On Monday, Sept. 19 Sigma Lambda Upsilon aka Senoritas Latinas Unidas sorority hosted a poetry night as their first event of the semester where anyone could join the organization to learn about Hispanic culture and get artistic.
The sorority has a national week of events called “RAICES.” One member of Sigma Lambda Upsilon stated that “RAICES translated means ‘roots;’ in the week of RAICES events, the organization celebrates the roots of Hispanic culture.”
It is important to the ladies of Sigma Lambda Upsilon that all look back on their Hispanic roots because they want to celebrate the women and men that started their heritage. It is essential to learn about one’s own and others’ heritage in order to appreciate where they are today.
Every year Sigma Lambda Upsilon picks a theme. According to their Instagram, this year’s chosen theme is “Poetry, Murals and Music: When Words Fall Short, Art Speaks.”
For the first event of the year, the organization tackled poetry. People could come in and watch or perform spoken wordplay as well as produce and perform blackout poetry.
The organization provided examples of wordplay poetry, a poetic device where the writer can be witty, and words become the main subject of the piece. Wordplay poetry causes the writer or performer to reach deep to produce an emotional piece.
The ladies also taught and provided material for blackout poetry, which is when the writer takes an existing piece from a book, newspaper or magazine and redacts words to create a piece—pushing the writer to be creative from a different perspective.
The ladies of Sigma Lambda Upsilon taught the difference between the two poetic styles and there were many unique pieces produced as a result.
Sigma Lambda Upsilon is Latina-based, but not Latina exclusive. Their most significant goal of the evening was to bring together and empower women, all while intertwining the roots of their Hispanic culture. All the poetry was written and performed by women.
The women did a marvelous job representing their culture’s roots and held a fantastic event, all while empowering the women in attendance. The ladies put a lot of time and effort into the event to make sure the participants enjoyed their time.
The art brought together so many people from different backgrounds. The sorority represented well how teaching others their culture through art and creativity can bring together a community.
The organization successfully empowered many women through Hispanic heritage and provided a fun space to be creative. Sigma Lambda Upsilon lived up to their saying of the week, “When Words Fall Short, Art Speaks.”
On Thursday, Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m. the ladies of Sigma Lambda Upsilon will host an Informal Tea event. Anyone can join them to have a good time conversing and learning more about the sorority. Visit their Owl Life page to RSVP for their latest event.
To join Sigma Lambda Upsilon, visit the Multicultural Greek Council website or contact Assistant Director Shawanda Daniel with any questions.
