First Circle hosts first student reading of the year

    Muskingum had the first student reading of the year on Monday Oct. 3, 2011 in Cambridge Hall, room 18. Students attended to listen and/or read their creative writing poetry or prose and showcase their works of art while experiencing the creative side of Muskingum.

    The reading was supported and hosted by First Circle, Muskingum University's literature and art magazine.

    According to Associate Professor of English Jane Varley, the student readings are organized and hosted by the editors of the literary magazine.

    "It's an extension of the publication of the magazine," said Varley.

 Austin Frederici, one of the senior editors of First Circle, emceed the student reading by introducing the participants and reading a short statement about each participant before they began reading their poems or showing their art works.

    "We've never had the statement of creative vision before, I feel like that really enhanced the work," said Varley. "The creative vision idea came from Austin Frederici. I thought it was a wonderful idea, so we had gathered statements from all the participants about their opinion of creativity and Austin read the statements to us."

   Students said that they felt the atmosphere was friendly and supportive, helping students express themselves freely.

    "It was good to see Tony read his poems," said Frederici. "He did not sign up but just walked in, put his name up on the board and read poems, which I think is really cool."

    Professors who attended enjoyed the performances and said that they appreciated the freedom of expression.

    "I very much enjoy hearing all the differences in my students," said Varley. "They are all very different people, and I enjoy hearing them, hearing the individual voices."

    As an end to the evening, First Circle served homemade brownies and apple cider, and announced their plan for their next reading.

    "Our next reading is actually an open mike event at the end of October, and it's just strictly students, so there will be no faculty, and it will be in Chess Center," said Callie Saxton, another senior editor of First Circle. "We are hoping to really get a lot of people to just come and read. There is not a formal reading list of people who can read, it will be open to everyone."

    With its beginning dating back to 11 years ago, stemming from Varley's suggestion of such an event, Muskingum began having two readings a semester.

    "This is many years ago, at one of the readings we had a theme, and our theme was ‘nothing,'" said Varley. "So people read poems about nothing, and there was a performance of a musical piece that was just silence. The performer was a young man with a guitar, which he did not play, but he just sat in the chair, and it fit very nicely with the theme of nothing."

    The student reading also provides writers a chance to interact with peers and receive feedback about their works.

     "An interesting thing about the reading is you don't know how people are going to react to what you read," said Frederici. "I've read some stuff I didn't think was funny sometimes, but when I read them to people they laughed about it."

    Attending reading events also gives students an opportunity to practice talking in public.

    "The reading event is a kind of promoting, but it's also meaningful," said Frederici. "It reflects the campus, and it is part of our identity; First Circle is part of Muskingum, it reflects Muskingum's creative side, and we are trying to expand it, getting more people involved to express their creative mind."