With a turn out well below normal, Spoken Word, an open mike night hosted by Project Rebound was dominated by SF State Civil Engineering majors.

“It’s never been like this before,” said C. Jason Bell, director of Project Rebound, as he stood in The Depot, surrounded by mostly empty tables.

“Last time we had this place full of people, rapping, singing and performing,” said Bell,
as the 5 p.m. start time for the third bi-annual Spoken Word event approached.

Project Rebound is an on campus student service that “essentially is a program to get those who need assistance from getting from the criminal system into college,” said Bell, 34.

“This can include help with admissions and financial assistance,” said Bell, who was incarcerated for much of his 20s before earning a degree in Sociology from SF State.

Among those who did perform was Senior Amir Ali Ghazi-Moradi. “She is beyond my nature, what she does to me is destructive.” Standing at the mike, the Civil Engineering major continued, “what some say she does to me is constructive.”

“I just wrote it about what I was feeling,” said Ghazi-Moradi, 23, who wrote the poem about someone in his life.

“Everyone has something to say,” said Oliver Nery, 29, another Civil Engineering major. “Everyone has something inside that should be heard.”

Walking around the lower conference level of the Cesar Chavez Student Center with a clipboard, Bell tried to find those who wanted to be heard and get involved in the event.

“This place has been packed before, with students and others from off campus speaking their minds,” said Bell. “Where are the students?”

“I want to provide this platform for all students for all organizations to speak their minds,” said Bell, after he sat back down with a clipboard with only three additional names, so that the event had five speakers in all.

As Spoken Word continued towards the 7 p.m. end time, Bell took to the mike to state that he was sorry that students did not come out to the Project Rebound event, and said that “I hope to host another Spoken Word event at the end of the semester so that maybe more of you [students] will turn out for it.”