CORONA VIRUS COVERAGE: VIRTUAL OPEN MIC
By Ciana Bowers
The English and creative writing department had a busy October this semester as they hosted Visiting Writer Amina Gautier and hosted the virtual open mic during homecoming week. Many Widener students, alumni, and faculty have attended the event and read their own original works. Dean, Nicole Rayfeild read from her new poetry book Swing: Poems in a time of quarantine and a Widener alumni read from a manuscript written in their MFA class that was inspired by a creative work in professor Jayne Thompsons class. The pride was happy to have their current students and alumni back home.
The event consisted of a twenty-minute dance performance video from Widener students and an hour long open mic session for students to hear various works from fellow English and creative writing lovers. A lot of things went in to consideration when planning the open mic. A sign up list was generated for readers who wanted to attend, registration link for current students, reaching out to old students, and much more.
Stefan Cozza an English and creative writing major and soon to be editor and chief of Widener’s The Blue Route had a lot to say about his first open mic event at Widener and even wrote a blog piece on his hosting experience. Even though the Open Mic was virtual this year Stefan says “I think with writing a lot of the magic and their voices and the uniqueness of each person presenting can still be captured in a virtual setting.” The chat feature was another star of the show as it gave encouragement, love, and positive feedback to readers who presented their work. Even with the silence of the event, which may have been awkward for some users, the atmosphere of the event was not tense, but relaxing and comfortable since many people had stayed till the end even though it was a long event. It was also supportive and understanding since a lot of people do not know how to use Zoom and a few mute malfunctions went on throughout the night.
Not only was Cozza the host, but was the first one to present his piece of writing which he had worked on the night before. Going first wasn’t as bad as he thought. “I know when I hear other people’s work I tend to get in my own head because they have to follow up all these others. Going first you have no standard for what the night is going to be like so you set the tone and set it off so you have no one to compare yourself too.”
His favorite part about hosting for the night was sending his personal feedback to each reader as they had exited off of the virtual stage. But over all his favorite part would be reading the chat and seeing all the positive feedback sent to each other. “I liked reading what other people had to say. Thought it was cool that not just students could present but alumni and faculty. Not even people who went to Widener themselves. It was cool to hear from an array of different people and there were 16 people to present, it was like over an hour worth of reading, and it was some good and really well thought out and developed pieces that were cool to hear”
Even if Widener’s next open mic is virtual, Stefan says he would be glad to host another.