The faculty and students gathered around the Commons area to hear talented musicians perform on Dec. 1 when the Literary & Arts Magazine Club organized and hosted Coffeehouse.
The performances included solo student artists, student bands and a capella groups. “The event was really fun; everyone ate sacks and drank coffee and tea. Everyone was pretty chill. My band October Night performed ‘Teenage Dream’ by Katy Perry with me as the singer, and my cousin Sam Camacho playing guitar. Then we had two other friends to help: Stephen Rosvo on bass and Bryan Lee on drums. It was a great opportunity to show my band to perform in front of everyone, and my band performed last year,” sophomore Anthony Rospigliosi said.
Junior Ritika Naiknavare also performed at Coffeehouse and thinks that the event is one of the best hosted by the school. “I performed ‘When I was your Man’ by Bruno Mars. There were performers and an audience that was eating and talking but also being respectful and listening when people performed. It was a lot chiller and less stress than the other events like TNL or POTH. It’s not a competition so there’s no pressure. The audience is really supportive and overall it’s a really fun experience,” Naiknavare said.
Junior co-editor-in-chief Elise Mitchell described the different duties she conducted in order to help the event be successful. “Along with the other editors in chief, I reviewed auditions, created the setlist, came up with decoration ideas and set everything up, located the equipment we needed, helped to create the advertisement and to sell tickets. It was a little stressful at times but it was worth it to see it all come together. The preparation definitely paid off because not only did it turn out better than expected it also gave us an opportunity to learn and improve on some of the mistakes we made. This is my first year playing a large role in organizing the event and it was definitely a learning experience,” Mitchell said.
Senior literary magazine staff member Avery Tarwater is an avid volunteer who has helped organize the event since his freshman year. “It’s one of my favorite parts of being on staff. I loved Coffeehouse this year; we had a fantastic turn out and I think everyone had a lot of fun. I helped with the tickets, baking food, and setting up the actual event by moving couches from all around the school and making sure the event ran smoothly. Organizing is so much fun. Preparation was a lot but the event looked better than it ever has in my opinion. Our next Coffeehouse is coming up in the spring, and will be better than this past one,” Tarwater said.
Along with hosting events such as Coffeehouse, the Literary & Arts Magazine Club discusses and selects student writing and artwork that will be published in Pulp. The magazine is a collection of poems and artwork, among other literary writings and is expected to be released in April. Information regarding purchasing the Lit Mag will be availiable later. Currently, students can submit to the magazine at [email protected].
“The LitMag is a wonderful opportunity for students to express themselves in ways beyond the scope of English class,” junior LitMag staff member Mina Senthil said. “ I encourage all students to get creative and submit to the magazine this year.”
Nitya Kumar
Commons Editor
