Events

Performing for Peace and Justice: 7th Annual poetry/music contest

April 16, 2015 7 – 9 p.m.

Nazareth College’s Maison Française will host the seventh annual poetry and music competition, Writing for Peace and Justice on April 16 at 7:00 p.m.

  • Keynote: Monica Weis, Ph.D., English professor emerita, will present the opening speech, Witness to Freedom. This theme is borrowed from a volume by poet Thomas Merton, whose centennial is celebrated this year, and who will be the leading poetic figure of the 2015 contest.
  • Competition: Students recite original poetry, read poems from their favorite poets, or perform music, about what being a witness to freedom means to their lives. The competition is open to the English, French, and Spanish languages this year.
  • Participating educational institutions so far include: Brockport College, Canisius College, Eastman School of Music, Monroe Community College, Nazareth College, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, St. John Fisher, SUNY Geneseo. Participating high schools include Allendale, Aquinas Institute, Brighton, Eastridge, Fairport Central, McQuaid, Rush-Henrietta, and Williamson. 
  • Performance: The Franco-American choir will perform four freedom songs while the jury deliberates.
  • Awards: Students will receive awards during a post-competition reception, open to all who attend. More than 300 contestants and guests attended in 2014.

Deadline to enter: April 10. Registration form and information.

About the speaker: During her years at Nazareth, Dr. Monica Weis SSJ created and taught many different courses, such as the short story, world literature, American and British romanticism, American colonial literature, American nature writers, freshmen writing, advanced composition, rhetoric and technical writing. For over twenty-five years she directed the English education program. Most recently she was the director of the Master in Liberal Studies Program, an interdisciplinary graduate program that broadened the interests of more than 100 professionals and prepared them to make a difference in their work environment. On a scholarly level, Dr. Weis has presented papers at national and international conferences, conducted workshops on writing across the disciplines, and published widely various literary themes, including  the Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton.  Her most recent books are Thomas Merton's Gethsemani: Landscapes of Paradise and The Environment Vision of Thomas Merton.

The poetry contest is sponsored by Maison Française in partnership with the Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures Department, Center for Spirituality, and the French Club, all at Nazareth College. Partners in the community include the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), Alliance rançaise de Rochester (AFR) and the Rennes-Rochester Sister City Committee (RRSCC).

Mireille Le Breton: mlebret5@naz.edu, 585-389-2685.