Keenan Donath
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Poetry event “Humble Me” is coming to Downtown Boba on Friday. “Humble Me” will be a night filled with spoken word performances aiming to highlight and celebrate the cultural differences that make every person unique. It will be hosted alongside Art After Dark and take place on June 6 at 6 p.m.
Besides free food and drink, the night will feature performances from Cal Poly students and alumni, including members from the acclaimed Cal Poly Writers Collective. The pieces of original poetry aim to enlighten listeners to cross-cultural differences and gain a deeper respect for different ethnicities.
“The poems will celebrate the beauty of individual cultures, commenting on cultural misunderstandings and hoping to provide a new sense of cultural appreciation and humility as we continue living in culturally diverse world,” co-host and communication studies senior Matthew Mendoza said.
The idea for the spoken word came from Mendoza, communication studies senior Cori Sherman and communication studies senior Amanda Arimura for their senior project.
“I took a (communication studies) course on intercultural communication in Fall 2013 that made me realize I was subconsciously categorizing many cultures apart from my own as ‘weird’ because of my human tendency to be centered in my own culture,” Sherman said. “Our hope with ‘Humble Me’ is for others to have a similar experience as I did when listening to the performances and desire to shift their mindset to one that views other cultures as unique, but equal to their own.”
For civil engineering sophomore Diana Orozco, the decision to attend was an easy one.
“I really enjoy spoken word poetry, in general,” Orozco said. “But I was most intrigued by the topic of the event.”