Shippensburg University students gathered to celebrate love and creativity at the Self-love Soirée hosted by The Reflector and the Pride and Gender Equity Center in Stewart Hall on Thursday night.
The open mic night was an opportunity for students to read poetry and short stories, sing, speak or simply sit back and enjoy listening to their peers’ works. The Reflector is Shippensburg University’s student-run journal, and the soirée was an opportunity for student writers to read their work aloud to a larger crowd.
After Katelyn Mader, editor-in-chief of The Reflector, introduced the event and encouraged attendees to add themselves to the queue, Karmen Alicea, peer educator from the PAGE Center, came on stage to say some words about the importance of the event.
“Sharing poetry and art is one of the most important things you can do right now,” Alicea said.
Following introductions, the first person stepped up to the mic to read. Emily Brewer, associate editor of The Reflector, kicked things off by reading one of her own poems. Brewer said how this was a piece she wrote recently about how she got into writing and her place in lineage with the women who came before her.
Karmen Alicea came back on the mic to read a medley of poems about her experience as a transgender woman of color.
Katelyn Mader read the last poem of the night, which she wrote in a poetry class and was about general fears and romance.
Various pieces were read throughout the night about love, heartbreak and everything in between. The Self-love Soirée created a space for everyone to celebrate the love they have for romantic partners, friends and pets, and the love everyone has for themselves despite what they go through.
The PAGE Center has many events coming up, including its third annual “Stitch and Bitch.” The Reflector is hosting a Post Love Open Mic on Feb. 26 and is still accepting submissions to its themed spawning pool until this Friday for the 2025-2026 edition of the journal.
For more information on future events and important dates, check out both of their Instagrams: @shippagecenter and @shippensburg.reflector.
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