Photo by Michael Frazier
Over the past weeks of the program, scholars have had the opportunity to exist and experiment in various locations. Some hangout spots have risen to higher popularity. The Inter Mural fields allow scholars to exercise their athletic capabilities and work in a team. Curris Center (the best AC on campus) provides a safe, comfortable space for scholars to meet up and play card games. Winslow Dining hall is a place where strangers can become friends, and brownies disappear.
One location, however, shines above all the rest. Lizzo Amphitheater, outside Elizabeth Hall has become a nightly hangout spot to listen to music, and simply be together.
Regular Lizzo musician Brady said, “Lizzo is a sense of togetherness. Everybody comes together as a community and plays and sings songs together. No phones outside and everybody just talks amongst each other. It’s a friendship and togetherness and community like none other.” Harrison says, “One of the key points of GSP is fostering the creative mind of young people who might not have the opportunity to do it at home. Lizzo is the perfect place to do that.” To musicians, Lizzo is a place to share their experience and talent.
For scholar Nate, “religious” nightly Lizzo attender, lizzo means more than just a place to share music. In his speech on open mic night, he details a conversation he shared with a friend of his at Lizzo. “She said, ‘everything you see here, every person you see, shows each other love.’ And I’m not just talking about the GSBaes that may or may not get uncomfortably close to you. But it’s in the conversations with friends. It’s in the girls braiding each other’s hair. It’s in everybody united listening to the same thing. And I think for me, that’s the reason I keep going back, is that I feel that love.”
