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Volume 51, Issue 74 | friday, january 27, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Poets offer social critique through work MacArthur fellow Claudia Rankine discusses race, discrimination alongside poet Solmaz Sharif By SELENA PONIO Associate News Editor
Seating was scarce in McKenna Hall Auditorium on Thursday night as students and faculty gathered to listen to poems and excerpts of stories about race, discrimination and how to find hope in it all. Poet, essayist and 2016 MacArthur “genius” Grant recipient Claudia Rankine delivered the second annual Ernest Sandeen Memorial Reading hosted by the Creative Writing Program. She chose the poet Solmaz Sharif to accompany her for the reading as well as to share some of her own poems. Aside from the packed auditorium for the reading, Rankine and Sharif also held a Q&A session earlier in the day that was
open to the public. Both poets took questions about the role of poetry as a catalyst for change and reflected on the process it took to produce their works. Rankine talked about her book “Citizen” — a book of criticism and poetry filled with images and artwork, as well as stories of microagressions and racist language. She said poetry is a successful method for talking about topics like these because of its ability to hold feeling. “I think what poetry does that other genres don’t do that easily is … no matter what your approach is, the poem is still in the realm of feeling,” Rankine said. Rankine also discussed accountability in response to a see POET PAGE 3
MICHAEL YU | The Observer
Poet Solmaz Sharif reads excerpts of her writing at the second annual Ernest Sandeen Memorial Reading. Sharif and MacArthur Grant recipient Claudia Rankine also held a Q&A session before the reading.
Speaker evaluates former Local coffee shop pope’s canonization policy builds community in South Bend
By AIDAN LEWIS News Writer
St. John Paul II’s approach to canonization and beatification was unprecedented in its scale, Valentina Ciciliot said during her lecture “John Paul II’s Canonization Policy: the Italian Case.” “Pope John Paul II declared a huge number of blessed, and more than half of all the saints proclaimed by the Catholic Church since the establishment of the Sacred Congregation of Rites in the 16th century,” Ciciliot said Thursday evening at Hesburgh Library. Ciciliot, a postdoctorate fellow at the University’s Cushwa Center, said his new canonization policy was helped by expediting the traditionally long, drawn-out process. “A direct consequence of the new legislation is particularly the possibility to start canonical processes after five years from the death of a candidate to sanctity,” Ciciliot said. “Before, it was 50 years.”
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Consequently, Ciciliot said John Paul II was able to canonize more modern and relatable figures. “Now the Church is able to compete with the heroes and stars proposed by civil society,” Ciciliot said. Ciciliot said John Paul II’s tendency towards frequent canonizations was an attempt to provide the world with models of morality and sanctity to whom all people should aspire. “John Paul II’s canonization policy has become one of the Catholic Church’s main instruments for the restoration of society,” Ciciliot said. The effect of John Paul II’s canonization policy was especially profound in Italy, since a disproportionally large number of Italians were beatified and sainted. Ciciliot said she believes this was an intentional move by John Paul II to reinstate Italy as a model of Christian behavior. “Italy is the country which more than any other has been in the past a stronghold of the
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Christian message,” Ciciliot said. “Now it has the task of rediscovering its evangelizing rule and representing it with all necessary force to a modern world.” Ciciliot said John Paul II is also unique in the attention he paid to laypeople and, in particular, laywomen. “During his pontificate, John Paul II led purely and powerfully, especially regarding women, maternity and family,” Ciciliot said. One very prominent example of John Paul II’s focus on women is seen in his canonization of Gianna Beretta Molla, a mother who died after refusing to terminate a pregnancy she knew could result in death. “The new saint was presented as an authentic layperson, as a woman who lived her life and her sanctity in a perfectly ordinary way, close to the experiences of any wife or mother,” Ciciliot said. “No mother of a family had been made a saint
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By JORDAN COCKRUM News Writer
On a fall day last year, first year Elizabeth Polstra walked into The Local Cup, a new coffee shop on the northwest side of South Bend. Polstra’s first visit to the shop was to drop off her friend and coworker, fellow first year Annie Maguire. “It’s like a little community,” Polstra said. “Everyone’s there, everyone’s always talking. There’s always so many people there — it’s a great place.” Both students work at The Local Cup as part of the federal workstudy program. Maguire said she spoke with Rebekah DeLine, director of Saint Mary’s Office for Civic and Social Engagement, who suggested Maguire look into working for The Local Cup. “[DeLine] had mentioned that they had more opportunities for the federal work-study positions, so I was talking to her about how I could get involved with the community and also get a work-study
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position in South Bend,” Maguire said. “She recommended The Local Cup.” The Local Cup, run by four South Bend residents, is open Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoon. The Local Cup has multiple functions within the South Bend community; not only is it a coffee shop, but it also serves as a community center, Maguire said. “Apart from The Local Cup coffee shop, there are community spaces that several groups in the community use to host events,” Maguire said. “We have poetry slams, we have songs for peace, we have instrumental nights, and it really allows people in the community to bring people together based on interests. The coffee house itself is like a great union of the community space.” This community continues within the coffee shop as well. The Local Cup not only hires college see COFFEE PAGE 3
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