S.N.A.P.P.S.: Halloween Thrills and Chills

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the poetry club on campus known as S.N.A.P.P.S., held their third event this semester. It was an open mic in which the students had the chance to come a read their own poetry or poems by other poets.

“Since the event was Halloween themed it was suggested that participants read spooky poems,” said Richard Renelique, a senior Broadcasting major, who is also president of the club. “But it’s a general open mic so the work isn’t restricted to just that, it can be about anything. We also welcome fiction and comedy as well.”

The event was one of many this semester. “We had an open mic at the beginning of the semester and we coordinated with a bunch of other club on the Hispanic heritage month event,” said Renelique.

“All of these past events have gathered a very large and diverse crowd, about 15 to 20 people,” said Renelique. “For this particular event there were a little less but there were some issues with putting up a flyer and advertising.”

During the event, Renelique read his own poem titled “Waves.” “The inspiration behind that poem is that I am constantly surrounded by sound, hence the term waves because of audio waves,” said Renelique. “And how I prefer to be a more introverted and quiet individual but that doesn’t always agree with societies standards,” he added.

Ilana Leviton, a freshman psychology major, who is a member of S.N.A.P.P.S, attended the event and participated as well. “I didn’t prepare anything in particular for it but I was in the mood to write some thrills and chills and some scary poems so I sort of went with that,” she said

When writing, Leviton used a little bit of Edgar Allen Poe and James Patterson for inspiration. “Event’s like these are awesome cause they allow us to express ourselves,” said Leviton. “I think expression is the best thing and people can find it in writing, in acting, in whatever they do.”

Leviton finds her expression mostly in writing “Writing is a great form of expression it strengthens your personality expressing who you are, because that’s where it starts connecting your mind to the paper basically,” she said.

During the first open mic they had this semester some people that weren’t even part of the club read poetry about things like the economy and or politics, Leviton recalls. “It was bizarre but awesome to see, people can express themselves in many different ways,” she said.

Club member Alexis Watkins, a senior in Forensic Science major, loves that poetry gives her freedom. “Science is really restrictive but with writing there really isn’t no wrong or right, and I like that,” she said.

One of the things that Watkins really likes about being a part of S.N.A.P.P.S. and attending events like these is how open they are to different types of expressions. “I love that we not only just do poetry and/ or writing short stories,” Watkins said. “If you have any songs you want to sing, or even today we saw a comedian. Just any form of expression is pretty much acceptable or wanted at our events.”

Other than open mics, Renelique said that the club holds workshops that allow students to sit down and write. They also organize trips to poetry cafes in the city every semester. The club has nine members and most of the members write their own poems. S.N.A.P.P.S. meets every Wednesdays in the Honors Lounge from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.