Snaps, not claps: 63 Decibels

(article by Emma Preston and Anastasia Shakhidzhanova) 63 Decibels, Samo’s first ever poetry slam, invoked crying, sighing, laughing and a whole lot of snapping.  A group of students gathered in the Humanities Center at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 17 to experience an hour of each other’s worlds, told through speaking, rapping and singing poetry. A total of 19 students performed their self-written poems in a multitude of styles. The night was filled with the nuances of each individual reciter and listener, bringing deeply personal, yet somehow relatable, feelings, emotions, experiences and thoughts into the open, while evoking visceral reactions. “My friend heard about the event and wanted me to come because he thought it was a way to bring out your dark memories in a cryptic, yet cool way. Some people have other ways of coping, but for me it’s poetry and music,” Kris Marquez (’19) said.  Writing, specifically poetry, can be an extremely helpful way to deal with and untangle feelings, thoughts and emotions that are otherwise too confusing or overwhelming. It can also be an intricate way to document experiences. “I think everyone was super brave for sharing very personal things,” Alexandra Muyshondt (’20) said. English 10 HP and Freshman Seminar teacher Annette Gromala created the poetry slam after the success of the compulsory poetry assignment she assigned to her class. Because of her personal love of performed poetry, she aimed to give students a chance to explore the art, while also developing their writing and teaching them performance skills. Gromala had one-on-one time with every single person and helped their poems be more descriptive, less nebulous and to hit the points that they wanted to get across.  “I feel you guys as students and teenagers have so much to say, but don’t have a platform for it. I feel like one of the best ways to do that is through spoken word poetry. It’s something that is really raw and has impacted my life, and is something I’m really passionate about. It’s really awesome have everyone coming on board with it,” Gromala said. Many, in fact the majority, of the students that participated had never performed their poetry or experienced an event like the slam. All of the performers rehearsed their poetry at lunch in Gromala’s room and were strongly encouraged to practice at home to perfect their presentation. “I wasn’t really into poetry at all and then I when wrote this poem for class I was into it, and I thought that that would be fun. I actually always hated poetry and now I actually like it. Try it for sure because you never know how something is until you try it,” Willow Battista (’20) said.  Not only did people show up, but they managed to create a cordial and nonchalant environment where students tackled and explored emotions that some had grappled with their entire lives. Surprisingly however, the feeling in the air was a freeing one and that of inspiration and encumberment. “I think poetry is a way of telling stories, so I was learning about people, their stories and their backgrounds. It’s important to be careful not to judge people, because everyone has so much to offer. I did not think that would come out, but that’s what you get in poetry,” Viergela Horwitz (’20) said.  The time was not spent awkwardly listening to the poems and counting down minutes until “that girl you knew” went up or until the slam ended, but instead with everyone feeling fully immersed and interested in the slam. Comprised of gregarious, shy and students everywhere in between, the audience and performers demonstrated unfaltering empathy towards one another by snapping and actively reacting to the poems being read on stage. “The atmosphere was so supportive and people went along with snapping when they felt like they connected with things, and that was so awesome to see,” Gromala said.