The students in the English Majors and Minors club hosted their monthly poetry open mic on Thursday, Oct. 25, outside the M building, except this time around it was Halloween themed.
With the current widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment in the #MeTooMovement, club member M.C. Rebecca Rose recited an original poem titled “To Be Beautiful,” which is based on sexual assault and harassment.
“I wrote it because we were doing a sharing circle and I wanted to write something inclusive for all the people who might come and who have experienced sexual assault or sexual harassment,” Rose said.
Religion was another topic that was discussed by club member Tanya Ervin. The poem she presented in the event was titled, “Women of Religion” and was inspired by spirituality, according to Ervin.
“I was thinking about religion and how it ties in with how people act sometimes,” Ervin said. “The words just popped in my head and was stuck in my head until I wrote it down.”
Other club members who presented that day were inspired by their personal history. For instance, club president Damon Moore
Inspired by their personal history, club president Damon Moore shared an excerpt titled “Fountain of Misguided Youth.”
His story sheds light on misguided children and women, who often are faced with misconceptions from others about who they are.
“I have lived in certain areas where you try to do normal stuff but your environment gets in the way,” Moore said “I am close to a lot of women and I’ve seen misconceptions of them. Women that have suffered from abuse or have been through things. I take that into account”
Ervin also manages the club’s Instagram account and soon hopes to create a YouTube channel to post the open mic events. For now, the club can be found on Instagram @emmc_lbcc.
The club organizes an open mic to give aspiring writers a platform to share their work.
“We feel like its an event the school should have,” Moore said. “It gives writers a chance to get exposed to reading in front of people. I feel all literature is meant to be read out loud.”
Rose also agreed with the club president on the importance on sharing their work at an open mic.
“We just try to promote English, which is often very overlooked,” Rose said. “We do open mics to give people a platform to share.”
Students are welcomed to participate and listen in the next open mic event, which will be on Nov. 8 from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the grass area between the N and M building at the LAC.