Students gathered around the Elrod Commons fireplace last Thursday night, Feb. 1, for performances during campus literary magazine Ampersand’s open mic night.

Co-editor-in-chief Stephanie Chung, ‘18, said she was excited that the first open mic event of the year attracted new people and hopes to continue the momentum.

“We’re glad to see so many people show up who weren’t a part of Ampersand,” Chung said.

The guest reader was Seth Michelson, a Spanish professor and poet who also specializes in feminist poetry translation. He read selected poems from books from Argentina, Uruguay and India he had translated.

Jack Cleghorn, ‘21, sang and played an acoustic version of “Indian Summer” by the indie pop band Beat Happening on his guitar.

“I like playing music for people,” Cleghorn said. “I was shaking through it, but you have to just power through it.”

Ten other performers were also moved to take the mic, including five members of Professor Lesley Wheeler’s creative writing poetry class, English 204. Joëlle Simeu, ‘20, Laura Bruce, ‘20, Josette Corazza, ‘20, Grace Anne Holladay, ‘21 and Tate Mikkelsen, ‘20 performed a litany poem together, each taking turns repeating the phrase “I secretly think…” with their own lines.

Formerly known as Muse, the student-run literary magazine annually publishes student art, music and writings. Its next submission period runs through February 26.