Fulks, a sophomore from Stuarts Draft in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, attended the vigils with two of her cousins who go to Tech. One of her cousins lives in West Ambler Johnston Hall where the first shooting that claimed two lives occured. She talked about her concerns:
"It's unreal and it's unbelievable what happened," Fulks said. "We need to keep VT in our prayers and be thankful for our family and friends."
Fulks' friend Ashley McCray from Roanoke also attended the ceremonies:
"Most people from RU know someone from Tech, and vice versa," McCray said. "We're like brother and sister campuses."
The RU Choral performed "Carmine Burina" at Preston Hall with a special hymn for the victims. All 350 people in attendance joined them in the singing of the hymn.
At Hollins, a memorial service was held at duPont Chapel on Tuesday, and the HU dance department sponsored a silent walk for the victims.
There was good news on the HU campus this week in spite of the tragedy. Natasha Trethewey, a Hollins alum who now teaches at Emory University in Atlanta, won a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection "Native Ward."

Links:

http://www.radford.edu

http://www.hollins.edu

Politicians and Celebrities Talk About Va. Tech

There was a letter-to-the-editor in "The Roanoke Times" from a reader in Moneta who said that political candidates were strangely silent with regards to the tragic events at Tech. But, when I got an email announcing that former NC Sen. John Edwards (D) was cancelling a fundraiser with bluegrass legend Ralph Edwards on Thursday, I realized that was not the case. In his statements, Edwards, who lost his teenage to a car accident, said: "Our dearest wish is that  this day could start could start again with the promise of these young people alive. Knowing that can not be, our prayer is that for God's grace to give whatever measure of peace can be reached on this terrible day."
On her official campaign web site, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) said: "I am shocked and saddened by this horrific tragedy at Virginia Tech." She added that as a parent she felt for the parents who lost their loved ones on Monday.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il) said on his campaign site: "Today, we are a grieving and shocked nation. Violence has once again taken too many young people from this world."
Though I am a partisan Democrat, I want to that aside for this quote about the killings from Sen. John McCain (R-Az), a man who I admire in spite of political differences. In his comments posted on his Seante web site, McCain said: "This inconceivable tragedy was a horriffic act of cruelty that took the lives of so many innocent young people."
But, the best quote of the day, came from Jay Leno who has made a living poking fun of presidential candidates and our president, Dick Cheney:) In the opening of his monologue on Monday, an unusually serious Leno said: "We'll do some jokes, but we don't want to forget what happened on this day."

Vigil at BYU, Va. Tech on Minds of Columbine Parents

Newspapers from across the nation are writing local stories in connection to the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech which claimed 32 lives.
"The Austin Statesman" is reporting that local Korean residents are coping with the after-effects of having a person of their heritage committing this heinous crime. It is unfortunate that people have already forgotten that one of the victims, Mary Karen Read, 19, of Anandale, Va., was of Korean heritage.
"The Deseret News" out of Salt Lake City is reporting that hundreds gathered for a vigil at Brigham Young University. Kaye Nelson reported that Marisa Kelly, a BYU junior from Woodbridge, Va., organized the event:
"I was devastated when I heard what happened," Kelly said. "I found out a friend of mine was killed and I felt like we weren't paying enough attention to them."
Another vigil was held at the University of Utah, according to the paper.
And, "The Rocky Mountain News" out of Denver reported that Virginia Tech was on the minds of Columbine High School survivors who held a ceremony recognizing the eighth anniversary of the tragedy that claimed 13 lives in Littleton, Co.
Charley Able reported that there was a somber mood at the ceremony. One resident summed up the connection between the two tragedies eloquently:
"Especially this year, this is very important because of what happened at Virginia Tech," said Todd Ponton of Aurora, Co. "School violence is still an important issue in this country and around the world."
"The Roanoke Times" reported that there were a surprising number of absences in the class taught by Liviu Librescu, the 76-year-old Holocaust survivor, who was killed by the campus shooter. In a class of 25, only 16 attended Monday. The weather was unusually cold in Blacksburg, which many believe contributed to the low attendance figure which helped save some lives.
I made an error in an earlier entry regarding shooting victim Reema Samaha, a Lebanese-American wtih an interest in dance who won a critic's choice award for her performance in a high school production of "Fiddler in the Roof." I said her age was 19. She was actually just 18.

Useful links:

http:/www.deseretnews.com

http://www.rockymountainnews.com

http://www.roanoke.com