Last week here at VSU, students celebrated National Library Week. Odum Library hosted a series of events to help promote reading and learning at an early age. One of these events included Read Fest 2010. This annual event in its fourth year was hosted by Odum Library along with the College of Education and took place last Friday on the back lawn of the library. Many different fun and educational activities took place, such as read-a-louds and puppet shows.
“Libraries are at the heart of every community,” Laura Wright, Marketing Director for Odum Library, said in a recent interview.
In honor of NLW (National Library Week), Odum Library hosted a poetry reading featuring Valdosta’s own poetry group, Poetic Magic. Last Saturday, faculty, staff and students were invited to attend the Poetry Café, which featured the readings of Poetic Magic. Poetic Magic is comprised of high school and college age poets who travel around Georgia to share their words.
Poetic Magic’s activities include performing for others, service projects, field trips, skits, plays and attending festivals. “Lyrical Drive By” is a favorite group activity for this poetry group. In this activity, the members of Poetic Magic get in their vehicles and drive around the city and stop in random places like hair salons and barber shops to share their unique poetry.
Poetic Magic is also known for their entertaining ways of expressing their feelings. They don’t always use words to illustrate their poetry. At times, they use their voices. To be more specific, they use music. They are known for their refreshingly unique R&B poetic songs, as wells as some songs that are popular like “Killing Me Softly” by The Fugees. This group of intellectuals hasn’t just performed around this South Georgia town, but all over the state. They have performed at different places such as the Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta and at Teen’s Night Out in Macon.
The goal of Poetic Magic runs parallel to the goal of National Library week, which is to inspire thought, reading, writing, and listening. If you missed the latest poetry reading last week, don’t worry because you have plenty of chances to catch them again. Stay updated by visiting their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Poetic-Magic-Valdosta-GA. Also, every third Thursday of the month, the group sponsors an Open Mic Night for poetry at McMullen Southside Library at 527 Griffin Ave. from 7-9 p.m.
Tags 2009-2010 2010-04-22 Mallory McLendon
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