The Creative Society hosted Mocha Madness Thursday, April 26 in the Patio Café. Shannon Stivison, this year’s Mistress of Madness, began the night by introducing student poets.  

   The students’ poetry did not do much to inspire me. Most did not suffer from bad poetry though; most simply lacked the stage presence and pomp that it takes to get in front of people and read well. 

   “Getting in front of people and reading your work is like exposing yourself, though you are not naked,” Stivison said.

   After the student poets finished, Jermaine Smiley sang and played the piano. Smiley’s skill definitely shed all of the bad vibes from the previous performances.  

   Shortly after Smiley’s performance yet another caught my attention. I heard the sound of Irish music and knew that it was time for one of the acts that I badly wanted to see. Emily Daniels danced to an Irish tune for our delight. 

   Stephanie Harper, senior, participated in her last Mocha this year and brought her original poems to say good-bye. After Harper’s last reading, James Bacon provided the music for the intermission.

   When the break finished, Brian Rauls and Chris Halley put on the highlight of the night, an improvisation on Taco Bell meeting the Discovery Channel. Halley played the typical fast-food slacker with dreams of stardom but a work ethic to go along with his extensive extracurricular activity, pot smoking. Rauls played a wide range of characters including Halley’s co-worker, Oprah Winfrey and the voice over guy. The crowd ate it up.

   After the Daring Duo left the stage, Ron Sitton, adviser for Student Publications, brought the house down with his original work and his rendition of “Dirty Laundry.” People yelled from the crowd to play more, but they had to wait the entire open mic session to hear Sitton play one last time.

   Other professors that performed were Mark Spencer, dean of arts and humanities, Diane Payne, advisor for the Foliate Oak, and Russ Nordeen, professor of micro-biology.

   “Each semester, Mocha Madness is one of the most important events on the UAM campus promoting the arts,” Spencer said. “At no other event that I’m aware of does a person in the Monticello community have the opportunity to enjoy an evening of dance, modeling, comic improvisation, poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, the visual arts and a variety of musical styles.  It’s such an important evening because it not only broadens our minds in terms of art but in terms of life.”

   A few acts after Sitton performed, Brooke Burger read a short narrative prose about life and the desire for a beer in a piece entitled “Discontented.”  She brought insight into her real life that many in the audience have never seen.

   Special Sanders, the last poet to read before open mic, stood head and shoulders from the other poets in her last performance at the university. Her poetry readings on love and lust and her narrative of her love of food and men brought the show to a climatic end.

   During the open mic session, the audience was treated to a collection of performers ranging from high school students to spouses of professors. Halley, inspired by the evening, rewrote a poem he made a few years ago and performed his original work for the first time in front of an audience. Sitton capped off the evening with another original piece.

   The event might not have been a wide success in some people’s eyes, but if it inspires just one person, like Halley, then the evening did its job.

   Other people contributing to the event included:

• Creative Society Adviser Gary Marshall, poetry and song
• Danielle Jones, poetry
• Alethea Mays-Dallas, drawings and poetry
• Leila Davis, fashion show
• Jim Barton, poetry
• Doug Mote, music
• Linna Jones, poetry
• Kyle Owen, music
• Caleb Burger, light dancing
• Lindseykay Turner
• Tom Richard, prose
• Stephanie Harper

   Special thanks to Randal Wilson for the baked goods, Brooke and Caleb Burger for the coffee and the Student Activities Board for the funding.