Literary Review

When searching Virginia Tech’s Addison and the online databases I found a wealth of material on Virginia Tech. However, it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for or expecting to find. I tried all possible combinations of key words: “Virginia Tech”, “Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University”, “Virginia Tech Hokies”, “Hokies”, “Hokie Community”, “Hokie Nation”, “Hokie Effect”, “What’s a Hokie”, “I am a Hokie”… You name it, I tried it! All the searches returned either a history of Virginia Tech, information on many of the Hokies sports teams (primarily Frank Beamer and the Hokie football team), and most often, it returned articles concerning the recent Virginia Tech massacre. On the one hand, I was disappointed to find out that people primarily associated Virginia Tech with the recent campus shooting and its collegiate sports program, but on the other hand, I felt even more empowered to find out what set Virginia Tech apart from all other schools.
Although I believe a lot of my findings will come from personal interviews of Virginia Tech students and faculty, I did attempt to sort through a lot of the jumble during my search, and here are some of the materials I found.
Bertholf, Aaron. "The Hokie Nation Will Prevail." The Florida Times-Union 22 Apr. 2007. Factiva. ProQuest.
This article is a compilation of two essays written by Virginia Tech students. Each describes what it was like to live through the week that saw the deadliest school shooting in history. In the first essay, Aaron Bertholf, a member of The Marching Virginian’s, Virginia Tech’s marching band, talks about the loss of a fellow bandmate and the impact it had on him and the band. In the second essay, Allison Kassel talks about the pride instilled in her by the Virginia Tech Community and Blacksburg area, and her belief that the bonds that tie Hokies together will only grow stronger in the face of the catastrophe.
From the beginning, I planned on looking at the Virginia Tech massacre as a testament to the dedication and perseverance of the Hokie Community. The question was, however, what personal account or accounts did I want to use. One of the things about this article that I found intriguing was that both students used the words of Nikki Giovanni, poet and Virginia Tech faculty member, to end their essays. Aaron Bertholf ends his with the words…
“We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, We are brave enough to bend to cry, And we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again…We are Virginia Tech.”
Allison Kassel concludes with…
“We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through our sadness. …We are the Hokies. …”
I hope to incorporate both their stories as well as both pieces of poetry to show the spirit of the Hokie Community in the face of adversity.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Virginia Tech Dreams. [Blacksburg, Va.]: Virginia Tech, 2004.
Virginia Tech Dreams, if anyone might recall, was one of the promotional videos that was shown during orientation. Its overarching message, “Their dreams will transform our world”, is one of the main reasons I chose this piece. It talks about the idea of outreach and highlights the school’s motto, ut prosism, “so that I may serve”. It also points out how this community outreach allows for the education of the whole student. While it doesn’t elaborate significantly on these topics, it has given me an idea to work with while examining other research and conducting interviews.
Wallenstein, Peter. Virginia Tech, Land-Grant University, 1872-1997: History of a School, a State, a Nation. Blacksburg, Va: Pocahontas Press, 1997.
This book in the simplest sense is a history of Virginia Tech. It covers the first 125 years after the schools establishment in 1872. The main advantage and disadvantage of the book is that it tends to be more of a social and political history of higher education both in the United State and in the state of Virginia. While there is still a focus on Virginia Tech, the book does come off as somewhat encyclopedic. However, being written in this broad context, the author compares the happenings of Virginia Tech to those of the University of Virginia, Virginia Military Institute, William and Mary, et cetera. What made Virginia Tech what it is today and why is it different from the other Virginia schools? And furthermore, who was/were the major figure(s)?

The Office: NEW SEASON!

Thursday, September 25, 2008. A day that will forever be marked in history as the day of the beginning of Season 5 of The Office. Anyone who does not recognize the magnitude of what this means should definitely listen to what I have to say. In preparation for this event, my whole hall decided to rearrange the layout of the lounge. Instead of having the chairs and couches arranged randomly with some backwards and others tipped over, we put them all into a giant semicircle around the big screen television and moved two tables in front of the grouping as a place for food, drink, and feet. We had chips, cookies, popcorn, soda, EasyMac, peanut butter...you name it we had it. By the time the show started at nine, we had accumulated a good 30 people. It was a great hour to say the least...AND JIM AND PAM ARE ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An Unconventional Trip to Richmond

