By: Julia Watson
Pen and Sword President Ariana Alvarado performs her piece, “Poems for Alexander.”
Bellarmine students shared their literary works at the Holiday Banquet on Thursday in Frazier Hall.
Pen and Sword put on the event and was started by the current president of the organization, Ariana Alvarado. According to Organizational Director Nicky Peck, it is a literary community on campus that is intended for the students to have a space to come together and share their work.
Peck plans to leave Pen and Sword leadership after the semester ends, so this event was ultimately put together as a send-off for her and to share the students’ pieces.
“I wanted to do something that I thought would be really meaningful and really exciting, and I wanted to have a very formal event where we could come together to honor people’s literary accomplishments,” Peck said.
Peck said the works looked “deeply at what it means to be human and what it means to live our reality together in community.”
The works shared included mostly poems and some short stories.
Alvarado said it was a good opportunity to show polished work.
“Usually, we’re just talking back and forth and showing our drafts. We never get to really see what happens with our finished work,” she said.
She also said the event was a showcase on what the students have been doing on campus.
“It’s really good to just show them that they have been doing things,” Alvarado said.
“Something comes out of all the passion and all the time they’re putting in, and they get to share that with all the other people on campus that have been with them along the way.”
Junior Savannah Bloom performed a poem titled “Noise Storm,” and she said she wrote it over winter break last year. She said it was the perfect piece to show to the audience because the weather is getting colder.
“I wanted to do something that classmates and other members of the club hadn’t heard before, and I thought it was suitable for the event,” she said.
Bloom said she enjoyed hearing the works being read in front of other people.
She said, “It’s really different to hear people read their work aloud versus just reading it on your own. I liked there was that moment of connection.”
Bloom also said it was “nerve-racking” to get on the stage, but it was ultimately a good experience.
“Once you start reading it just feels really comfortable. I feel like part of the human condition is the natural desire to want to share your work with other people, and so it’s just really gratifying and satisfying to have that moment,” she said.
Senior Tucker Shuff performed a short story titled “Nancy Was There,” and he also said performing to the audience was satisfying, even though it did feel scary.
“It was good to get that fix of performing on a stage especially when it’s something you’ve written on your own,” Shuff said. “There’s a bit of paralyzing fear, but getting over that is a very exhilarating and fulfilling experience, especially for a creative.”
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