Nowadays, poetry seems to be looking for its place in mainstream culture. You see billboard poems like the ones of Robert Montgomery; Instapoets like R.M. Drake – who became famous (a retweeted-by-the-Kardashians kind of famous) and sold hundreds of thousands of books by combining lomo aesthetics, fancy typography, and relatable rhymes; you even see self-proclaimed “last poets on Earth” selling printed mugs and t-shirts quoting their own verses.

But what is the meaning of real poetry today? How do Shakespeare, Dante, Baudelaire, Bashō matter in our everyday lives? Is their art only for a few, or can anyone find something relatable about it?

In an attempt to answer this question, the Keck Center, in collaboration with the Office of International Student Services, will be hosting a casual “open mic” evening of poetry on Wednesday, April 6th at 4:30pm, in the terrace lounge of Lawrence Hall. The event is suitably titled International Poetry Day, as it will feature poems from Indonesia to Italy, from South Korea to Germany, from a variety of historical periods. Readers will comment briefly on the verses, explaining why they matter to them personally and in their cultural context.

If you want to read something from your favorite poet, in your own native language or one that you are studying – or even if you want to read your own poem! – please get in touch with any of the language interns. We will need the original text, as well as an English translation to display on the lounge TVs for the people who do not speak the language.

A dinner of Indian, Chinese and Brazilian food will be served. Don’t miss it!

Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.
Rita Dove

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Short film is an interesting medium. Its brevity forces directors to distill thoughts and ideas to their most essential form; its status of niche product makes it a great environment for experimentation; its lower production costs allow a vast number of young creatives with fresh ideas to approach this form of art.

Together with all the other language interns, in our role of “cultural ambassadors” at Colgate, we curated a selection of short films we will be screening in four separate events throughout the semester, the first one being this Thursday (January 28th) at 5:00PM in Lawrence 20. For each screening, we chose a broad theme and selected short films reflecting our own cultures: the first theme will be identity, in all of its shades (nationality, gender, ethnicity, profession, and so on).

The claim for this event could be speed dating ideas from around the world: in about one hour, we will confront ourselves with a variety of different takes on the notion of “identity”, watching a diverse and fast-paced series of works lasting from 2 to 15 minutes. For our first event, Russian and Italian food and snacks will be served at the end of the screening.

Here is the complete calendar of the festival (all four events will take place at 5:00PM in Lawrence 20):

1/28 Identity (food from Russia and Italy)
2/25 Memory (food from France and China)
3/24 Spirituality (food from Japan and Germany)
4/14 Conflict (food from Spain and the Middle East)

Don’t miss it!

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Last Saturday, on October 17th, the Keck Center hosted the installation ceremony for the Omicron Omega Chapter of the French Honor Society (Pi Delta Phi). The goal of this society is to recognize outstanding scholarship in the French language and its literature among students in the United States, as well as overall academic excellence. The motto of Pi Delta Phi is Probaínomen Diakritoi Philogálatoi which means Avançons, amis fidèles de la culture française (Forward, Faithful Friends of French Culture).

This afternoon was made possible by Professor Hélène Julien and Professor John Gallucci who both underlined the importance of such a society for the students as well as for the university.

President Jill Harsin took part in the ceremony and was able to tell us about her love for French history. She reminisced about her research work digging up archives in France to decipher what the clerks had written about in their cryptic handwritten manuscripts.

Under the direction of Dr. Eileen Angelini, Northeast Vice-President of Pi Delta Phi, the ceremony inducted several new members into Pi Delta Phi’s newest chapter:

Rachel E. Cohen

Elizabeth B. Hein

Matthew R. Miller

Christianna L. Mills

Hope R. Morrison

Mariam Nael

Danielle Elizabeth Norgren

Julia B. Norton

Hang Ren

Dana M. Smith

As well as these Honorary Members :

Jill Harsin

John A. Gallucci

Hélène M. Julien

Afterwards, we had the opportunity to enjoy two performances by some Colgate students of texts that were indirect references to the name of the chapter Omicron Omega and played on the idea of a big/small dichotomy.

First, Romy Zhang read one of Jean de La Fontaine’s fables: “Le Lion et le moucheron” that tells the tale of a battle between a mighty lion and a tiny fly. The morals of the story being that one should fear even the tiniest of enemies and also that one should never boast too much about their victories.

Then, Félix Taube read an extract of Voltaire’s Micromégas, an early work of science fiction in which gigantic aliens living around Saturn and Sirius take pity on the insignificant beings dwelling on planet Earth who seem to think that the entire universe is only meant for mankind.

Overall, this afternoon felt like a truly interesting glimpse into the realm of Honor Societies, which is something that is unknown to the French and seems inherently American.

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The Keck Center and the language interns hosted a foreign language karaoke night on Oct. 1. As you can see from the pictures, it was a lot of fun for everyone. We hope to repeat the event in the future.

The forgotten Spice Girl – Language Intern Spice

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The Keck Center will be hosting its first Language Exchange night. Come practice your language skills while helping others learn your languages. Anyone who speaks or is learning Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, or any other language is welcome.

Food will be provided as well as some conversation prompts to help focus on specific grammatical needs.

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