I am a member of Virginia Tech's Design Build Fly Team, a volunteer aircraft design organization, and this week I got a chance to represent them at the Virginia State Fair. Technically speaking, I went to the fair to set up an exhibit for the team, but it still was a unique and fulfilling experience. I went with a bunch of others who work on many numerous projects in the Ware Lab, from hybrid electric vehicles to human powered submarines. The fair this year was at the Richmond Raceway Complex right outside the city. When we got there, we had a little bit of time to squander, so we decided to hit the race track. We were very disheartened though when we got to the main entrance and all the gates were locked. As we walked around the fair area that was still void of people, sulking, we happened upon a gate that was just slightly ajar. We all managed to slip through and thereby we proceeded to move from underneath the bleacher seats to right up in front of the fence. What happened next was absolutely amazing! Firestone was there testing some of their new treads, and they weren't using any regular old race cars, but indie cars. The group of us got to watch as two indie cars sped around the one mile long track going in excess of 200 mile per hour. Not only was the sound of the cars deafening as they passed by that everyone held their hands to their ears, but being so close to the retaining wall, the amount of wind that the cars pushed in front of them was enough to knock you off your feet. I did manage to take a video as I watched and I hope to get it uploaded as soon as possible.

Analyzing Research Proposals

©Background
-For people who don't have preconceived notions on the topic
Abstract
Research Theme
©Purpose
©Introduction
Background/Problem
Proposed Research Topic
Objectives
Summary

Objectives
-Purpose statement of sorts
Justification
Topic, Questions, Themes
Method
Audience-geographically/type of people affected by the study
Relevance
Lit Review*/Previous Research
Vocabulary/Terms

*Grouping previous studies into "this is the view they took on it"

Research Plan (Participant-Observation, Interview)/Methodology
-How to go about doing unbiased research
Research Focus
Project Design
Method
○ Participants
○ Apparatus
○ Procedures
Scope
○ Time
○ People
○ Quantity
Cost
Timetable/Frame/Schedule
Methods of Collecting the Data/Analysis

Expected outcomes
Results
Risks and Benefits
Limitations
Discussion

References
Dissemination of Research
Waiver/Consent Form
Future Directions
Conclusion
Deliminations/Exclusions
Author Resume/Acknowledgments

Visiting Virginia Tech?

Seeing that I am a resident at Virginia Tech, I thought it would be a breeze to conduct my site visit, especially since it didn't facilitate any traveling. However, I soon found out that it wasn't as simplified as I originally thought. How exactly do you conduct a site visit when the site encompasses an area over four square miles. More to the point, since my real intention is to observe the students and faculty at Virginia Tech, how exactly do you observe the activities of over 30,000 people when they all have such busy schedules that require them to be at different places at the same time. It seemed quite daunting.
What I decided I would do besides simply picking a time and location in which to observe a minute group of Hokies was to document my observations as I went through a normal week at school. I believed this would not only give me a general idea of what I'll call "Hokie habits" but would also uncover more specific insights into their behavior.
I don't want to give everything away quite yet, but I can wet people's appetites.
On Saturday, before the Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech football game I was commissioned by the Design Build Fly (DBF) to sell roster cards in order to raise bank for later use. With cards in hand I went around to the multiple tailgating lots. Although I was a little uneasy at first I soon got into the swing of things. I had a whole spiel for every person I talked to. I would tell them that I was a member of Virginia Tech's DBF and that it was a local engineering group on campus made up of engineers from all different disciplines. I would tell them about our goal to engineer an electrically powered radio controlled plane and thereby send it to competition. Finally, I would encourage them to buy roster cards for five dollars apiece in order to support our efforts. Believe me, it was a mouthful, especially since I said the darn thing who knows how many times. Besides the fact that I raised about 250 dollars, it was a great opportunity to meet past and present Hokies. First off, let me say that Hokies know how to tailgate. Everywhere you looked, there were Hokie tents, and underneath them were Hokie students and alums all decked out in Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange clothing, barbecuing with their Hokie aprons and lounging around in their Hokie chairs. People had VT Fan Zone stands, VT ladder golf and VT bag toss games, VT table cloths, utensil sets, and cups, and just VT everything. It was absolutely astounding. Some die hard fans even set up temporary flag poles on which to raise the school's logo. As I talked with people I was also astounded by their hospitality. Perhaps it's just a southern thing, but people really seemed to take an interest in what I had to say. Sometimes they wanted more than just my pitch and actually cared to hear about the team's history and the mission profile for the coming year. Many of them even invited me to join in their festivities. I was offered a lot of food, and even more beers. Although I didn't take any of their offerings, I did get to talk to some interesting people...to be continued.

