Edit: I actually wrote this blog on Monday night, a few hours before I learned about the suicide of a good friend’s brother. It makes this post, and my reflections on suicide and its effects, even more real. I hope you’d consider keeping her family in your thoughts, and maybe even donating to funeral accommodations for their family. If you’d be legitimately interested, just e-mail me (justin.graves@vt.edu) and I’ll get you the link to their GoFundMe page. I’d really appreciate it.
Suicide can be and is a tough subject to talk about. If anything, it’s one of the biggest elephants in the room possible. Everyone has their own opinion on what suicide means, its intentions, its causes, and so on. But as the graphic above says, one conversation can change a life. And, frankly, sometimes it can’t. Have you ever had anyone express suicidal ideation to you? Was it frightening? Your answer is probably yes. And if so, I encourage you to pause for a moment, and think: how frightened must that person be, too? Even if they can’t verbalize or rationalize it, suicide can be complicated and frightening for everyone involved.
More than anything, people who have been touched by suicide understand it in a completely different way. A way that is more thorough and affecting than anyone else could possibly imagine.
They say it was more than 20 years ago when the 2 universities first began thinking about the idea of having a football game in Bristol, Tennessee. Bristol is home to the Bristol Motor Speedway, which is known to some as “The Last Great Colosseum” and is usually the site to NASCAR races.
If you ran two laps around the entire track, you’ll have ran a mile. So you can imagine that when Virginia Tech and the University of Tennessee came together 3 years ago and finally announced that plans to hold a college football game at this location were finalized, 1 thought came to everyone’s mind:
whoa.
This Saturday, largest attendance for any college football game in American history is likely to be recorded. Each school is guaranteed $4 million just for being a part of such a great spectacle (1 of the conditions was that they had to sell out their allotment of tickets, which both schools did pretty early-on). I’m proud to say, as a Hokie fan, that I’ll be there! Bristol is about a 5 hour drive from me here near D.C., and I’ll be taking the trip with my mom, dad, and 1 of my best friends, Caroline G.
I’m almost certain it is going to me an amazing time, if not just for the sheer magnitude of an event like this!
Our seats should be pretty okay – but then there’s also daunting images like this 1 that are starting to pop up all over the internet.
Regardless, though, I’m so pumped to finally be able to make another mini-road trip to the the Hokies play! Neutral site games are always a blast becuase you get to meet some of the most passionate Hokie fans (many of whom will be camping and/or shelled out hundreds of dollars in travel costs for this trip … think about it, Bristol doesn’t really have too many hotels!). It’s also fun to be in an environment where there are just as many fans from the other team, and oftentimes the ones who practice better sportsmanship travel while the bad apples stay at home. :)
If you need something to tithe you over until Saturday, here’s the Hokies’ game from last week, when we beat Liberty University with a final score of 36-13 on solid play from a first year (JUCO transfer) quarterback, and of course stellar play from our defense. I’m hopeful that our defense will come out just as strong this weekend, and that our running game will be able to find a bit more room to work!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxGVRP7p-oA
Check out this video from the track’s website for a time lapse of them converting the field into what it will be come Saturday night! This Saturday, 8:00 p.m. EST, on your local ABC channel: the Hokies take on the Vols and hopefully will end the night 2-0 on the season!
One of the most important goals for me during rehab last month was to get out in time to make it to a wedding. This was the 3rd wedding I’ve attended this summer alone, and each time it was the result of me working my butt off in a hospice-recovery setting to try and make it to spend such an important day with friends that mean the world to me. And it seems like the 3rd time was the charm.
A gif from the awesome photo booth – with Zack, his dad, and his wife Michelle!
I spent the weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina to celebrate the wedding of my good friend Zack F. and his wife Michelle F. It was one of the best experiences of my summer – it’s just amazing how much they make each other laugh and how good they are for each other. Their humor plays off of each other beautifully and they are just a joy to share the same room with. I met Zack only shortly before he met Michelle, but even still – it’s palpable how much better they make each other. I’m inspired by their love, to say the least.
I was a part of the wedding party, and although many of us had not met before, we each know Zack well. It was great to see how their are definitely similar characteristics in the folks Zack invites into his life: they all have a very free and willing sense of humor, and they don’t take themselves too seriously. That is definitely something I immediately realized that we each had in common.
