Spring 2012 • - College of Humanities and Social Sciences - Indiana ...

Smith and Lamont in their favorite
Monday night hot spot
The crowd at open mic can get a little fiesty!
“I love that I get the chance to
see what kinds of things IUP has
to offer beneath the surface.”
Tia Smith (senior, Early Childhood and Elementary
Education major, Martinsburg, Pa) and Abby Lamont
(senior, Human Resource Management and Operations
Management major, Meadville, Pa) have been going to
Open Mic Night since they were sophomores at IUP.
Open Mic Night is something they “always look forward
to.”
“I go to Open Mic because I love music,” said Lamont
outside of the doors to the Delaware Room. “It’s something
fun to do on a Monday night.”
Smith firmly believes that Open Mic Night is a valued
program at IUP.
“I absolutely think that open mic is a great thing for all
colleges to have,” she said, emphasizing her points with
wild gesticulation. “ I think its wonderful that students
of different majors and walks of life can get up in front of
a group of people and express themselves.”
Lamont emphatically
agreed, smiling.
“Plus,” she said with a grin,
“it something that will keep
people out of trouble, away
from drinking and drugs.”
If you were to take a walk
through the Delaware room
at 7:30 p.m. on a Monday
night, you would encounter a
very diverse crowd of individuals.
When you first walk into the Hadley Union Building’s
northern entrance, you are likely to see a guitarist or too
sitting in the atrium, tuning their six-strings away from
the noise. Another five steps and you might see someone
in front of the Delaware Room’s doors, speaking loudly
into their phone because they aren’t far enough away
from the heightened volume. Then you enter the room
and are instantly immersed in the mood of Open Mic
Night.
In the back of the room, you have the people who come
for someone else, just to be supportive. Maybe you’ll talk
to someone on their way to, or from, the HUB Fitness
Center who happened to step in and find out what was
going on. As you move forward, you reach the first cluster
of tables that is probably occupied by a group waiting
to take their turn at the mic. Past them you have the fans
who come for the free food and stay for one or two acts
before heading home to study.
Then, you find yourself at the front of the crowd,
where the true lovers of live entertainment take their
seats. Every chair in these foremost clusters of tables is
facing the stage. They might talk occasionally, or be
Spring 2012 Lights! Campus! Action! 13