West High’s Grapevine magazine and the Banned Book Club combined to host an open mic session May 19, held in the student commons after school. 18 students read their works, ranging from poetry to prose, with many more in attendance. Banned Book Club co-founder Aahana Gupta ’27 believes that the event provides students with an opportunity to share their work.
“It’s really important because it allows people to share their poetry, especially for people that aren’t in an English class where that’s part of the curriculum. We didn’t really do that in English 9, so for freshmen, they get the opportunity [to share. The Open Mic is also [for] people that like writing poetry and want to share it somewhere,” Gupta said. “I think that it helps people get more interested in potentially taking creative writing classes in the future.”
Joaquin Gomez ’26 attended the event and shared a short story they wrote titled “Run it Again.” Gomez explains their passion for writing and what sharing their work meant to them.
“I’ve wanted to write since I was little. I always liked reading, and my parents really encouraged it from early on,” Gomez said. “[Writing] was something that bubbled up in middle school, and when I got to high school, I really got to start exploring it through poetry and short fiction.”
As a continuation of last year’s open mic, Gupta notes how this year’s open mic event had greater attendance due to increased advertising and accessibility.
“We definitely tried to advertise it a lot more, especially on our Instagram and by word of mouth, compared to last year. Last year, we had it at the library, and I think having it at the school definitely helped get more people, because people were walking by and decided to join,” Gupta said.
One of Gupta’s favorite aspects of the open mic event includes giving students an opportunity to express themselves and voice their feelings through poetry and free speech.
“They’re so creative. I feel like I could not write poems that are that good, so I like getting to hear what everyone has been working on, and especially getting to see different sides of people. [Notably], making sure that people can share their ideas, because the whole point of free speech is so that people can share their ideas and hear about things from other perspectives,” Gupta said.
Gupta mentions that Banned Book Club and Grapevine will be hosting another open mic next year and increasing student involvement, as poetry provides a unique opportunity to cover topics from banned books.
“A lot of the perspectives that are covered in banned books are also talked about in these homes and things that people are discussing at the open mic,” Gupta said.
Gomez loves attending open mic events and admires the diverse range of people the events bring in.
“This sort of event is really cool, because it allows a lot of different people to come together and really share different perspectives and ideas,” Gomez said. “Art is something that unites everyone, and I think it is really cool that at West we have this opportunity to hear from so many different people and hear all this amazing art, to make this one event that is, I think, really beautiful.”
Information about future open mic events can be found on Grapevine’s Instagram account, @grapevinelitmag.
