By Madison Otten
On Tuesday Nov. 13, the Creative Writing Clubs of the FRCC Boulder and Westminster Campuses came together to share written works with the first cross-campus’ open mic. The open mic was hosted at the Boulder Campus; any and all were welcome to participate and were allowed to read any variety of pieces, be it poem, autobiography, or a short story.
“One of the most exciting things for me personally is I know how my campus writes, but I don’t know how Westminister writes,” said Patrick Kelling, one of the event organizers and the faculty advisor of Boulder’s Creative Writing Club. “To actually get to see that and to open up the students’ eyes to not just what we do but what can be done, and it’s a fantastic opportunity for everyone. ”
The creative writing scene has always been a collaborative setting for critique, laughter, and ideas, as Marc Smith, one of the founding members of the Westminster club, can attest. Smith, who told a comical tale of a girl selling her soul to the devil for a sandwich, spoke about how the club helps fuel his inspiration.
“Probably one of the best things about being in the Writing Club is not only sharing and writing with other people, but getting to hear others writing as well,” said Smith. “ It’s really fulfilling to be able to meet with like-minded people and hear their work and laugh and talk about literature. It also helps the students who are currently in writing classes, because we can help them critique and edit their work. It really makes everyone’s work better.”
Having such connections between campuses only fuels the creativity among students explained Letta Cartlidge, a former FRCC student, who read a fictional piece.
“Anytime there’s a connection made between sister campuses, then there’s value,” said Cartlidge. “If we build a greater community through writing there are more people that come to it, and there are more people exposed to our own creativity, and it gives us energy to continue to write. One of the fun things about working with younger people is that they’re coming into it from a whole new genre of work. I learn all the time from what the younger generation is writing now, too, because it’s a completely new medium that they’re exploring, like from some of the more traditional ways that we’ve written”
At the end of the open mic, some participants won an issue of respective literary magazines Plains Paradox and HOWL and some books from a raffle.
On April 18, 2019, there will be a party where members of the Westminster Creative Writing Club will be reading their published passages in HOWL. Also, in the spring semester of 2019, the Boulder Creative Writing Club will be visiting the Westminster campus for another open mic.
