You wouldn't necessarily think that a dorm-necessitated cafeteria would be the hub of literary or cultural activity at Hopkins, but Thoroughfare events have proved in the past, and continue to prove now, that student arts can flourish just about anywhere.
This Monday night, Thoroughfare Magazine, which fashions itself a "multimedia literature and arts magazine," held the second of its coffeehouse events at Nolan's in Charles Commons.
The first coffeehouse event was held last semester. Thoroughfare recruits its writers from the undergraduate population, encouraging Hopkins students to submit original poetry and prose, music, art and video projects to the magazine, which runs solely online and in digital format.
Joining them for the first time was Baltimore by Hand, a student outreach program that takes tutors into Baltimore City elementary schools to nurture literary talents in the grade school children.
Both Thoroughfare Magazine and Baltimore by Hand publish their students' works, and the two student groups seem committed to giving their contributors a space for artistic expression. The evening began with an edible offering of pizza, snack foods and sodas, capitalizing on the college student's dedication to free food.
Music by Liz Eldridge played in the background as attendees were invited to peruse artwork, mostly photography, that had been submitted to the magazine. Many of the pieces featured nature and landscapes in some way, though each presented a specific point of view.
Whether the artist found the struts of the Atomium — which look like infinitesimal chemical bonds between atoms — fascinating, as junior Brittany Leung did, or the contrast between a shadowy train station and sunlit cityscape, as junior Lay Kodama did, each piece gave the audience a point of visual interest on which to focus.
Artists featured included junior Kathryn Alsman, junior Eric Luitweiler, sophomore Vi Nguyen and junior Jiayi Wang. The physical prints of the artwork were raffled off, as part of the evening's entertainment.
The first two poems were written and read by sophomore Isaac Brooks. "Daytime: A Quatrain Cycle" captures Brooks's interest in formal poetic structures. He wanted to challenge himself and, "get a better handle on rhyme," so he decided to write a quatrain — a four line rhyming stanza — every day.
The times at which he writes, usually sunrise and sunset, had an obvious effect on the development of the poem and, though each quatrain has a slightly different rhyme scheme, obviously helped to structure the poem's movement. "Daytime" tracks the progress of the sun throughout the day.
Brooks also read "Without Form." Unlike many poets who prefer not to write in form, Brooks found writing "Without Form" difficult precisely because it did not adhere to any formal structure. The absence of a governing structure parallels the confusing emotional reactions of Brooks's speaker, who has, ostensibly, fallen in love and does not know how to handle the sudden influx of feelings.
Brooks made for a particularly interesting reader, since he alone of all the participants shared some insight into his writing process and what his intentions were in writing the showcased poetry.
Following Brooks was Hip Hop Editor Ryan Kahn, who read his short story "The Donut Hole." The story follows the narrator as he tries to out-eat "Curly Fry" Carlos for the grand prize of a BMW.
What follows is donut hole carnage. Rife with wry remarks and off-beat humor, the reading was met with hushed laughter. With a conclusion like "Epic Dick, that was epic!" how can one not laugh?
Junior Vicky Plestis and Hilary Leithauser took the stage next.
They read selected prose and poetry from Baltimore By Hand as the authors — all elementary or middle school students — weren't in attendance. "Cursed," a short story written by 8th grader Terrell Kellam from Margaret Brent Middle School, made for the perfect opening salvo.
The level of his writing was truly incredible and could have passed for any Writing Seminars student's work. His use of repetition to create a disquieting, eerie atmosphere was particularly impressive.
Other Baltimore By Hand passages included "John Goes to Washington, D.C. with his Hippo, Nathan," by Barclay Elementary School's 4th grader Christian Pearson and "The One," by Barclay Elementary School's 4th grader Jasmine Nicole Harris.
"John Goes to Washington, D.C." is a what-if scenario that perfectly captures the imagination of the young. His character John rides his "green rock-eating hippo, Nathan" through the space-time continuum after John tries to bargain with him, exchanging 100 rocks for a ride to D.C.
Harris's "The One" is infinitely more polished than material expected of a 4th grader. "The One" has a compelling flow to it, and even her slant rhymes are subtle and deliberate.
Despite its short length, the poem certainly shows Harris's promise as a future poet.
After brief break, sophomore Alessandra Bautze took the stage to read an excerpt of her story "Coming Back to Amelia." The portion she read was part of a larger story, which was not read that night.
Her story startled several of the audience members, and the expletive "son of a bitch!" garnered several surprised "ohs!" from the crowd.
"Coming Back to Amelia" will be coming out in the spring Thoroughfare issue.
Hopkins alum Joshua Gleason, though not present, gave permission to show his short film Spotlight at the coffeehouse. The film was shot in black and white and focused on the movements of various ballet dancers, following the movement and lines created by their active bodies.
Every once in a while, the dancers would catch the camera's objective eye, creating a moment of tension between audience and the film's subject.
Junior Sophi Glazycheva concluded the evening's reading with her poem, "Steeping." Her abstract, lushly descriptive language painted a melancholic scene and made for a pleasant ending. "Steeping," like "Coming Back to Amelia," will be released in the spring edition.
Despite its relatively new presence on campus, Thoroughfare has made its coffeehouse a hub of artistic efforts, and their collaboration with Baltimore by Hand allows for not just Hopkins student work to be showcased. The broader Baltimore community, too, has the opportunity to express their artistic point of view.
