Nicole Robinson

Sestinas, biography and a “death metal love song” were some of the forms featured at a gender-focused poetry and prose reading Tuesday night at the Cabin in Davies Center.

The event, titled “They Said: Men and Women on Men and Women,” featured five local writers reading poetry, short fiction and nonfiction related to experiences of sex and gender. It was part of a two-week event called “Gender Fest: Women and Men in the 21st Century,” organized by Student Development and Diversity, Student Senate and College Feminists.

“So often when we think of the word gender or hear the word gender, the assumption is that we’re really talking about women,” said Patti See, advisor to College Feminists and a student services coordinator at the Academic Skills Center, who organized the reading.

“But UW-Eau Claire is as progressive as ever in its first Gender Fest, including, panels, presentations and discussions that focus on the experiences of both women and men.”

Featured writers included See, Ken Szymanski, a UW-Eau Claire alumnus and middle school English teacher in Eau Claire; Frank Smoot, an exhibit researcher and director of publications at the Chippewa Valley Museum; Kate Hinnant, a Web services and reference librarian at McIntyre Library and English professor Bruce Taylor.

Szymanski’s selections included poetry, short fiction and an a capella performance of a “death metal love song” called “She’s Earthy.”

His fiction selection is featured in his book, “Blue Light Special,” due out next month.

Smoot’s reading included selections from an unpublished biography of 1940s movie star Carole Landis, who, like many other actresses of the era, died young of a drug overdose.

Both See’s and Hinnant’s selections included a sestina, a poetry form that includes six six-line stanzas and a three-line concluding stanza. The ending words of the first stanza are repeated throughout each subsequent stanza in a set pattern. The same six words appear in the concluding three-line stanza, two in each line.

Gender Fest has also included panels on such topics as men in non-traditional roles, the stigma associated with the word “feminism” and power dynamics in relationships. In addition, it featured a workshop led by a representative of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition in Washington, D.C.

“Gender Fest is a type of model for programming that a women’s center typically puts out,” said Traci Thomas, a graduate student in English who helped organize the festival. Thomas is employed part-time by Student Development and Diversity to research possibilities for a women’s center on campus.

“Everybody was really supportive with wanting to volunteer and get their classes involved,” Thomas said. “Really, my job wasn’t that hard to do because everyone on campus was so great about it ”

Senior Lisa Huftel, who also helped organize Gender Fest events, said its topics are relevant to everyone’s experience.

“When people hear the word ‘gender,’ how many people think of women?” she said. “Gender is both men and women. … Gender Fest is to break down those barriers between men and women.”