Aims Literary/Arts Events

2024-2025 Aims Review Launch

Published on September 5, 2025September 5, 2025 by advisor

On May 1, 2025, Aims Review launched the 17th volume containing art made by students, faculty, and alumni in a print volume and on the Aims Review Website. During the launch artists presented their work through a multimedia video of Phillip Lara’s poem “11.10.24;” fiction readings of “Beyond the Rainwall” by Sundance Hollingsworth and “Coloratus Malum” by Eli Lundgreen; non-fiction readings of “Toe Tag” by Mariah Crawford, “Adventure” by Josephine Yockim, “Erosion: An Exploration of Loss, Grief, and Hope in Chronic Illness” by Melissa J. Troutman; poetry readings of “Burt Marshmallow” by Matthew Frink, “Life as Art” by Mikki Arrivas, “Light through the Cracks” by Chelsea Cramer, “Worn Yarn” by Brooke Capuano, “Uprooted” by Lee Clouston, “Haunted House Upkeep, or EAP’s Quite Night In” by AT Banks, “There Will Always Be Monsters” by Josephine Yockim, and “My Vanity” by Eli Lundgreen. Several visual artists also brought their work in to be displayed throughout the event: Indivisible by Pepper Feldman, Sailing Off Into the Sunset and An Ocean Away by Gracie Marquez, Moonrays by Istana Castillo, Harvesting Dreams at Dusk by Megan Blaser, With a Side of Syrup by Taylor Rehurek, Into the Storm by Mikki Arrivas, Year of the Dragon by Aidan Martin, Memento Mor: One Day Death Comes for Us All by Heather Jewell Charon, and The Great Wave of Death by Azul Gonzalez.

2023-2024 Aims Review Launch

Published on July 26, 2024July 26, 2024 by advisor

The Aims Review launches a new series every year containing the art made by students throughout the campus published in the magazine booklet as well as online on the Aims Review website. The official launch of this years’ Aims Review magazine was held on Wednesday, May 1st, 2024. This was an exciting event to hold as it was the 16th year of the continuation of the Aims Review. During the launch, the artists published on our website and in our book had the opportunity to read aloud their pieces or showcase any visual art from this years’ drop. Our readers who read their poems and short stories of fiction or nonfiction included Mariah Crawford who read both her poems “The End of Summer,” as well as “These Metaphors, My Body,” Emily Lopez’s “Run,” Sundance Hollingsworth reading his horror fiction story “At The Water’s Edge,” Jeff Thatch’s “To Silence,” Brooke Capuano’s “I am I am I am,” Eli Lundgreen’s “Love and Love’s Hate: A Haiku Collection,” Wyatt Hester’s “Somewhere Near, Somewhere Far,” Emily Clemmons’ “Ode to Death,” Dave Sordi’s “Alone in a Belief,” Edgar Harding’s “For a Moment I Thought She Saw Me,” Liz Webb’s “Greality,” and Zachary Powell’s “The King’s Apple,” Along with the written art that was shared during this year’s launch, there were also displays of many visual art pieces. The art on display during this time was from a handful of Aim’s students and staff including Charis Felsher, Phillip Lara, Marian Hesse, Ashlen Livingston, Lynn Cornelius, Kat Smith, April Singer, and Dave Sordi. The launch this year was beautiful! Come spring of 2025, we look forward to the next one. Submit any of your own work, written or visual, on the Aims Review submissions page for the opportunity to showcase it next year!

2021 Poet Laureate Reading (Loveland, CO)

Published on April 29, 2021May 11, 2021 by advisor

Loveland was treated to two days of poetry with performances and conversations with U.S. poet laureate, Joy Harjo, and Colorado poet laureate, Bobby LeFebre, sponsored by Aims Community College and hosted by Loveland poet laureate, Veronica Patterson, and the Rialto Theater in Loveland.

The event kicked off on Friday, April 9 with Bobby LeFebre’s energetic poetry reading where he fervently raised issues of cultural tension, conjuring the animosity of the world in word and dispelling it with compassion. His personal stories, experienced and inherited, covered his relationship to the land and the borderless relationship with culture. Bobby LeFebre gathered listeners around the table, spoke, and listened.

On Saturday, April 10, Joy Harjo spoke at a discussion moderated by Aims English Chair, Evan Oakley, at noon and read her poetry in the evening. Topics in the discussion covered her project Living Nations, Living Words, and her new album, I Pray for My Enemies. Joy Harjo spoke of her project which aims to show a living world of poetry using a map that showcases Native poets, their connections, and their influences. She also spoke of human connection and finding truth in the space beyond thought, division, and enemies. She told poet students that they should keep their expectations realistic, but also listen to themselves and their guides to find their path. That evening her poetry wove and unwove stories from a place most people recognize. Some poems honored those close to her, while all her poems honored the audience and their humanity. Her music invited her audience to share its movement, formed with her voice and others’. From her memoir, she guided the spirit of her third granddaughter, and all spirits, to take the challenge of protecting the land.

To watch and listen to the poets, please follow the links on the Rialto Theater website linked here

See the slideshow below for artwork created by community members and inspired by the poets.

*For titles of the art pieces and the names of contributors, hover over each image.