Students and faculty gathered in the Peeler auditorium on Sunday evening to listen to and appreciate the words of Sarah Gerkensmeyer. Her attendance was supported by DePauw’s Kelly Writers series. The Kelly writers series is a present given by the James and Marilou Kelly family, providing a free reading of various types of literature to the public.
Gerkensmeyer is a 2001 DePauw alumna. She received her M.F.A from Cornell University shortly thereafter. Gerkensmeyer is happily married with her husband, a man she met while in an English writing class at DePauw with Professor Eugene Gloria.
Associate professor of English Barbara Bean and Professor of English Joe Heithaus praised Gerkensmeyer in their introductions at the beginning of the night. After taking center stage behind the podium for just a few minutes, Heithaus exclaimed, “be prepared to be dazzled," adding that Gerkensmeyer's unique voice and pieces of work are both “real and unreal” compositions.
Gerkensmeyer began her talk with a poem from Heithaus, which led to a reading from her own work, including "Produce," "Monster Drinks Chocolate Milk" and "Ramona." Common themes in Gerkensmeyer’s works consist of love and care between people, internal personal problems, ethical issues and courageous questions one asks while growing up.
Gerkensmeyer spoke with an admirable amount of confidence and self worth. Often times, she made significant eye contact with her audience members, asked questions of her listeners, and revisited stories of her past. Gerkensmeyer was grateful for the opportunity to share her work and was sincerely respectful of everyone’s time on a Sunday night.
Alli Dennie, a sophomore and biology major, chose to take a study break from her regular science homework and attend the talk with a couple friends. While Dennie does not consider herself a writer, she found herself inspired by Gerkensmeyer's readings.
“I loved her piece 'Monster Drinks Chocolate Milk,'” she said. “I am not a writer by any means, but Gerkensmeyer made me want to write and explore the words of others more frequently. ...it was really nice to escape the stress of all my homework and relax in Peeler."
After attending this Kelly Writers series speaker, Dennie finds herself itching to go to more, and to bring her friends.
“Sarah Gerkensmeyer was both comical and honest with her poems and short stories,” she said. “Everyone should try and put out the effort to go to the Kelly Writers series speakers… I wish I went to more.”
With only two Kelly Writers series speakers left in this academic year, everyone should try to make the time to unwind and reflect with these visiting influential writers and learn from their words.