Just a comment
I thought I'd post a brief note of commendation as well as one of criticism.
First of all, a great job to all who presented on Monday and good luck to anyone who did not.
Second, everyone did a great job, some more than others (i.e., Pete B.), and it was interesting to get a gist of what everyone was feeling or thinking of when they wrote their poems. It was certainly fun for me to go up first, not even having a background in poetry, but I enjoyed it. And I hope everyone enjoyed my poems as I enjoyed theirs. Constructive criticism is always welcome: kuma0104@umn.edu
Last, but not the least, it is against common practice to interrupt a speaker...of any kind. I noticed that I was interrupted and a few others were to. By convention, when someone is up at the podium speaking, audience members should not ENTER or exit the rooms. It is rude, disrespectful, and distracting, and when you think about how fearful it can be to speak in front of people, particularly classmates you know, such a distraction can quickly lead to a disastrous outcomes (i.e., poor delivery style, oblivious actions, etc.). Generally, an audience member not inside the room at the start of the delivery waits outside the room until the speaker is (a) pausing in between points; or (b) walking away from the podium having completed the speech (poems, in our case).
The reason I'm sharing this is that despite my extensive experience in public speaking, I know I got distracted and it definitely affected my performance and I was irritated because of that. Besides, this is a class forum and we're supposed to share not only the great work we do, but also comments for further improvement, in an open manner so long as it is respectful.
Thanks.
-- Abhi