On Wednesday, Feb. 11, the Wayne State College Press hosted an open mic night at The Max Bar and Grill in Wayne to encourage submissions for the Judas Goat, the organization’s literary magazine. While submissions are now closed, the event was able to draw other poets and writers from WSC to share their work.
The event itself ran from 7:30p.m. to 9:30p.m., allowing time for many different voices and styles at the mic. The quick performances ranged from poetry and slam poems to fictional stories and works of creative nonfiction.
Graduate assistant for the WSC Press, Holly Tomcak, has been working on and off for the WSC Press for the past three years now in different positions. Tomcak started here at WSC as an undergraduate student, finishing her degree last year and continuing her education in the Humanities department under advisory of Professor Chad Christiansen. She has been running, watching, and sharing her work at poetry slams, fiction slams and open mic nights hosted by the Press for the past few years.
“The Judas Goat is part of the press, but its student run,” said Tomcak. “The editing and publishing class is in charge of and running everything.”
Students are responsible for making sure the publication is put together and edited on time, requiring responsibilities outside their regular classwork. Under the guidance of Chad Christiansen, the Judas Goat is published once a year.
According to Tomcak, the purpose of the open mic night is to represent not only the publication of the Judas Goat from the student-run press but also the individual voices of students at WSC. The Judas Goat is an opportunity for young writers and poets to have their work published in a literary magazine.“Part of the whole reason we’re doing this open mic is because the Judas Goat is publishing at the end of the semester,” Tomcak said.
Liam Hilbers, a current senior majoring in English and journalism has also been participating in these events for as long as he has been attending WSC. As a long-time writer, Hilbers shares much of his work with the community through the open mic nights.
“The best part is probably getting to see a bunch of other people perform their works. I really like seeing new people the most,” Hilbers said. “It’s nice to visit with friends who typically are in the goat, but I always want [the] Goat to be bigger, so I want new people to submit to it.”
