04/11/08
The culmination of the Baker reading series took place Tuesday night. About 35 students and faculty members attended.
Instructor of English Marti Mihalyi launched the reading by introducing students and acknowledging presenters unable to attend. The reading consisted of six students, and Mihalyi said she could have included more.
“I think it’s important to know that (the reading) could have been much longer because right now at Baker there are a number of exceptionally fine writers in the English and literature departments,” she said.
Senior Stefanie Lindsay would agree with Mihalyi. The level of skill displayed by presenters impressed her. Glad she attended the poetry session, Lindsay believes the reading series provided a pleasant ingredient to the atmosphere at Baker.
“I think it’s interesting to hear what Baker students have done,” she said. “I thought it was really great.”
Organized by Mihalyi, the reading series was held in honor of Baker’s 150th anniversary. It consisted of four sessions: two featuring off-campus writers and two featuring a group of students.
The off-campus attractions were fiction writer Laura Moriarty and poetry writer Donald Levering. The poetry reading was the second of two sessions spotlighting students.
Senior Keith Gaboury read at both the poetry and the nonfiction readings. Mihalyi recognized his achievement by acknowledging his looming graduation this May and giving him a book as a memento.
She gave senior Chris Smith the same honor. Smith, an English major, said it was his first time reading in public, excluding the imitation readings he participated in during his Advanced Poetry class last fall. Mihalyi taught the class, and she usually has students share written work as a part of their final.
Smith believes Mihalyi’s teaching methods have helped his writing evolve tremendously. Of all of the poems he shared, his favorite was a direct address written to his parents after Thanksgiving dinner.
Its closing lines, “You created Thanksgiving dinner without killing each other. We’re very proud and look forward to next year,” produced an eruption of laughter in the audience.
Associate Professor of Education Merrie Skaggs attended the reading to encourage student presenters and to learn from their work. Skaggs is a student in Mihalyi’s Creative Nonfiction course. She believes learning from other writers is valuable.
“I wanted to come and give my support,” Skaggs said. “I loved it. I was very impressed.”
Senior Joy Mapes, who is also enrolled in Creative Nonfiction, attended the reading to support her friends.
“(All of the people reading) are my friends, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to hear really good poetry and support everybody,” Mapes said. “I thought it was great.”
When asked which poem was her favorite, Mapes shook her head and said, “You can’t do that.” She said all of the shared works were impressive.
After the student presentations, Mihalyi addressed the audience in regards to an anonymous letter she received prior to the reading.
A student had written her after learning about the poetry reading. The e-mail accused Mihalyi of encouraging students to be pretentious by having them participate in public readings. Mihalyi said she disagreed with the opinion because the students involved were talented writers worthy of public notice.
Gaboury also disagreed with the letter.
“I think they’re just assuming that if you read in front of people that you would be pretentious, but I don’t think they know anything about the people who were actually reading,” Gaboury said.