Open Mic was held in the midst of Faulconer’s “Culturing Community” exhibit last Wednesday, Dec. 17. The vibrant space in Bucksbaum was filled with equally colorful prose and poetry as students and community members gathered for several hours to share in a wide variety of literature, both famous and original.

The change of scenery from Bob’s Underground, where Open Mic is typically held, offered a different opportunity and ambiance to those in the audience and at the podium.

“I’ve only been to Open Mic at Bob’s [before], and it’s cool,” said Drew Greenwood ’14, a performer. “But I kind of like it better here. It’s really nice—actually conducive to getting stuff read. I was very glad I decided to come. It was a real cool way to spend an evening.”

Greenwood shared two pieces of original poetry with the audience, but remarked that he enjoyed all the literature on display Wednesday night.

“All the stuff I heard was really incredible,” he said. “It’s weird when you see people that you know, and you pass them every day, and then you hear them read. And they’re so lyrical and so proud. I really enjoy it. I love going to Open Mic anywhere.”

Mario Macias ’11 also appeared at the podium, to offer up two poems. He read Gertrude Stein’s “As a Wife Has a Cow” and one of his own, “A day in the times of Mr. Giraffe and the Black Widow.”

He said that his poem was patterned off of Stein’s—he tried “to retell a joke, distorting it more and more each time.”

“It’s very spontaneous,” Macias said. “The logic’s not linear. I wasn’t trying to tell a story. I just let the language run free. It’s nice to come to these readings in Faulconer because I feel that Faulconer attracts more of the Grinnell community. You get to see all these people that are writing in Grinnell that are not necessarily students.”

Such community members included local author Richard Cleaver, who shared some of his most recent work.