Poems about gender, identity, coming of age stories and music swelled inside the Depot on Broken Mic Night as part of a series of social events to commence the Spring 2019 semester.

The Associated Students hosted the event downstairs in the Cesar Chavez Building, inviting a variety of talents on Wednesday,

Up first were vocals and instruments, followed by poetry and ending in stand-up comedy. There were a total of twelve participants. The three hour long event, which began at 6 p.m., was broken up into three different sections.

The show opened with musicians Jin Lee and Byron Mayhew, performing all original songs. Lee is a returning performer at the Depot. At the end of her set, she told the audience she launched an Instagram for her music and will release a single in Februrary.

Nineteen-year-old Amanda Leavitt, a business management major, a first timer to the SF State open mic scene shared an original poem titled, “Existence.”

“I’ll bring my journal next time since this is a really cool space” she said. Leavitt came to this event with her roommates, who all shared poems as well.

Lola Chase and Rae Sweet, Leavitt’s roommates, shared poems that touched upon dense subjects like gender, relationships, feelings and body image. Sweet’s poem “Purple” spoke upon concepts of gender. “Pink girl and blue boy,” Sweet illustrated.

Chase read two poems which regarded her current polyamorous relationship. At the beginning of their piece, Chase asked the audience if everybody knew what polyamorous meant, because “it’s all about representation and being a healthy queer.”

Rae also used the time to announce that they are trying to support themselves by selling books and pins with poetry on them. Like many SF State students, Sweet has come to the Bay Area for school and is a college student just trying to get by.

The stand-up portion of Broken Mic Night began toward the end of the night.

All participants took the Depot stage to discuss a variety of topics. Shaylyn Martos shared an intimate but funny story about the first time she had sex and how terrible it was for her. Martos said it was her first time on stage as a stand-up comedian.

Trajan Miller, a 19-year-old psychology student, shared a few stories during the stand-up section. “I had never done stand-up before.” This was Miller’s second time at the Depot during an event like this. “I thought it was pretty cool and welcoming,” he said.

Miller commented that although the set up of the Depot is pretty simple the lighting worked really well for the events.

The next Broken Mic Night will be held at the Depot on February 27th.

The Associated Students hosts other free events in the Depot, including karaoke night, art socials, comedy night, jazz night and an eclectic mix of musical performances.