Students packed into the back of South’s library on December 16th for the zenith of arts and literary celebration, the Metotep Coffeehouse.

The award-winning Metotep magazine, created by South students, has been bringing the community back in touch with the roots of humanity since it was first established.

Desire, anger, hope, grief, and beauty formed the vivid spectrum of emotions that were brought to life during the Coffeehouse. Poems, songs, paintings, and concertos encapsulated the human experience and brought the coffee-drinkers in awe.

“Most staff members prepared poetry or music to perform. We all help to bring in food and make posters,” says editor Kathryn Wang about the teamwork required to make the Coffeehouse, representing the cohesive body of South’s students and staff, possible.

“Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night,” read by Azad Niroomand; “Riptide,” sung by Sara Gingras and Lexi Thammavong, and “The door ajar…” read by Maya Tsvetkova, represented a tiny fraction of the diverse creativity shared at the Metotep Coffeehouse.

Enthusiastic snaps, the preferred display of appreciation at poetry readings, echoed long after the speakers’ voices and instruments’ notes had faded.

“We sent customized invitations to people who were published in last year’s magazine, as well as people we thought might be interested in coming,” Kathryn says. However, Metotep’s staff is certainly familiar with putting in the effort to achieve results. Every issue of Metotep is designed, curated, and publicized by the organization. Past concepts have included seasons, the galaxy, and Dante’s Divine Comedy. Every detail, down to the very color scheme of the issue, is carefully selected.

Not only was the Coffeehouse a transformative experience for the community but also for individual students. “It was a good experience to force myself into because I’m very shy, especially in front of big groups of people,” says Maya Tsvetkova. A junior at South, Maya read the poem “The door ajar…” in flowery Russian, exposing peers to an international touch of artistic humanity.

The Coffeehouse reminded the community that arts and literature have an intertwined, irreplaceable role in preserving the culture of our shared world.  Metotep’s next Coffeehouse is planned to take place in mid-April.

Don’t miss out on this artistic literary celebration!