FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Williamsburg, VA
Students at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia were deeply disturbed by the mass murders committed by a student at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007 - another day that "will live in infamy." Aileen Judd, a senior at the College of William & Mary, talked with many of the other students in her poetry class about ways to help the victims of the tragedy.
The young killer who attended a creative writing class at VA Tech wrote stories that were filled with blackness and horror - so much so that some other students refused to stay in the same class with him. But creative writing can be a genuine force for good, unleashing students' imaginations, generating emotions and ideas, allowing them to "think with ink" about their relationships with parents and fellow students. This is particularly true of poetry that can almost become the rhythm of life.
Many of the W&M students and some from other colleges have now contributed the first poems in a new "Poetry of Life" contest. Some 100 of the best poems about the meanings and feelings of life will be selected for a trade paperback book. All profits from this book will be donated to the Spirit of Hokies Victims Fund at Virginia Tech to help affected students in what may be a long healing process. You can see some of the activities of this fund at http://www.vt.edu/
Every young poet between the ages of 17-22 is encouraged to enter this contest by sending poems to Poetry Scribe, Box 6351, Williamsburg, VA 23188 or by emailing them to poetryoflife@
This is one of the poems received from Junstina Ng, a student at Baruch College:
find your way
tripped by reality
you fall hard
and land on
the truths of life.
slowly
you have to gather
all the pieces of yourself
and put the puzzle back together.
You can view the first poems submitted by students as well as other poems written by famous poets when they were young in age and spirit at www.virginiahospitalitysuite.com.
