Boxcar Voices Group To Host Poetry, Spoken Word Holiday Event Dec. 7

Dec. 06, 2011

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

FLORENCE, Ala. - Organizers of the Boxcar Voices spoken word and poetry group encourage University of North Alabama students and community members to wear their tackiest holiday sweaters while supporting local storytelling and artistic expression at The End in downtown Florence Dec. 7 at 9:30 p.m. Established by UNA students Andy Thigpen and Juliann Losey in March, the Boxcar Voices group hosts monthly open-mic spoken word events that give writers a forum to share their stories, poems and other forms of written expression. The events exist to facilitate inspiration and provide an environment for writers to comfortably convey their art with others who share the same interests. "As far as creative outlets, there's not a whole lot of that here," Thigpen said. "For creative people, there's not enough for them here. I hope this event will one day be able to house a lot of creative activity because we need that here and because we also have this huge history of creativity in the area." Organizers hope attendees will share stories and memories from past Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Solstice events, as well as any happy, sad, funny, romantic, unusual or awkward stories about the season, family or holiday traditions. Thigpen said the Boxcar Voices advocates local storytelling and will hopefully continue to grow organically in the Shoals area. "We don't want it to just be a singer/songwriter type of event," he said. "We want to focus our energy on storytelling, poetry, spoken word, oral tradition and slam." Admission to the Boxcar Voices event will cost $2 per attendee, with half of proceeds going to the student-formed group to plan future activities and the other half to the theater for facilitating the event. In early November, the Boxcar Voices, in conjunction with the UNA Department of English, brought professional poets Regie Cabico and J.T. Bullock to campus, who performed slam-style poetry in the Guillot University Center Atrium. Cabico, of Washington, D.C., is the winner of a number of poetry awards, including the 1993, 1994 and 1997 National Poetry Slams. He also appeared for two seasons on HBO's Def Poetry Slam. For more information about the event, contact organizer Andy Thigpen at pathigpen@una.edu. To learn more about The End, visit www.theendoftheatre.org.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.