By Erin Mikson
Staff Writer
If you happen to be walking through the second floor of Alliot on a Friday night you might stumble upon a small group of girls, also known as Girl Talk.
On a recent Friday the group of five played Uno, made tea, and chatted. The topics ranged from Korean pop to how to use a tea press.
“I heard of Girl Talk through word of mouth,” said Vicky Luciano ’21. “It’s a safe space for me to just hang out with friends, talk to people, and it’s just a fun thing to do to destress since I’m always busy,” Luciano said.
“The hope is that people feel comfortable talking about things,”said President Jessie Anderson ’21 said, emphasizing that she wants the group to be a safe space for everyone. “If they have a concern they would like to talk about, I want them to feel like they have a place to do that. It’s important to have that place to chill with other girls,” Anderson said.
The atmosphere of the club is calm and welcome. During meetings the members can be seen playing games, chatting, and listening to various types of music, from Latin to Beyoncé, depending on the week.
“You don’t have to be a constant member, I don’t want it to feel like you have to come to this every week,” said Anderson. “I will be here every week even if nobody’s here. I just want that space to be there in case someone needs it.”
President Jessie Anderson ’21 and her twin sister Vice President Jessica Anderson ’21, said they try to make the meetings open and flexible. Each individual person has a say in what they are looking to do within the club activities. Jessie is hoping to expand the number of members in the club. “When I came to St. Mike’s Girl Talk was a much smaller group, if you didn’t know about it you wouldn’t even know it existed,” Anderson said.
“The meeting could be planned out, but we could also talk about something completely different for the whole meeting. It changes to whatever everyone else wants,” said Faith Shive ‘23.
During the rest of October, there will be a “slay the stress away” meeting where they will be doing eye makeup on Oct. 18. There will be a mystery murder theme meeting on Friday the 25th. In November, some of their meeting themes include “Let’s Talk – Microaggression on Campus”, and an international Thanksgiving.
In the future, Girl Talk is hoping to get funds from Student Government so that they can take this club to off-campus locations, [have] meals at meetings, and tee shirts. “If we were to go off campus, we don’t want to have people pay, it also might limit who will come,” Anderson said.
“We hope that more people hear about the club and know that other women on campus want to support one another,” Anderson said.
Girl Talk meetings happen every Friday night at 5 p.m. on the second floor of Alliot in the Center for Multicultural Affairs.