By Colin Ahern – Opinions Editor

Dr. Shoshannah Bryn Jones Square organized a live poetry event on Dec. 16, 2022. This event featured live music, paintings, and poetry, and lasted a little over three hours with many guest speakers. The event was catered by Sodexo and offered free wine and food for whoever was interested.

Naaz Sidhu, a student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C., performed at multiple points during the event as a guest speaker. She flew in from British Columbia to perform some of her very powerful spoken word poetry. Sidhu touched largely on her experience as a woman of color and immigrant in Canada. 

Alex Bergeron, a musician in the band, Year of Glad, performed a piece that seeks to create ambient soundscapes, focusing on a technical and precise style. Alex Bergeron described Year of Glad as a band that entices the listener to become enraptured in the many layers of complexity that was found in their music.

Eric Manolson’s piano playing accompanied a few videos about his research in battling Alzheimer’s through music. His inspiring videos revealed his lifelong dedication to music as a means of healing. Manolson accompanied Markayza Mitchell’s performance of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good”. Eric’s performance ended with an original protest song that blended musical elements from Bobby McGuire and Bob Dylan into a new and distinct piece. 

Following Manolson, the show became an open mic venue for poetry. There were many moving and powerful performances that followed. Literature students seized this venue as an opportunity to showcase the best of their writing. After the early performances, the crowd was electric and grew in fervor with each unique and highly stylistic performance from the students. 

At the end of the event, conversation did not stop. Most performers mingled and exchanged information. The sentiment surrounding this event was clear; it was a complete success and demanded an encore. Many professors who had attended spoke about the need for these sorts of events and congratulated Dr. Square for organizing such a successful event. 

With about a month having passed since the event, it is clear that excitement around the evening has not faded and there is interest to run another poetry night during the winter semester of 2023.