As part of Stockton University’s Visiting Writers Program, Murphy Writing of Stockton hosted a live poetry reading featuring one of New Jersey’s very own poets, Gregory Pardlo. Mr. Pardlo visited the campus on Monday, October 10, and read a series of poems from his latest poetry collection, titled Digest.

Mr. Pardlo’s poems spanned a variety of topics, from childhood to parenthood to everything in between. Pardlo read poems about his family – poems about his parents, his aunt, his daughters – about his life as a kid, and about his newfound life as a parent. His poem’s worked in a variety of references both from history and popular culture, from Freud and Nietzsche to Prince and Arthur Ashe.

After reading about a dozen poems from his book, Mr. Pardlo opened up the event to an open discussion on poetry and writing. The discussion turned out to be just as interesting, as Mr. Pardlo was very open and charismatic while talking to the students in attendance. Questions were asked about Mr. Pardlo’s writing strategies, his family, and his first experiences writing poems. The most interesting question asked regarded what inspired him to become a writer. Mr. Pardlo responded saying that a copy of “Rolling Stone” magazine featuring Eddie Murphy on the cover was one of his first inspirations to begin writing, because he loved Eddie Murphy and wanted to become an entertainer like him.

After the question and answer session ended, the reading ended, with students told that copies of Pardlo’s book were for sale outside the theater. My friend and I left the theater and bought a copy of the book. While we paid for the book, Mr. Pardlo came out and sat next to the line, ready to talk to the students and sign copies of his book. Once I bought my copy, I went over to Mr. Pardlo and had him sign my book. We both grew up in the same area, so we discussed summer jobs at Wawa’s and Six Flags while reminiscing about the Jackson and New Egypt area.

Overall, the reading was very enjoyable, and I look forward to attending many more in the future.

– Dan Tidcombe

On September 15th, 2016, Stockton’s Political Science Department hosted a question and answer panel featuring the nine Stockton students who had the opportunity to be interns at both the Republican National Convention (RNC) and the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The RNC took place between July 18th and July 21st, and featured two Stockton students interning. The DNC had a total of seven Stockton students in attendance, and took place between July 25th and July 28th. The panel opened with each student introducing themselves and listing what their responsibilities at their conventions were. Responsibilities ranged from arranging seats and interning at CNN during the DNC to running the shuttle services at the hotel for the RNC. One student was even able to attend the DNC’s caucasus, where important politicians such as Elizabeth Warren decide policy platforms with state delegations.

Once the students finished listing off their responsibilities, they were asked questions by the two panel moderators, Professor Michael Rodriguez and Professor Claire Abernathy. Participants were asked about what the point of a convention is, and the responses varied based on which convention was attended. The consensus from the DNC was that the convention is “essentially advertising” for the candidates, while the two RNC students believed that the convention served as a “unifying factor” for the party. The questions only got more difficult from there, however, many of the students were Political Science majors, making them amply ready to field anything thrown their way. When asked about “voting your conscience” versus “the lesser of two evils” approach to this election, the panel said that if you live in one of the “hardline” states that always vote one way or the other, then you “have every right” to vote your conscience. However, if you’re in a swing state, they said, then the “lesser of two evils” approach is how you should enter the voting booth. 110 electoral votes lie within  the eight swing states, meaning voters in these states hold the most power.

After the questions, panelists presented a slideshow of photos from both conventions, which featured pictures of the students at the conventions, including pictures of students on the convention floor with important figures of each political party. The panel was then open for questions from the audience to ask questions, Once the students answered all the questions, the panel concluded with the panelists and moderators urging everyone to go out and vote in November, because “once they see that young people are coming out to vote, they’ll start to cater to us”.

Overall, the panel was very enjoyable and offered valuable information to students at Stockton. Hopefully, Stockton will continue to offer events like these and students will continue to come out and become more politically active.

– Dan Tidcombe