Interview Questions

Although I have chosen to study the Virginia Tech Community for my research project, I have not narrowed down exactly what research questions I want to answer. For that reason, I have decided to conduct a variety of informal interviews with fellow Tech students using a series of closed and open ended questions. I hope after gathering their general opinions I will be able to identify a recurring theme if not a range of recurring themes. From that, assuming I have time, I would develop a further list of questions to conduct follow up interviews.

Here are some of my preliminary questions.

Closed questions:
Where do you hail from?
What is your graduating class?
What is your major/intended major?
Are you living on or off campus? Where?
What is your favorite part of campus?
What clubs and organizations, if any, are you involved in?
What is your favorite dining hall?
What is your favorite sport at Virginia Tech?

Open questions:
Why did you decide to come to Virginia Tech?
What is your favorite thing about Virginia Tech?
What makes you proud to be a Hokie?
Do you believe in the thing people refer to as the Hokie Nation?
What makes Virginia Tech different from every other school in the nation and even the world?
What has being a Hokie taught you?
What does ut prosim mean to you?
How do you feel about Virginia Tech being a military college?
If you could change anything about Virginia Tech what would it be?
Knowing what you know now, if you could make the same choice over, would you still choose Virginia Tech?

Course Goals

I hope to learn how to get out of my own skin and enter the mindset of another person in order to fully experience their situation, as opposed to writing about someone from an outside perspective.

I hope to learn how to better edit my own work. When it comes to spelling, grammar, and other mechanics problems I, more or less, have things under control. However, when it comes to more substantive aspects such as style, prose, and dialogue I am not overly critical of myself.

I hope to learn how to be concise. My writing often seems to loose its message due to long and drawn out sentences, witty non-substantive phrases, et cetera. The amount of padding I use makes it seem that I have little understanding of my topic, when really it is quite the contrary. More over, I don't want people to feel frustrated when reading my work.

Knowledge or Opinion?

How do we know what is fact and what is fiction? Is there always a "right" answer, especially when we consider that much of what we know may be constantly changing? Is there more room to question the liberal arts than there is to question the maths and sciences? Is everything we know subject to discretion?
After reading the section "How Do You Know?" in our course packet and discussing questions similar to the above within our groups, we came up with a couple of observations.
First off, we all believe that while it is hard to define universal truths, all of us have personal truths that we develop overtime through our experiences. In this context, truth becomes something we can see, feel, hear, taste, or anything that deals with our senses. It is hard to dissuade someone from their personal truths because they have "proof" of its existence.
Second, although to a lesser extent now, we are still studying, absorbing, and utilizing the knowledge and truths of other learned persons before us. From my personal experience, I know I would be unable to last a day in my engineering classes without having previously learned Newton's calculus.
Third, although this might sound somewhat indecisive, we all agreed that some topics such as economics, religion, politics, et cetera have a lot of gray areas. Therefore, things that deal exclusively with these topics should not be labeled as either right or wrong, seeing that there may be many possible solutions and truths.
Finally, one of the remarks I made that we all seemed to have an understanding for was that facts change with evidence and evidence changes with time. Nothing these days seems set in stone. We've learned that we can't live forever on fossil fuel energy and that the burning of these fuels is destroying our environment. We've learned that there are such things as black holes, extra dimensions, and time travel. And we've even learned that Saddam wasn't housing any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as we previously "thought". In my belief though, this uncertainty to truth is actually a good thing. It encourages us to to be inquisitive, to be creative, to never think something complete, and, more than ever, it pushes us to be lifelong learners.
Seeing that I am conducting a research project this semester on the Virginia Tech community, the purpose of reading this article was because it stresses the need to keep an open mind. Any notions, stereotypes, or prejudices I might have coming into this project I should be open to changing as I get to know more about the members of my community and the community as a whole.

The Hokie Spirit

I am going on my third week as a freshman at Virginia Tech and things, more or less, are settling down and taking on a normalcy. I wake up every morning with half an hour until my first class, get dressed, grab my computer and a granola bar, put my headphones on and walk out the door half asleep with the Goo Goo Dolls blasting in my ears. If I have any spare time between classes I will usually catch some extra shut eye; otherwise, I will begrudgingly put my headphones back on and trudge on over to my next class, the Goo Goo Dolls still playing. After classes, I will usually get a bite to eat from either Dietrich or Owens Dining Hall, or more often than not just head on back to the dorm and whip up some EasyMac. Seeing that I am majoring in engineering, I find I have little time to hang out on weeknights due to the enormous amount of coursework I have to keep up on. My studies have in a sense become my life.
However, while I may be preoccupied during the week, the weekend is a whole different story. While I, like many others came to Virginia Tech for the great educational opportunities, I can say without a doubt that we all came in part for the athletic events. When it comes to Saturdays in the fall at Virginia Tech, football is the order of the day, the main activity on everybody's calendar. And for the first time this past Saturday, I got to attend my first Hokie football game.

