Emma Gonzalez
Staff Writer
Around 35 students attended the Spoken Smiles comedy and poetry event Monday in La Fetra Hall Auditorium.
The Campus Activities Board hosted the event with slam poetry duo Lane Shuler and Jonathan Clark from I.N.K.
There was a range of musical and theatrical performances.
The poems ranged from lighthearted to more serious in tone. Other performances consisted of an interactive approach.
The main message of these poems was to make the audience feel like they can live better lives while having fun. The poems were also made with the intent of showing empathy between human beings to alter the perception of the way people view the world around them.
“We think our show is like a roller coaster ride,” Clark said. “We’re gonna start off high energy and like…‘Are you both talking at the same time?’ You might cry a little bit, but you’re gonna learn some things.”
Some moments were interacting and engaging with the students. The speakers had students text them random words that they freestyled into a rap to bring some humor to the crowd.
“I was picturing just both comedy and poetry in general because right now a lot of people are stressed,” said Danika Noriega, a business administration senior who coordinated the event. “There’s some stuff that I told them to make it kind of light, funny, and motivational.”
Some of the topics of these poems covered mental health, relationships, and social change.
Other poems were more personal, touching on more powerful and sensitive topics such as self harm, suicide, and sexuality.
One poem was called “Swiss Army Girl,” based on a true story about a 20-year old-girl named Kayla who committed suicide.
“She was deeply loved by a lot of people and was just a super bright shining light,” Lane Shuler, poet, said. “The way the world moved around her was not kind and was not gentle. And so the message that she needed-that sort of was her mom’s thesis statement.”
The main objective of these poems were to introduce topics in a way that people may not have considered before by placing themselves in other people’s shoes.
“The energy that you give to somebody will often bounce right back off of them and come back to you,” Shuler said. “If we can do enough of that sound in a metal cage, it’ll eventually bounce off and we can make this kinder, gentler world.”
Another poem was called “Her Light” by Clark. The poem was dedicated to his daughter before she was born. The story was about how he wanted to protect his little girl from the world.
“The poem made me think about my dad, and I love my dad,” Shelby Humphreys, senior psychology major, said.
“Growing up, my dad was always calling me his little girl. As I got older, and when I did more things, he was like, ‘You’re not my little girl anymore.’”
Comedy and poetry seemed like two completely different topics, yet this duo managed to find a balance between them while still making the poems be intentional. Whether the intent was to interact more with the audience or tell a message, this duo achieved that goal.
“We tried to take an approach to it that people don’t normally take, we have to talk about it in some way, shape or form, but throw some humor in there,” Clark said.
“We have to fine tune it with every bit of comedy and make people laugh, make people cry, make people think, like doing all of that in an hour,” Shuler said.
Emma Gonzalez can be reached at emma.gonzalez@laverne.edu.
Emma Gonzalez is a junior communications major with a concentration in public relations and a minor in marketing, and a staff writer for the Campus Times. Her interests include community involvement, art, traveling and writing. Emma’s long-term career objective revolves around working for a nonprofit organization that is passionate about helping a target group of individuals. Follow her on Handshake.
Camille C.Nan is a senior photography major and art history minor who specializes in portraiture. She is a staff photographer for Campus Times and La Verne Magazine.
