Snap- and keep snapping- is the one rule of eXiled Open Mic. Well, that and silence your cell phone. Before every performance, the audience at eXiled Open Mic is reminded how hard it is for the performers to get on stage and share their work, and themselves, in front of the crowd.

The first and only eXiled Open Mic of the semester was held in the Allison Hall community room, from 8-10 p.m. on March 21. Members of the Dickinson community were invited to share their experiences and creativity. Students sang, spoke and shared personal stories and struggles about themselves. Those who wanted to perform signed up on a piece of lined paper, with a huge group of people crowding into the community room as the event began.

The performers, performances and topics were varied; some were funny and light, some were musing and deep and some were strongly emotional. All the performances were connected in that they represented and communicated a shared human experience. Valentina Calandra ‘15 performed an original poetry piece entitled “Gluttony” and Lucas Paiva ‘18 sang an original song while playing his guitar. Jenna Rose Forte ‘16, a member of eXiled, shared her experiences about learning to love her body and herself, and commented on social body image issues. Tyree Grant ‘18 shared a piece on his faith and finding love.

A guest visitor to Dickinson from Bard College shared a variety of short poems, including one on four truths a dying farmer tells his daughter. Fabian Hernandez ‘15, another member of eXiled, performed a poem on his challenges with identity, heritage and culture.

eXiled is Dickinson College’s spoken word and poetry group. Spoken word poetry is a type of performance-based poetry with an emphasis on word-play, rhyme, repetition, slang and improvisation. It has many similarities to storytelling, modern poetry, performance, monologues and jazz and hip hop music. eXiled was founded by Brittany Barker ‘15 in 2011, with the goal of “sharing narratives in order to enlighten, motivate, entertain and unite,” she said. Barker is an award-winning poet who has been writing poetry since sixth grade, and founded eXiled to talk about things most people are not comfortable talking about, and to connect with the community through poetry.

In addition to last night, eXiled had a show on February 28 in the Cubiculo Theatre called “Lies and Expectations” and there will be another event later in the semester. Last semester’s events included “A Day in the Life,” and eXiled’s first ever poetry slam competition.

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