Ann Curry Breaks Twitter Silence to Celebrate America, Encourage Aspiring Journalist

After a painful and emotional farewell to Today Show viewers last week that some say was handled poorly by NBC, Ann Curry returned to her popular Twitter feed on Wednesday.

But there was no bitterness or self-pity in her 144-character dispatches --  only uplifting sentiments in honor of the country's 236th birthday.

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"236 years old and just getting started," Curry wrote at 8:32 a.m. to her 1.2 million followers, adding, "Happy 4th America. You are beautiful."

Curry then replied to a single message of support, from University of Oregon journalism major Neil Kirpatrick, who told Curry in a tweet, "I'm a student at the #sojc [School of Journalism and Communication]. You're an inspiration."

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"Then study hard," Curry replied. "This world needs great journalists."

The response thrilled Kirkpatrick.

"Just got tweeted back by Ann Curry," he wrote. "She's amazing."