The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art came alive Jan. 23 with community, vulnerability and poetry. The “Writers Give Voice: Reading and Open Mic” was a part of WSU’s Martin Luther King Jr. Week events.
One might think the readings would be from MLK’s writings, but no, it was a collection of diverse voices from Langston Hughes to Tupac and self-written pieces. Cameron McGill, an English professor and director of the WSU Visiting Writer Series, kicked off the event and reintroduced this year’s MLK Week theme of “A Call to Consciousness.”
The day was about hope: hope for the future, not for a future that passively befalls us, but for the one we fight for. The day also included a very specific Hope, Hope Nobuko Kaleonanionaona O Kaho’ Dela Cruz, WSU’s 2025 campus civic poet.
One piece Dela Cruz read was one of her own, reflecting on the connection and tension last Thanksgiving brought. It was about the holding of a celebration when she felt that the world was dark and cold — both literally and figuratively — and trying to balance the people she holds dear with the values that she lives by.
Her second reading, focused most on the future, was an homage to Gil Scott-Heron’s song, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” The final line rang with a sentiment that closely aligned with MLK’s vision, “[the revolution] will be live and we will be its leaders.”
Trymaine Gaither, the chair of the WSU MLK Week planning committee and special assistant to the provost for access and opportunity, also took to the mic. After attending all of the week’s events, he diligently worked on and spoke about Tupac’s story, reciting Tupac’s work on empowering women, “Keep Ya Head Up.”
Other readings from speakers like Josie Cohen-Rodriguez, the LGBTQ+ Student Life & Community coordinator for the WSU LGBTQ+ Center, looked to a much more distant future with a reading from “When Language Broke Open: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Black Writers of Latin American Descent.” The poem by Alan Pelaez Lopez, “When Dreaming of a Future Means Letting Go,” posits a united world is only possible if humanity can be accountable for the atrocities that have been perpetuated.
Students, primarily affiliated with the English department, read other pieces. One read a self-written piece on complacency and fighting for their will to fight.
Another student read a work from Cornel West, a philosopher, activist and professor, who left Harvard University after he felt the school was not doing enough to tell the full history of the United States or the full reality and racialization of wealth inequality. In this piece, West spoke on the weakening of non-market concepts, like sharing and caring.
The event reflected the past, present and future of racial healing in America, and a touchstone for the Harlem Renaissance leader and prolific poet Langston Hughes. A student read two pieces of his work, and a faculty member read Hughes’ “Dream Dust.”
The WSU Library also brought its printing press, which attendees could use to print and bring home a copy of the poem “Dream Dust,” which holds a similar theme of what is not for sale or of traditional market value.
Previous WSU Campus Civic Poets spoke as well. The 2023 poet, Joel Kemegue, spoke on WSU’s history of being one of the few universities in the nation that had a Black student union.
The 2024 poet, Jada Rome, was appreciative of the vulnerable space this event presented and spoke on the human spirit and remaining awake, especially in painful times.
Staff outside of the English department were inspired to share, too. An employee of the Office of the Dean of Students shared a poem he had written in 1998. He was inspired to share it after meeting Dela Cruz the day before at another event.
Collin Criss, an assistant scholarly professor in the Honors College, recited a poem written by Seattleite Luther Hughes that meditated on the fear of never doing enough in activism and letting ourselves experience beautiful moments, even when Hughes feels the world is dark. Criss also read a poem by José Olivarez, which spoke on immigrant experiences of feeling commodified and reduced to only being the job you do.
“I am especially thinking about justice and how we can kind of continue to lift the veils that are in front of our faces,” Criss said when asked to meditate on the theme of being called to consciousness. “There are no tangible actions against the state of injustice here, right? There’s just this abstraction of art…of course, there is action down the road, right? There are these calls to consciousness that happen. That’s in some ways, you know, as important as tangible change, right?”
For Gaither, art carries another level of importance in these conversations.
“I think that art is critical,” Gaither said. “I think art is a way to not just connect, but it’s also an opportunity to inspire. It’s a bridge towards reflection, shared language and amplifying voices.”
Many of the participants spoke about the opportunity to be vulnerable and some people became emotional as they shared their truths, whether it was in their own words or ones that reflected their own experiences. This open mic allowed students and staff to uplift so many diverse voices.
There was a lot of poetry centered around community, hope and love, particularly what all those words and concepts mean in our current time.
“I guess the question is, what does love require of us now?” Gaither said when asked about what “A Call to Consciousness” means to him.
