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Amy Lishangdhang, a sophomore at Syracuse University, stood in the echoing atrium of the Life Sciences Complex and recited a poem to the “Wor(l)ds of Love” event attendees. She read a Korean poem about love, her first time reading the language aloud since starting to learn it.

“I was so nervous but I think (the poem) has a really deep meaning,” Lishangdhang said. “I am really happy to have this chance to read this poem.”

The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and commemorating the milestone with events like Wednesday’s “Wor(l)ds of Love” — a creative forum where undergraduate, graduate, part-time and full-time students could recite poems, music and verses.

Gail A. Bulman, a Spanish professor and the department’s chair, created the event a decade ago to cultivate an inclusive campus community for international and North American students who speak other languages.

“The purpose of the event is to celebrate peace and love in the world by focusing on reciting poetry or music or a verse in different languages,” Bulman said.

The event has been hosted in different places on campus throughout the years. This year, the language department team chose the Life Sciences Atrium, which prompted students to listen to the recited poetry before or after a class.

“It’s kind of a feel-good event,” Bulman said. “One goal is to highlight all of the wonderful linguistic diversity that we have on campus.”

The event proved to be a helpful avenue for learning and education, as it aided Professor Patricia Ann Burak in exploring poetry with her Russian literature course.

Burak and a few of her students recited translated literature from the book “The Poems of Doctor Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak. The different languages and cultures being shared in the space encourage students to learn about their peers and to teach people about the different forms of literary expression, Burak said.

“We want to show value and appreciation for diverse cultures and diverse languages,” Bulman said. “We want to emphasize world peace and harmony and love.”

Students had creative freedom when deciding how to share their chosen art piece, Burak said. Poems can be read by a single student, a few students or a whole class. Original poetry is accepted but so are readings of published works. Typically, anywhere between 60 to 100 poems are recited, Burak said.

“This is just a love of poetry and an opportunity for people to get together and hear poems in their own language and in other languages,” Burak said.

For a lot of students and faculty, Burak added that the event is an escape from the ongoing hardships of reality and an opportunity to release some of their qualms with the world. It is a temporary safe space where people can share their thoughts through their culture and language.

“The written word and the musical word gives us another way to live life without having to be hampered by the tediousness of some of what’s going on in reality,” Burak said.

Published on February 14, 2024 at 10:47 pm