Around two dozen people, mostly students, of California State University, Monterey Bay stopped by El Centro on Thursday, Nov. 30, for a bowl of hot pozole at an event organizers titled “Poetry and Pozole.” Alongside the Mexican soup, a holiday staple for some families, was an abundance of toppings like chopped cabbage, radishes, and onion. There was also chips and guacamole, and refreshments to wash it all down.
Pozole was not the only thing served at this event – there was also a hefty helping of Latinx poetry being played for students to listen to from the comfort of couches, beanbags and stools.
The event was originally pitched by humanities and communication lecturer Rachelle Escamilla. Escamilla reached out to El Centro to organize the event as an introduction to poetry for students; unfortunately, she was unable to attend.
“[Rachelle Escamilla is] Chicana, she has worked as a poet, she has her own YouTube [channel] where she does her slam poetry and she thought [this event] would be a great break from finals, since everybody’s probably stressing about that,” said Guadalupe Barragan, a third-year student-organizer who serves as the multicultural event planner at El Centro.
“[Escamilla] was my professor last semester, and I wanted to support her and listen to her,” said third-year Hannah Sprotte. “I love pozole, and I love writing, so I wanted to come to a writing event and get some pozole – it all just worked out.”
A majority of students who attended ended up talking amongst themselves, finding new connections within their community and subsequently drowning out the poetry. However, there was still a group of students who joyfully collected together to watch the poetry.
“I really enjoy poetry and the arts,” said third-year Nicole Salinas-Gonzalez. “I have a couple [of] poems myself … the aspect of pouring yourself inward in a meaningful way and having other people experience that too is really powerful for me.”