By Steven Katona<\/p>\n
The monotony of a class lecture seems atrocious when there\u2019s an assumption that professors don\u2019t practice what they preach. As many found out during a recent faculty-hosted event, these notions are often unjustified.<\/p>\n
At the Writers\u2019 Happy Hour, sponsored by Daytona State College\u2019s School of Humanities and Communication, students and faculty gathered to appreciate the written work of its teaching staff. Poems, short stories and even the first chapter of a book were read to the audience at the Madorsky Theater, in the Hosseini Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo often, students know us from the classroom or the Writing Center, or the library, and don’t know that we are professional writers, as well as instructors and researchers,\u201d said Dr. Michelle Lee, coordinator of the event. \u201cJessica Kester and I just thought this experience would show another side of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cHappy Hour Specials\u201d \u2500 the clever name of the set list \u2500 mainly consisted of poetry and none got more laughs than DSC English Professor Frank Gunshanan\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The wit and honesty with which he wrote left smiles on the faces of many audience members.<\/p>\n
\u201cLoving you is like watching the porno channel we don\u2019t get,\u201d said Gunshanan, reading from his poem \u201cChannel 58.\u201d He made many more puns throughout his set. All of which were received with roars of laughter.<\/p>\n
Not all of the works were funny like Gunshanan\u2019s though. The writing was as diverse as the dais. Some were sincere, while others were humble. One was even about a potato. Yet, Dr. Lee\u2019s message was clear. They could all write and do so frequently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’d like this to be a series, perhaps annually, or one a semester, with different faculty and staff members in the spotlight,\u201d said Lee. \u201cJessica Kester, Frank Gunshanan, and I are trying to jumpstart a Writers’ Club for students here, so if the students wanted to coordinate their own ‘Happy Hour,’ we’d be happy to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kester said the College does have creative writing courses offered on campus each semester. In conjunction with the Writers\u2019 Club, she hopes to have students \u201cat the mic\u201d in the future. In the past, Kester has featured the best submissions from her own writing courses and showcased students’ work at the Madorsky.<\/p>\n
With luck, the Happy Hour proved to those students in attendance that the title of a professor is not just a symbolic piece of paper. It is also given to those who spend their lives crumbling up scratched-out notebook paper in search of the perfect way to express their world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Steven Katona The monotony of a class lecture seems atrocious when there\u2019s an assumption that professors don\u2019t practice what they preach. As many found out during a recent faculty-hosted event, these notions are often unjustified. At the Writers\u2019 Happy Hour, sponsored by Daytona State College\u2019s School of Humanities and Continue reading Professors encourage students to write<\/span>