Students of all backgrounds came together Wednesday evening to discuss a variety of topics from feminism to mental illness.
About 25 people attended the VOICES poetry reading in McFeely’s Coffeehouse. They were greeted with a welcoming atmosphere created by dim lights and candles that were arranged on the stage. Student Ali Laughman organized the event for her women and gender studies class.
“This is something I would do regardless for a grade or not. I just like to poke at the things that people don’t talk about,” Laughman said, “and that’s kind of the reason for this.”
Overall there were eight performers who shared their work or read a work by someone else. The performers included Laughman, Jamie Bouder, professor Corinne Bertram, Kaitlyn Michaels, Tatiana Purnell, Eryn Green, Molly Yanchuck, Daniel Le and Miyumi Fair. In addition, two speakers talked briefly about clubs and resources related to LGBTQ+ and sexual assault issues.
Topics that were discussed included same-sex relationships, double-standards, feminism, virginity, mental illness, sexual assault and racial discrimination.
Sophomore Tatiana Purnell read original pieces about how she has dealt with racial discrimination since the age of 12.
“I want people to understand how much it actually affects people, especially kids, because I struggled with it a lot as a kid, especially because I grew up in a rural kind of place with not a lot of diversity,” Purnell said.
Purnell also read poetry about mental illness because she feels people need to be more aware of it and drop the stigmas surrounding it.
“You never know what people are going through,” Purnell said to the audience before reading her poem.
Junior Hannah Fulton spoke about a club at Shippensburg University called Safe Zone. She enjoyed the poetry reading and its atmosphere.
“It seemed like a very good mood, and very supportive,” Fulton said.
The first-time event went well overall according to Laughman, and she felt like she accomplished her goal.
To end the night, Laughman left the audience with a final thought. “It just goes to show that not everything is black and white.”
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