So on my way back to D.C. from Charlotte, I spontaneously decided to take a stop in good ol’ Blacksburg, Virginia. I’m sure you know by now that it’s my alma mater, both graduate school and undergrad, and it’s definitely still a place that I still call home. It has my heart, and they always say: home is where the heart is.
I’m fortunate to have many friends who still live in town, from graduate school, to university employees, to undergraduate students, to community members. That is, by far, one of the reasons that stranger dinners are so great in this little town.
Those of you who are Hokies definitely know that Blacksburg is a small place with a small town feel … with a LOT of people! With more than 30,000 students and thousands more in the town of Blacksburg, the population of our town swells when students come, and even though Blacksburg summers are fantastic, there’s nothing like the opportunity to connect with people from around the world when Blacksburg is at its most populous.
Although I missed the football game on Saturday because I was too busy having a blast at the wedding, on Monday night (a holiday) I decided to get together friends from several different Blacksburg walks of life for a Stranger Dinner.
One of the greatest things is that my friend, Alex G., was sitting right next to me. We’ve only met a few times but he is a charming, genuine, and charismatic guy who immediately showed an interest in stranger dinners and even asked me if he could continue them in Blacksburg after I graduated. Of course, the answer was yes! Fate made it happen because I texted Alex on my way to Blacksburg about this idea … which was about 6 hours after he landed back in the states from a summer spent doing research in Africa!
Alex has since hosted many and this was the first that we were able to convene together. Naturally, that made it one of the best stranger dinners yet.
The photo below doesn’t even truly capture it all – because the refreshing, engaging, and discovering conversations everyone had made a longer road trip so very worth it.
A Stranger Dinner at The Cellar in Blacksburg, Virginia on 9/5/16.
As with all stranger dinners, I’m hopeful that these new friends who walked into the room not knowing each other left the room with the encouragement to get to know each other even better.
I think my friend Danielle J. said it best when, on her Facebook page, she wrote: “This was an opportunity to meet people who currently study, work, or are affiliated with Virginia Tech. Some people knew each other before dinner, but by the time dinner was over, we all knew each other.”
I’ve always been a big fan of creative, out of the box, sexy college football uniforms. We all know the impact they can have on recruiting, they are a gem to look at (usually), and it generally just makes everyone a bit more excited!
When it comes to Tech’s football uniforms, I get especially giddy when they incorporate any of our university’s storied history. I also love whenever we go with black uniforms, especially because one of my favorite VT facts is that our team colors, back in the day, used to be black and gray!
Kind of like these from the 2010 match up against Boise State. I even bought Tyrod’s jersey (I NEVER buy jerseys!) because I loved the attention to detail. Even though we lost that game, those have been my favorite so far, since I’ve been following Tech football in 2008.
But, now, we do have a close second.
That being said … I’m just gonna leave this here. Only 3 weeks left until college football’s bigger game…ever: The Battle at Bristol. Go Hokies!
I’m here to tell you about one of the best new comedies on television that, if you’re bored (and, hey, even if you’re not) you must, MUST watch: NBC’s Superstore.
When it comes to university dining, if this isn’t awesome then I just don’t know what is!
Congratulations to Virginia Tech’s Dining Services (and especially their fearless leader and good friend Ted F.) for accomplishing yet another awesome innovation. I can’t wait to see how these on-campus, university-funded food trucks perform once the students are back in just a few short days!
Learn more about Virginia Tech’s new food trucks by clicking through on the image below.
I’m even more eager to check out how the food is when I get a chance to make it home this fall!
So I’m a big sports fan and this time of year is golden. Especially with the Olympics going on, a great NBA season and finals having just concluded, and the NFL season starting up, that really means just one thing…
Well, that means that it actually means 3 things: NFL AND Fantasy Football is upon us!
Tonight, ESPN is airing 28 hours straight of Fantasy Football coverage to compete with the coverage of the Olympics, and they had comedian Frank Caliendo on to do some impressions to get us through the day and a sixth of fantasy football coverage. I had no idea he did such an amazing Charles Barkley from the NBA – check out the video below!
