Loaves and Fishes Writers' Harvest Extra Credit

I thoroughly enjoyed the Loaves and Fishes Writers’ Harvest last night.  Although it was extra credit, I left feeling like my time was well spent.  Last semester, I went to a similar event during Clemson’s Literary Festival in which poems were read in various languages.  I have always enjoyed reading, writing, and basically all aspects of English, so it was wonderful to listen to writers read their own beautiful works of art.  John Pursley III kicked it all off with his poems written from Western movies.  By taking something that had already been created and making something unique to his own style, he really allowed his passion towards writing to shine through.  Lindsey Jones took the stage next, reading a piece about a little Haitian girl she took care of while in America for corrective leg surgery.   I really liked this one.  It was very personal for her, and I loved hearing about her experience.  The next reader, Steve Catz, was a character.  I honestly spent more time admiring his outlandish outbursts than I did concentrating on his poems.   He certainly was a memorable man who was obviously very enthusiastic about his work.  The last speaker before the intermission, Keith Lee Morris, read what, in my opinion, was the most appropriate short story for the audience.  His story concerning two guys that were freshmen roommates was very entertaining.  The entire crowd was intrigued, enjoying his delivery, as well as the impossible events that he conveyed through his outrageous story.  I really liked the part about Ray Charles coming to stay with them, as well as the part depicting a battle of toy soldiers.  I really hated to see so many people leave during intermission; perhaps next year they should consider not having one to encourage higher attendance in the second half.  When Jillian Weise read her poem about Zahra Baker, I was impressed with how she related her life and disabilities to the situation.  I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard about this case, being a South Carolina resident, and was very interested in what Oberdan had to say about it.  Afterwards, Jillian Weise read several of her poems.  My favorite one was “Pinecone”.  From there, my professor Alexander Kudera shared a piece from his novel “Fight For Your Long Day”.  I was so excited to see him read an excerpt from his book because he had mentioned it a few times during class.  I really liked how he said he went against a “writing no no” and wrote about writing.  However, the section he read depicted his relationship with his father and his opinion about his father’s efforts in finding a job.  All in all, I thought this was a wonderful presentation by several very talented writers, with the proceeds going to an awesome cause.