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- Open Mic Night!
Open Mic Night!
A rainy night couldn't dampen the spirits at Phoenixville Public Library tonight.

Phoenixville is a town of many cultural/social rituals. Most famous among these is probably Blobfest, which celebrates the filming of The Blob – specifically, but not exclusively the Colonial Theatre runout scene. But there are many other smaller-scale events in town, and those ought to be celebrated as well.
One such event is the open mic writer nights held twice a year at Phoenixville Public Library. I am not certain that Mark Pinto, the library’s adult services director, began these nights, but he has been organizing from for as long as I remember.
I have read at many of the open mic nights, including tonight’s, which I believe was the first in-person open mic in a while. It was a good night. Each writer presented pieces that were some combination of interesting, thought-provoking, sad, funny, or simply beautiful. It was inspiring to hear everybody’s work.
I read a few of these 217-word pieces, including my Gordon Lightfoot tribute. Afterwards, one of the other attendees told me he’s good friends with Mr. Lightfoot. That feels like a 3-out- of-5 plate of shrimp coincidence to me, though on the other hand, the way things have been recently, why should I be surprised that a friend of Gordon Lightfoot’s was at Phoenixville Library tonight? The lattice of coincidence is strong here.
~217~