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and a beautiful day for football for the Virginia Tech Hokies. As game goers begin to assemble as kickoff time draws nearer, one would expect to see them adorned in the school colors of maroon and orange. However, today it is quite the contrary. Spring Road is not visible as a sea of people all decked out in white apparel weave their way ever closer to Lane Stadium. It's Tech's "White Out" game and also their home opener. The team has just come off a hard loss to East Carolina University in the previous week and the Hokie Nation is looking for redemption. The air is abuzz with thousands of conversations making things so deafening that you can barely hear your own thoughts. My friends and I jostle with others as we make our way through the crowd, as the Stadium, enveloped in glorious Hokie Stone, begins to take precedence over the scene in front of us. The two tiers of the West stands seem to climb taller as we approach our gate until finally we are so close their tops disappear and they are seemingly endless. As we proceed up the Southgate entrance and get our tickets scanned we are blasted and nearly knocked unbalanced by the wind channeling itself through the South and West sides of the stadium. Then, we climb our way to our seats. We climb, and climb, and climb, and climb, climbing so far that I wouldn't have been surprised to find myself on the moon. When we finally got to our seats, I laughed because we were in section HH and the seats ended after section II; it was the nosebleed section to say the least. Yet, the spectacle before us was fantastic. Not only could you see the whole stadium and everybody in it, but you could see the entire Virginia Tech campus and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the backdrop. As things got underway, you could feel the weight of what was about to happen. The Virginia Tech Corpse of Cadets freshman march into the stadium by platoons, filling the sidelines, as the cheerleaders start a back and forth call of "Lets Go" and "Hokies" between the East and West stands that makes the air reverberate with the voices of 60,000 people. After the National Anthem and Rendering of the Colors, Skipper, the game cannon, fired letting out a billow of smoke and sending an eruption through the crowd signaling the coming of the Hokies. Metallica's Enter Sandman begins playing as the Highty-Tighties and freshman cadets form two phalanxes around the Northwest tunnel entrance. VT's Marching Virginians lead the crowd in the "Blacksburg Bounce," and as the name suggests, everyone and everything begins bouncing with it. The Hokies finally run out of the tunnel and the place becomes a madhouse of whopping and hollering with chants here and there of "Lets Go Hokies" clap clap clap clap clap. As I cheered along with the rest of my fellow Hokies I couldn't help but think about the enormity of what I had experienced and that what happened in the game really didn't matter anymore.

Communities I'm Interested In

As a homework exercise, we were told to brainstorm communities we would be interested in either joining or learning more about. Here are some of the things I came up with:

• Smart Car
• Facial Hair
• Spanish
• G5
• Peace Corps
• Stanford
• Homeowner
• Married
• NASA
• Musically Inclined
• Green
• Dancing (both the classical and contemporary)
• Ware Lab
• Mentoring
• Fraternity (or Sorority)
  

Although I found this to be a great way to get my ideas (if not my humor) out on paper, my ideas seemed to particular. I wanted to learn about something much broader, I wanted to learn about my newest home as a whole, Virginia Tech. Although I have been told that researching an on campus community such as the many clubs and organizations (not to mention the community in a broad sense) is much more difficult than researching a community off campus, I am intrigued to take the challenge. What makes Virginia Tech so big and diverse, while at the same time so intimate? What is a Hokie, and while on that topic, what is the Hokie Nation? What really brought all of us to this sleepy little town of Blacksburg? And, ultimately, what sets Virginia Tech apart from all other schools around the country and even around the world? These are just some of the major questions I hope to answer in my exploration. Until then, Gobble Gobble Gobble!

Hola Bitacoreros!!!

First off, let's start with introductions. My name is Benjamin Michael Giobbi and I am a freshman engineering student at Virginia Tech. Besides my new residence in Blacksburg, I formerly hail from Arlington, Virginia, and before that Easton, Pennsylvania. To answer your first itching question, yes, I did cry this past Saturday when my Hokies tragically lost to Eastern Carolina University. But, I can confidently say that as last year's ACC Champions, we will not only come back, but we will do so with a vengeance.
Anyway, I have created this blog as part of my research and writing class. The primary focus of the course will be writing about and within our communities. With that note in mind, I would like to formally say hello to my newest community, the Blogger community.