Campus Activities Board and the Multicultural Student Coalition hosted Spoken Word Artist, Ashlee Haze in Perini on Saturday, Feb. 25. Born Kiera Nelson, Ashlee Haze is a poet and spoken word artist from Atlanta by way of Chicago. Earning the nickname “Big 30” because of her consistency in getting a perfect score, she is one of the most accomplished poets in the sport of poetry slam. She has been a part of the Atlanta Poetry circuit for over a decade and has been writing over 15 years.

Haze has performed everywhere from small coffee shops to the Apollo Theater. She is a 4-time member of Java Monkey Slam Team, 2011 Southern Fried Poetry Slam Champions and the current slam mistress of the Decatur based team. Ashlee Haze is a 2-time Women of the World Poetry Slam Finalist. She appears in “3-Minute Activists: The Soul of Slam” a feature-length documentary that examines the lives and work of some of Atlanta’s premier Spoken Word Artists. She stands for equality and social justice.

According to Campus Activities Board Assistant Director, Abbie Reynolds ’19, they brought in Ashlee Haze after seeing her at the National Association of Campus Activities last semester. “We thought she would be a great performer to bring to campus and a great way to collaborate with the Multicultural Student Coalition,” says Reynolds.

After having renowned poet, Tiana Clark, on campus last month as well as different poetry workshops and open mic nights, there seems to be a rise of the importance of poetry and spoken word at Saint Anselm College. Reynolds says, “College is one of the only times that students get to see spoken work or comedians for free. When we do planning for CAB, we try to bring different events each week to give students a wide range of things to go and see. Spoken word is a great way to talk about the issues in our society but also it’s fun to listen to. We hope to collaborate with more clubs in the future and also hope to bring more Spoken Word poets to campus!”