On Monday, September 17, Poets and Writers hosted their first Open Mic of the academic year. It proved to be a quirky and fun event. While normally the organization’s events are held at PHOP downtown, they like to draw the attention of new students by holding them in the Fire Place Lounge (FPL) in the HUB once a semester. The loud, sociably welcoming air of the event helped to do just that as many students who were unfamiliar with the organization got up to read their original pieces, be it prose, poetry, or song.
Poets and Writers really drew a crowd by offering free t-shirts to the first ten people to go up to the mic and perform. The t-shirts have the same image as the Spring 2012 copy of Centripetal, PSU’s literary magazine that publishes student writing and art.
Haley Sciola, president of Poets and Writers for the last few years was very excited to announce that the formerly print-only magazine was going to become an online publication as well this year, “We are working with Zach Dziura and the Technology Development Club to jazz up our OrgSync website and simultaneously link it to our forthcoming Centripetal WordPress page. It’s going to be a multistage process, but for now, we’re getting the WordPress up and then slowly, all of our archived issues of Centripetal. No worries for those of you who appreciate physical, hard copies–we’ll still print it, but in very limited quantities.”
When pressed for the reasoning behind the changes in the publication, Sciola responded that the increasing cost of printing wasn’t really a factor, “It had a little more to do with making Centripetal accessible to a larger audience, and ultimately, it’s where media is going, and we would like to follow this trend. When it is all said and done, I would like to give readers the opportunity to consume Centripetal as an interactive literary experience, giving them the ability to jump around wherever they desire using hyperlinked tables of contents.”
Sciola, having been president of Poets for the last three years, has a unique connection with the organization as she has put a lot of time in energy into making the open mics and the literary magazine happen. However, all of this effort is worth it to her, “At every semester’s Centripetal Release Party, I am really honored to get the ever-welcome, ‘Great job, Haley,’ from our advisor, Paul Rogalus. I don’t care what anyone thinks except for Paul Rogalus. I’ve invested almost every moment of my free time in this organization, and hearing that from him after the last stage of Centripetal is finally completed makes it oh so worth it, every single time.”
Paul Rogalus, in addition to advising Poets and Writers and WPCR, is a professor in the English Department and is a regular at the organization’s open mics along with several other English professors and students. However, the events are open to students of all majors and they welcome new students to come and read-Poets and Writers frequently offers some sort of prize to first time readers, be it a mug or candy.
In addition to getting Centripetal online, Poets and Writers is also hoping to start hosting writing workshops in the near future. The organization generally holds their open mics downtown at PHOP in the bar, and their next one is coming up on Thursday, September 27, at 7:15 pm. The location should not deter under-aged students from attending as there is no age limit for sitting at the bar, they just won’t be able to order a drink.
Submissions to Centripetal are accepted under rolling deadline, and your writing-up to four pieces, 4,000 words maximum-can be sent to poetswriters@mail.plymouth.edu.