The final Spit Reel of the year was a huge splash with the audience of students, instructors, and fellow writers who came to the Mellon Living Room on Thursday, March 7 to hear the featured readers. In the adjoining room were trays of brownies, cupcakes, pita chips, and more, which the audience happily snacked on, chatting with their friends before heading to their seats.
Lorena Williams, a creative writing professor at Chatham, took the podium–lit by small electric lights–first. She spoke of the enormous success of the Creative Writing Club and the growing popularity of Spit Reel, congratulating all the club members. Once her speech was completed, Professor Ian Riggins–the night’s MC–took the microphone.
He spoke of his excitement about being there to help present the readers and then introduced the first speaker: Kaitlyn Lacey. Reading an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, Silverblood, she told the story of a family of supernatural creatures, including a vampire and a werewolf, struggling to survive in a dangerous town. The audience was captivated by her imaginative world and entertained by her humorous dialogue.
Next was Melissa Garrett, a self-published author and sophomore at Chatham University, who read five poems: “1.53,” “What I’ve Grown to See as Love,” “Jane’s Angel Recounting,” “All About Alice,” and “Water and Wine.” Telling of tragedy, life and love, each poem–which hearken back to 19th century writings–was moving, shifting the tone of the evening to a more somber yet beautiful atmosphere.
Once she concluded her poetry, senior Courtney Druzak (also a member of the Minor Bird Literary Magazine) took the podium to read an excerpt from her Creative Writing tutorial which tells of newly born gods and humans–a gripping fantasy novel that has all the captivating sensory description of authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
After a brief intermission, the Open Mic began and almost ten readers decided to dive in and share their creative work with their Chatham sisters. Rachael Owen began with a poem on the art of writing itself, and was followed by Spit Reel veteran Meaghan Clohessy who read “The Rise and Fall of Innocence”, a hilarious excerpt from her tutorial on travel writing.
Stephanie Vituccio composed a powerful piece on the process of healing and Bertie Yarroll came next with his fiction piece on a robot doctor that had the audience in stitches. Other highlights include when Maryann Fix performed “To the Girl with Golden Hair,” a poem about lost love, and the excellent audience response received by Rebecca Pell when she read her clever poetry.
Although it was the Creative Writing Club’s final Spit Reel of the Spring semester, audiences can look forward to the event’s return in Fall. The Creative Writing Club encourages undergraduate students of all majors to submit.
