Opportunity for creative outlet presented
At the front of a crowd of students in Weter Lounge, Jack Wilsie and Emma Daughters stood on stage and began to play as everyone cheered in appreciation of the performers playing a familiar song.
KSPU, Seattle Pacific University’s student-run radio station, held its “Love, KSPU” event this Wednesday, April 11, after being postponed in winter quarter due to snow.
At the event, students from all over campus gathered for an open mic night where anyone could perform music or read poetry.
“We give a voice to the local musicians who are kind of working on creating and making new things but may not have yet a big place to perform or anyone who is really listening, so we give them an added voice,” said junior Michael Miller, KSPU’s current media manager and next year’s station manager.
The event provided performers, an opportunity to express themselves in front of the SPU community. However, the part of the event that stood out the most was what drove many to perform, as the music and poetry provided them an outlet for their emotions.
This goes back to the true purpose of music and how it has the ability to connect everyone, regardless of our differences as a people.
“It is the biggest point of connection between us all. Obviously, we are all different people and we all have a bunch of different interests but music is one of the biggest commonalities we all have,” Miller said.
This was exemplified by the performances of the night.
One such performance was Wilsie and Daughters’, KSPU’s broadcast manager and a junior studying music therapy respectively.
With Wilsie on guitar and Daughters singing, the pair did covers of “This Old Dog” by Mac DeMarco and Amy Winehouse’s cover of “Valerie.”
Wilsie emphasized how music provides someone with a supporting and therapeutic way to deal with their emotions.
“As far as the on-campus goes, college students are really stressed all the time, so music can be a really quick and easy outlet,” Wilsie said.
Daughters said that as a music therapy major, music is a way to demonstrate what she has been working on in her academics and is rewarding to perform in a non-academic setting.
Another performer, junior Allison O’Connor, walked up to the mic with guitar in hand to perform “Motion Sickness” by Phoebe Bridgers.
O’Connor explained the importance of expression in music whether it is when she is performing or listening to music.
“One thing I look for in music I listen to is vulnerability, so not necessarily whether I can relate to it or not, but when a songwriter is honest about what they are writing about is really beautiful,” O’Connor said.
“I think honesty kind of transcends whatever specific situation the writer is writing about and I think that really touches me.”
The open mic did not just feature musical performances. Just like emotions, there are different ways people express themselves. One of these ways being poetry.
Camilo Castro, a senior at SPU, read original poems about before and after one finds love.
Through writing poems, Castro expresses his ability to process what he is going through in life, such as the poem he read about love.
“I think a lot of it is introspective,” Castro said. “I just like to really question where feelings come from and why we are feeling them and then just putting it down on paper helps me actualize and legitimize what I am feeling.”
KSPU intended for this event to be a way to provide students a space to express themselves whether it is through poetry or music.
“I’m just super comfortable with performing. It is something that I always love doing, something that is not only a lot of fun, but something that I can really be myself. It kinda helps me be like most comfortable,” Wilsie said.