Jessica Henderson wanted to publish a book of poems, but got more than she bargained for.
Henderson, freshman communication major, is the president of Cognoscenti, an organization on campus that supports writers and other artists among the students and faculty.
Sarah Ngoh, Adawe Lifeplan Center Adviser and adviser of the group, said that Cognoscenti’s name comes from Latin
“Persons who have superior knowledge and understanding of a particular field such as the fine arts or literature,” she said.
Ngoh said that Cognoscenti is not a new organization.
“Cognoscenti has been on campus on and off for years now,” she said. “We’re just trying to reenergize it, and we’re trying to shift the focus a little bit to make it more open to all artists, not just writers.”
Henderson said that her involvement with the group started when she told Ngoh about her interest in writing a book of poems.
She was told about Cognoscenti and how they were trying to bring it back to the surface at that time.
“I was like ‘yeah I’ll join,’ and she was like ‘I think you should be president’ and I said ‘That’s Gucci,’ she said.
Erika Marksbury, assistant professor of humanities, said that she was first involved with Cognoscenti as a student.
“Part of what the group wants to take up is the publication of the literary journal,” she said.
“I’ve been involved with that for the last couple of years, but for the most part I’ve just been a participant and sort of an interested observer.”
Ngoh said that the literary journal will showcase work from faculty and staff as well as students, in artwork and photography as well as writing.
“We are planning to meet every two weeks in person,” she said. “We have an e-mail group everyone has everyone’s e-mails, and we’re going to share our work through e-mails as well.”
Henderson said that she hopes to improve her own writing skills through constructive criticism, as well as taking part in producing a professional and well put together literary journal.
“We want to put a lot of focus into that, and also to do some spoken word events, have an overall platform for people to express what they do,” she said.
Henderson said that she hopes many people will join Cognoscenti.
“It will be a great experience,” she said.