It’s been a long time since Taylor Swift stopped by her hometown to play a show.
While the Wyomissing native, and cultural phenomenon wasn’t at Penn State Berks in person Saturday, Swift was on the Spring Township campus in spirit as her songs energized a crowd outside the Perkins Student Center during the college’s version of Swift’s Eras Tour.
Swift’s anthems have always struck a chord with senior Madeline Marous, a student in the college’s course on “Taylor Swift, Gender and Communication.”
“Seeing Taylor’s impact these past few years has been really cool,” Marous said. “I was always kind of the Taylor Swift girl.”
On Saturday, Mars took her love for the music one step further, performing a pair of Swift’s hits: “Anti-Hero” and “Betty.”
“It was really interesting, I felt like I found my groove,” Marous said. “Taylor Swift has inspired me a lot, so it was just kind of a full circle moment.”
Marous also sang two original songs under her stage name, Call Me Annie.
The event was organized by students in the college’s Swift-themed class as well as Michele Ramsey, associate professor of communication arts and sciences and of women’s, gender and sexuality studies, who teaches the course.
Ramsey said that after becoming a Swiftie, or Swift fan, she noticed a discrepancy in the way women who admired Swift are treated online.
“Men go to football stadiums all the time, they cheer, they scream, wear jerseys, paint their face, and nobody says anything about that,” Ramsey said. “Then these young girls get engaged with this wonderful human, all positivity, all love, dance around, dress for themselves, and people make fun of them. I was like, OK, there’s a real gender element here.”
She said the Taylor Swift phenomenon and the lessons it offers inspired her to start the class, which also covers topics like entrepreneurship and how influencers gain popularity, through the lens of Swift.
Ramsey said the transformation of Swift and other female artists into global icons marks the first time in history that women’s stories have become central to pop culture.
“Her (Swift’s) lyrics are things we’ve all gone through ourselves,” Ramsey said. “Her, Chappell Roan, Beyonce, Rhianna, all these women are talking vulnerability that I think a lot of women feel.”
Mars said the event Saturday was an extension of class lessons on how gender and culture intertwine.
“Over last summer when there was the Eras Tour, and the whole Barbie movement, women are taking up more space, their voices are being heard,” Mars said.
Swift’s voice was also heard Saturday through the musical stylings of the Stephanie Grace Band performing some of Swift’s greatest hits.
Grace and her band ended with a Swift classic, “Love Story,” at one point handing the mic over to some of the audience’s youngest Swifties.
Students from Ramsey’s class were on hand to guide audience members through interactive booths highlighting each era and album of Swift’s musical career, with each student choosing an era of focus.
“It was actually pretty difficult (to prepare),” Ramsey said of the presentation. “They (students) really had to think a lot about how to say what they wanted to say about gender as it relates to their album in a way that adults would understand and 5-year-olds would understand.
The energy was high among the audience of roughly 200 throughout the day.
Eventgoers perused the booths, sang and danced to the music, made friendship bracelets and feasted on chai sugar cookies made using Swift’s own recipe.
“It was great for a first time,” Ramsey said. “They (the students) did a great job.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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