UW-Milwaukee's Manfred Olson Planetarium has honored Black History Month indifferent ways through its programming, and this year the format will combine stargazing and poetry for Stars, Stories, & Rhythms of Africa on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
While the stargazing component in this program will be looking up at the sky of Mali, the poetry will be uniquely Milwaukee with the works of our city’s poet laureate, Shelly Conley.
Conley started writing poems and journaling in middle school - a practice that is a constant in her life. But it wasn't until her 20s when she started sharing her work publicly, and Conley admits that even took a year of going to open mic sets at Mecca nightclub before she built up the courage to go on the mic.
"I understood in that moment when I got off the stage, the power in words, the power in that community, and how poetry can do so many things. From releasing, to inspiring, to educating, you name it," she says.
Today, Conley's work as a writer, performer, and facilitator aims to inspire healing and empowerment. She is the author of REWIND – A Cathartic Autobiography and co-author of Freeing – A Collection of Poems. Shelly also serves as Program Director of My Sista’s KeepHer, where she amplifies youth voices through poetry and positive self-expression.
Director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium, Jean Creighton, says that the formatting of the shows celebrating Black History Month changes each year, "but this time we thought, wouldn't it be nice for the Stars, Stories, & Rhythms of Africa to have an African-American perspective? And we were introduced to the Milwaukee Poet Laureate and I thought, 'Oh yeah, this is the way to go!' And we've kind of worked together now a couple times and it's been a joy to kind of exchange ideas of how to make the experience for the audience as powerful as possible, and to celebrate the lyricism and the message that Shelley's poems carry," she explains.
Conley says she's excited to be back in a planetarium and has written a new original poem for this event. "I'm fascinated with the sky... [but I didn't] have a poem that specifically talks about the stars. Again, there's lots of references, but I thought it was gonna be good to bring that piece in as well as, you know, the culture. Again, it's for Black History Month specifically so to intertwine those two was a really good challenge and I'm very pleased with the poem that came out of it."
Stars, Stories, & Rhythms of Africa takes place on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. It is a free event but seats will be first come first serve after you check in at the ticket table in the hallway outside of the Planetarium starting as early as 30 minutes before the show.
