As UNC students stressfully check their class syllabi, cram for finals and secure summer plans, Southern Cultures Magazine is encouraging the community to take a break from the classroom and enjoy a different kind of lecture.
Southern Cultures Magazine hosted Poetry on the Porch on Tuesday at The Center for the Study of the American South, honoring the art of reading poetry and the importance of community in a space that protects the American South.
“It is at that point in the term where we are all stressed out of our gourds,” said Michael McFee, a UNC professor and longtime contributor to the magazine. “Everybody’s so overwhelmed with all the papers and exams — it would be a nice break from that particular kind of pressure.”
McFee shared a few short essays from his new collection, “Appointed Rounds.” He was be accompanied by former Southern Cultures Poetry Editor and UNC lecturer Michael Chitwood, who read selections from his new work “Search and Rescue.”
Known to many as the "Love House," The Center for the Study of the American South's famous wrap-around porch was built in the 1800s and has been coined the "University’s Front Porch" by its community, said Associate Director Patrick Horn.
The Love House is also home to Music on the Porch, a communal event dedicated to celebrating music in the South. Through both of these events, the Love House has become a space to share and savor art and culture.
“We love to celebrate creative expressions of southern culture, and music and poetry are two fun and exciting ways to do that,” Horn said. “The porch connects it all.”
Arts and humanities are an important part of the UNC experience. It is easy to get distracted and forget that the university is an artistic hub, assistant professor and current Southern Cultures Poetry Editor Gaby Calvocoressi said.
“There are so many great artists working on this campus,” Calvocoressi said. “This is one of those spaces where people can come together, listen to poems, see what people are making and be together.”
