While people usually flock to Bob’s Underground for open mic performances, last Wednesday was different. Faulconer Gallery hosted its second open mic night of the semester, featuring performances from faculty, students, community members and even alumni.
The event began with Rebecca Stuhr, Collection Development and Preservation Librarian, who reminded everyone of Poem in Your Pocket day, which would occur the following day.
“Poem in Your Pocket is a national day that has, until now, never been recognized by the College,” Stuhr said.
Attendants were encouraged to take a poem on their way out in celebration of the approaching event.
The night consisted of eight performers who presented photography, poetry, spoken word and short fiction. Carolyn Jacobson, English, read several works from her favorite authors. Silvio Curtis ’12 chose to read a section from the Odyssey and Abraham Kohrman ’13 presented a slideshow.
During his display, Kohrman took the time to explain his work and focused on one particular shot, which was taken with a Holga.
“A Holga is simply a medium format 120 film camera,” Kohrman said. “I misread the instructions and accidentally exposed a bunch of pictures.” The picture Kohram was describing featured three different shots exposed all in a single frame. “For my pictures, I try and show people with the environment in which they exist.”
The show lasted an hour, closing with Ross Preston ’10 reading an original poem inspired by William Carlos Williams.
Even if students were not able to make it Wednesday, they can look forward to more open mic nights in spaces outside of Bob’s next semester—especially when the installations in Faulconer, like Hybrid Media, lend themselves particularly well to it.
“We try to do one or two every semester,” Stuhr said. “The library has a series of events called ‘Wednesday Nights at Burling.’ It’s still a ‘Wednesday Night at Burling’ except this time, we did it at Faulconer.”