Over time the murals led to a higher degree of civil participation among disadvantaged Brazilians, and the increase in political participation facilitated greater representation of marginalized communities in favelas. He used an example of Brazil, where graffiti artists created murals laden with political commentary in favelas, which caused residents who consumed the art to also acknowledge social and political events. John Lubin gave a brief lecture regarding the influence of artists on governments. Solar power is ever glowing, the windmills are blowing, and water power is flowing”, said Guido as the audience’s finger snapping drowned out the gamers at the SLC.Ī professor in Public Administration gave a fitting conclusion for the open mic night. “I don’t want to have to ask the question if Earth will be here for my grandchildren’s blessings and if Mars will sustain life because we’ve ran out of options and prolonged to stop the suffocating exhaust that we all know we don’t need. During Guido’s performance, negative aspects of the past were followed by reasons to be optimistic for the future. Guido performed three overlapping poems with themes of existentialism and general frustration with the status quo. Perhaps the most well received poem was performed by Alexander Guido, a first time performer. “Love songs came true, clichés were understood, because I looked at where that angel stood,” rhymed Turner, drawing cute remarks from the crowd. James Turner performed a very sweet and sincere love poem in light of the proximity to Valentine’s Day. Almost every other poet seemed to avoid light-hearted themes in general. A couple other poets tackled heavy topics such as racial inequality and mental health. The very first performance of the night, Dwight Jones III, rhymed about long distance relationship drama and cheating. Both rappers brought plenty of hype to their performances and involved the crowd in a call and response.Īside from musical acts, most of the other performances were spoken word poetry. With the exception of two rappers, musicians performing original works all possessed a similar down-tempo style. Another performer started his set by saying he would play some sad songs to match the weather and he followed with a cover of “Nature Boy” and performed some of his original music. Hannah Walker sang vocals and played guitar for a surprisingly melancholy version of “You Are My Sunshine,” which seemed appropriate given the thunderstorm. A duo performed songs by The Killers and Modern Baseball, and a solo act sang and played guitar for Adele and Billy Joel covers. Perhaps it was the setting or circumstances, but the general content of the performances were more serious than the predominantly light-hearted stand-up acts of past events.Īll but a few of the musical acts were acoustic covers of well-known songs. This particular open mic night, hosted by the Black Student Union and Poetic Lyricism, had a markedly different tone than previous open mic nights at the SLC. While emergency notifications buzzed on everyone’s phones, patrons and performers were nestled safely away from doors and windows, enjoying a wide variety of local talent. Last Tuesday, the Askew Student Life Center hosted an open mic night that provided entertainment and shelter for audiences and artists during a severe thunderstorm.
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