English holds celebration, reading event
0Written by Derek Keller
The English department hosted a reading in order to celebrate the humanities and especially English majors during Homecoming weekend. It was held in the Allara Library and designed to show the power of art and show how reading and writing is a source of nourishment of the mind.
The event was open to the public, and had two well-known authors of Appalachia read and showcase their talents.
The first of the two performers was alumna Tiffany M. Williams. Williams performed a song titled the “Devil’s Waltz”, and another song about the place she was raised.
“Williams performed with passion. I really enjoyed it. You were able to relate with her to some extent and get a feel for what she was saying,” Austin Thacker, junior, said.
Williams also read from a short story that is still in progress titled the “Murmeration.”
Williams graduated from the University of Pikeville in 2005 and obtained her master’s from Eastern Tennessee State University in 2008.
The second performer presented was Jesse Graves. Graves is a multi-award winning poet that currently is a professor at Eastern Tennessee State University.
Graves read from three books, all of which contained poems that he had written based from his experiences, where he grew up, family, and feelings. He used his emotions, feelings, and life lessons to base his work.
Graves said that one of the big major themes in his writing, and his influence for writing was recollecting things. Graves went on to say that the word recollect literally means to “gather things in.”
Experiences are all shared to an extent, and we are not alone. We can learn from each other’s experiences, relate to them, and that allows us to grow, he explained.