Video by Charisse Laws and Devon Johnson
Cabrini’s Counseling Center, Body Image Coalition and Live Poet Society have come together for one big event called ‘Body Slam’. The event took place in the Cabrini’s mansion on Wednesday, March 8, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
This event was a combination of a showcase of photography and poetry that people could submit to Woodcrest Magazine.
Live Poet Society put the event together so that people could have a safe place to go and share their poetry without any judgment from others.
Sherad Deely, a greatly known poet in Philly with a group called Spoken Word and also a member of Fuze Poetry Slam was at the event.
“I got started with poetry when I was younger. My mom was the person who got me into it,” Deely said. “I got involved with Spoken Word when I was in college when I heard these two poets called the Twin Poets and they blew my mind and I was just thinking to myself, ‘oh i have to write poetry like that.'”
As students came into the mansion they started off splitting into groups for a workshop session, where they would read their poetry out loud and get feedback from others.
Finally, everyone came together and sat in the mansion and watched as students went up on stage, one by one, to express themselves through their poetry.
The first group that participated was the Live Poet Society. They had five members of their club read their poems to everyone.
“Last semester I took Dr. Persichetti for an English class and we needed subscriptions for the magazine and the easiest thing for me to write was poetry because I had been writing it since in was in Junior high. It’s a way for me to vent with everything that is going on. It’s a big outlet for me,” Lilly Webber, member of Live Poet Society, said.
There were very powerful poems that were shared about society that made some question about issues our world is dealing with.
“I have a complete love for poetry and what got me really excited with Live Poet Society is the connection between identity and writing and how important that is to do especially when you are in college to have a space where you can figure it all out,” Dr. Persichetti, advisor for Live Poet Society, said.
There were some tough subjects covered at the event about body image and how one sees themselves and how others see them. There were also topics of bullying and the struggles that people go through everyday.
The counseling center on campus also was at the event to remind students that the services they offer are here for anyone who may need it.
Live Poet Society and Body Image Coalition hope to continue this event every year and even do more events throughout the year.
