Setting the stage lights to a soft yellow glow set the mood in the Babylon Student Center’s Mildred Green Room for the Society of Writer’s Open Mic Night on April 10.
Students were free to share their writing, from poetry to short stories. Twenty-five people attended as members of The Society of Writers, a student organization that helps support and encourages students with their creative writing and literary endeavors.
“It’s a tradition, every semester we do it,” said Amanda Albrecht, a 19-year-old general studies major from Patchogue, one of the coordinators and the president of the Society of Writers of the Open Mic Night. “We try to improve it every time because it’s so amazing and we like it,” she said.
Writing from life experiences was a theme that ran through the poems that were read throughout the night. Tareena Galante, a 42-year-old creative writing major from Mastic Beach, read and wrote a poem about losing a pet and returning home.
“I draw my inspiration from my personal experiences in life,” Galante said. “I really love to just write because it makes me feel better. It’s therapy for me.”
Galante also participated in last year’s Open Mic Night, where she was open about her son’s overdose on medication.
“I just wanted to advocate for that because it’s very close and personal to me,” she said. “I love to share my work because I know somebody would be able to also resonate with me.”
Some students utilized the event to empower themselves.
“I wanted to claim back my own voice,” said Laura Nguyen, a 21-year-old business administration major from Selden who shared both a poem and a short story. “I tried to really just capture my entire life within that one poem.”
Nguyen saw a flyer for open mic night and decided to participate. She spoke about hardships she has faced through the lens of a bluebird, and a talent that is very dear to her.
“The bluebird in the cage is trapped and singing, and for me, is proof I’m alive,” Nguyen said. “My very first skill in my life that I remember is singing.”
Nguyen continued: “I feel like as long as I’m singing, I am still alive and the day that I stop singing, I have given up on life.”
The Society of Writers meets Wednesdays in Room 206 of the Islip Arts Building from 12:30-1:30 p.m.
