By Delia Paunescu
Laughter filled Hofstra USA as a pie masked Student Government Association president Peter DiSilvio’s face Monday night for the newest release of Font, the University’s literary magazine.
The event, hosted by sophomore Michael Rieger, combined the talents of acts like Sigma’capella, standup comedians, poetry readers and a game show featuring DiSilvio.
“In the past, we have just had our open mics in the game room, and we just hoped people would come and share their talents. This semester, however, we really wanted to make our event bigger and better than ever,” Ashley Gray, a junior publishing major and editor-in-chief of Font, said.
The magazine’s business manager, Stephanie Caruso, added that they wanted to find a way to entertain the audience further.
“I thought the event was a good mix of poetry from the magazine and outside entertainment to make a more interesting night than we’re used to,” Caruso, a film studies/production major, said.
The “Night of Aesthetics” event owes its venue to another University club. “We were able to get a Hofstra USA date courtesy of Hofstra Concerts, and we made sure to book a few acts at our event to ensure we had entertainers for our audience,” Gray said. Some students said that the entertainment definitely shaped the night. “Originally, I went because Mike [Rieger] is one my closer friends,” said Michael Finkelstein, a sophomore AVF major, “but I really liked it. The Pete thing made the show and Sigma’capella was amazing.”
The “Pete thing” refers to the game played throughout the night called, “Are you smarter than Pete DiSilvio?” in which winners of a raffle competed in a trivia challenge against the SGA president. However, unlike typical trivia competitions, the tiebreakers consisted of saltine cracker eating contest and a pie-in-the-face penalty.
“After the cracker contest, I could tell something was up when they said the second round would be even better. I knew in the pit of my stomach that it was not going well for me, but I had a blast,” said DiSilvio, a junior political science major, of being pied in the face. “I would gladly do it again for ‘Font’ or any club that needed me.”
Fun aside, the evening’s focus was the launch of the magazine’s 23rd issue. “Going to the event made me much more interested in the magazine,” Finkelstein said. “I especially liked the photography.”
DiSilvio, who himself is a creative writing minor, said that the organization’s magazine demonstrates great skill and style. “They are really classy and very good. You’d never see a crummy story, because they need a filler and that’s admirable.”
Overall, Font members agreed that the evening was a success. “I was really proud of how our event turned out this semester,” Gray said. “This was by far the best launch Font has ever had, and I hope all of our events will continue to be this successful.”
Students can pick up a copy of the latest issue from the Font office, located in room 201A in the Student Center.
Peter DiSilvio and Lauren Keough stuff their faces with Saltines during a tiebreaker in the game, “Are you smarter than SGA president Peter DiSlvio?”