On Tuesday, Oct. 23, in the Blue Bean, a Slam Poetry event was held as a part of the Social Justice Week taking place on campus from Oct. 22-26.
Social Justice Week is a new series of events currently being hosted by sociology/anthropology students and faculty. Those students and faculty hope that Social Justice week will continue each year in order to promote peace and equal opportunities on campus.
The event itself was hosted by junior English major Chad Rice, who read some of his own poetry and encouraged others to come up and take the microphone. The event was open to any who showed up or happened to be relaxing in the Blue Bean. While the event was titled Slam Poetry, which insinuates a poetry competition in which poets read their work and a winner is decided based on audience feedback, the event turned out to be more of a hybrid of the reading of other poets’ work and the sharing of original work from students. A secondary theme for the night seemed to be the work of beat poets like Allen Ginsberg, who often wrote about issues of their time in no-holds-barred type terms. The event was well received, garnering the attention of around 20 students who showed up, as well as those already in the Blue Bean and passersby.
This particular event was thought up and put on by sociology/anthropology professor Rita Shah and senior religious studies major Angie Wilt. “People started listening who were just here to do work,” Wilt said. “I thought that was really awesome.” The idea was that the event would bring up many different issues including those of a social nature, conveyed through poetry. This seemed to hold true as students and faculty read some of their works pertaining to their own personal issues as well as more national and global problems. For instance, Visiting Assistant Professor of English Jesse Waters read some of his own verse pertaining to the effects of the Bush/Cheney leadership 8 years ago. Through his poetry, he shared some of the problems that have arisen since that time.
Social Justice Week is important to many faculty and staff members because of the impact it can make in the push for national and global equal rights.“Ultimately what we would like is for [Social Justice Week] to be sponsored by the Department of Sociology/Anthropology and to be something that really is a campus-wide thing, and not just something for faculty but to encompass everyone that makes up the Etown community,” Shah said. “These issues don’t touch just one of us, they touch all of us. We can’t really have conversations about them if we don’t include everyone.” The passion that Shah shares is apparent and she hopes to make others feel just as passionate as she is through all of the planned Social Justice events on campus. Wilt has worked closely with Shah to help plan all of the events for the week and she feels equally passionate about the topic.
Social justice can mean different things to different people. However, its basic focus is on equality and balanced rights and opportunities for all people. “To me personally, social justice is the idea that people have equality in terms of opportunities, dignity, respect and in being part of a community. I don’t mean equality in that every person is the same, but that every person has the same chances,” Shah said. Through the continued efforts of professors like Shah and students like Angie Wilt, Social Justice Week will hopefully continue to grow and inform the members of the Elizabethtown College community each and every year.