Photo courtesy of Connecticut College English Department.
Cadenza, Connecticut College’s literature and arts magazine, is still going strong despite the pandemic, with a series of poetry nights this semester and plans to publish the magazine online in the spring. I spoke with Elizabeth Vinson ‘21, President and Editor-in-Chief of Cadenza, about the events Cadenza has been hosting, and their plans for the rest of the spring.
In the past, Cadenza has collaborated with the Office of the Dean of the College to host a series of Castalia Poetry Nights at Coffee Grounds. These events would begin with people who had signed up to read a poem, either their own original work or a favorite written by someone else, and then end with an open mic. Since gathering in a crowded indoor space is impossible right now, and many students are studying remotely, Vinson reached out to Dean Singer in the fall to see if he would collaborate with Cadenza to host a virtual poetry night. He agreed, and Cadenza hosted one virtual poetry night during the Fall semester, which was well-attended and featured many talented student poets. The event was so successful that the organizers decided to host three poetry nights in the spring.
The first poetry night of the Spring semester was on Feb. 25th. The theme of the event was “The Heart of the Harlem Renaissance” in honor of Black History Month. The event was co-sponsored by both the Office of the Dean of the College and Reflexion, Conn’s spoken-word poetry club. It was also hosted in collaboration with Maurice Tiner, the Director of Race and Ethnicity Programs at Conn. The poems read by students were a mix of original poems and works by famous poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Members of Reflexion read a collaborative poem about different figures from the time period, with each member in attendance reading a seven to ten line stanza about their chosen person. I spoke with Bri Goolsby ‘22, the President of Reflexion, about the poem, and the creative process behind it. She explained that “I myself am biracial but a lot of the members [of Reflexion] are white, and obviously this was an event about the Harlem Renaissance, which is uplifting BIPOC voices, so we wanted to make sure we weren’t talking over people. We kind of distanced ourselves from the work and just wrote about a specific person or concept and tried to encapsulate their energy into that little stanza.” Goolsby felt that people learned a lot and were reminded of the significance of the Harlem Renaissance, and she was excited that Reflexion was able to participate. Anyone interested in hearing poetry from the members of Reflexion should attend their upcoming event, “We Are Reflexion,” on April 15.
A Conn alum, Asia Calcagno ‘14, was a special guest at the “Heart of the Harlem Renaissance” event, reading two of her own poems. Calcagno is an award-winning writer and educator whose work has been featured in many literary journals and has been recognized by the Academy of American Poets. The music, played in between the poetry readings, featured singers such as Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Any student interested in reading a poem or simply listening to others share their work should absolutely attend the next poetry night on April 1st at 7 PM. The link to the event will be sent by email through the Office of the Dean of the College. Encouraging students to participate, Vinson said: “It’s a really open space for if you want to share your own poetry, or if you want to read a poem you read in class, or just something that inspired you; there’s really no limitations to it, just anything that you would want to share with other people.”
On top of their poetry nights, Cadenza is also working towards their main purpose as a club: producing a magazine to exhibit the work of the talented writers and artists of Conn. The magazine is printed once a year, and can include nearly any type of artistic work. Typically, the magazine features poetry, prose, photography, and other visual art such as paintings and drawings, but less traditional submissions such as song lyrics, sheet music, short plays, or comic strips are also very welcome. In a normal year, the magazine is printed, but this semester it will appear on Cadenza’s WordPress site. The deadline for submissions is April 28th, and all submissions can be sent to cadenzamag@gmail.com.
