Before class on Tuesday, I’d like you take a few minutes and reflect on the service project that we completed for The Gathering Place on Thursday. First, describe your role in the open-mic event and tell the rest of us what you did in preparation for the event. Second, if you attended the event on Thursday, please describe it from your point of view. What happened? Who attended? What struck you as meaningful or significant?
Last, step back and reflect on our overall service to The Gathering Place and how it relates to our course. What impact do you think we’ve had on this community? What have you learned from this experience thus far? How would you say the service component has impacted your experience in this course? What have you learned about writing or research from our experiences with The Gathering Place?
My main job was in publicity. With the rest of the team, we brainstormed how best to format flyers and handouts. Then last Friday, Jess and I went to the Gathering Place to do some outreach. We handed out flyers to the women and introduced ourselves and talked about what the open mic event entailed. I also helped bake and make sandwiches on Wednesday before the event.
ReplyDeleteI like to think that our class had some impact on the community. I think our presence at the Gathering Place let women know that we were listening and we were aware that there are issues in this city. I hope that our transcriptions will help staff at the shelter to perform their own research for newsletter material, as well as help them make improvements within their programs. The service component has had a huge impact on my perspective. I met some very inspiring women and saw that shelters like the Gathering Place can make real improvements in these women’s lives. As far as writing goes, the most prominent thing I have learned is that there is a lot more to research than googling scholarly articles and books. I’d never performed qualitative research before and I found it a great challenge to incorporate my findings into my writing in a creative manner. I also feel that I got the hang of transcribing, which may be a good skill to have in the future.
I had fun being involved in the open-mic at The Gathering Place, and I think the event was a great success. I was part of the baking team for the event and kind of took on the role of head baker, which I enjoyed. I chose four recipes for baked goods, as well as two kinds of sandwiches, and we prepared everything in the kitchen of The Gathering Place. Since my research paper was about nutrition and I read a lot about shelters’ food programs, it was interesting to get to see the kitchen and to use all their facilities. They have a very nice, clean, large cooking space. I love cooking with big groups of people so this experience was just lots of fun for me and I was glad to be able to make some good treats for the women of The Gathering Place.
ReplyDeleteOn the day of the event I came early to help set out all the baked goods. The dining room looked beautiful, with streamers, flower decorations, and plates of assorted baked goods and sandwiches on each table. As women entered we helped seat them, and many students sat at different tables with the women, talking before the event. It felt very relaxed and everyone seemed happy to be there.
I was really impressed and moved by the women’s readings. The whole room was engaged the entire time, and people were laughing and crying. I had not expected that so many women would want to read, so I was glad that there was such enthusiasm. I wish I could remember the names of all the women who read and what their pieces were, but there were several that stuck out to me. One woman read a poem about “How you know you live in Capitol Hill” which was amusing to me since that is my neighborhood. Another read an excellent piece about her experience at The Gathering Place and all the women she had encountered there, and how they were all kind of reflections of herself. A woman read a poem that her now deceased husband had written to her when he was in jail. It was very moving and she had a hard time reading it through her tears; I had trouble keeping a dry eye as well. It was wonderful to hear all these women’s words, and I felt truly lucky to be there. It was clear that these women are strong, smart, caring, creative and unique people. The sense of community was also strong, and while I was sad to hear some of these women’s harder stories, I felt hopeful that they have this place to come to where their creativity is being encouraged.
The women seemed happy to have a place to share their writing, and were all very supportive and receptive of each other’s work. We got lots of compliments on the food also! It was wonderful to share this with The Gathering Place. It felt like a culmination of our time there, and of the connections many students made with women there. While I felt awkward an uncertain the first time I came to The Gathering, by this event I felt very comfortable. My notions of homelessness were definitely changed through this experience. After having conversations with these women and hearing them share their personal writing, it is impossible for me to maintain any kind of prejudices or preconceived notions of homeless women. As obvious as it sounds, I realized that all these women have as much value and as much to offer as anyone else. In many cases everything they have been through has made these women incredibly strong, and I felt that I could learn a lot from some of them.
I also liked the research and writing aspect of our service. Interviewing someone and then finding a way to weave their story into a meaningful piece was a rewarding task. It reminded me of documentary filmmaking, which is something I have experimented with and hope to do more of. You don’t create the story, but you do go out and find it and then find a way to patch it all together in a way that is unique to your own view of things. I really enjoy this sort of process, because it feels creative but is grounded in the reality of a certain situation. I definitely value the experience we had at The Gathering Place, and learned things both as a person and as a writer.
My role at the open-mic event was to put together decorations. In preparation, I cut out and folded colored flowers. Also I got some streamers to be hung. I also came on Wednesday to help with the baking and sandwich making. The event on Thursday, I thought, was fantastic. I felt like I got a different perspective of The Gathering Place. When we did our interviews, many of the women talked about the sense of community and what that felt like to them. At the event it was really cool to see their community and support in action. I loved how supportive they were of each other when someone was going to read or when someone got emotional. The other thing I thought was very interesting was to listen to the pieces the women had written. The woman who wrote about The Gathering Place from the perspective of many different women was one story I loved. Another one that stuck with me was a woman who talked about keeping all of her possessions in a shopping cart and tying it to her ankle to go to sleep. I must admit I am guilty of having seen people like that in a local park and wanting nothing to do with them, however when I heard it from her point of view it really struck me judgmental that is. Sadly, none of the women I met in previous weeks were there, but I still found the collection of people who came to be unique and interesting. I especially liked the woman who brought props for her joke!
ReplyDeleteThis course has been my favorite that I have taken at DU so far and I believe that is due to the service learning aspect. Although my parents raised me to not judge others, I still had always attached a social stigma to the term “homeless”. This course has taught me how inaccurate my self-created image of homelessness was. Another important thing I learned was about health care availability to the homeless from my synthesis paper. It was something that I was interested in and although it seemed like a lot of work, I definitely learned about the topic from many different angles. I don’t know for certain but I feel like we made a positive impact with the people we worked with at The Gathering Place. Even the interviews I think made them feel special that people were interested in what they had to say. With the large volume of people that pass through The Gathering Place, it sometimes seems that our small group hardly had a large effect on them. However, I think that the individuals we did get to reach out to truly appreciate it, and in reality, it seems that helping people one at a time is how a group will eventually be impacted.
For the open mic event on Thursday, my role was publicity at and around The Gathering Place for the event and I also helped with baking, set-up and clean-up. To allow women enough time to prepare for the event, we started posting flyers around The Gathering Place about two weeks in advance. Professor Bateman was kind enough to print out handbills for tables around the center and also was very helpful in telling women in the writing group about the event. The Monday before the event I went to The Gathering Place during lunchtime to advertise one-on-one with the women. Then on Thursday I saw the culmination of all of our efforts come through successfully. Everyone was participating in decorations, food preparation, and other entertainment. I thought that all the women were excited to have an opportunity to read their writing in front of an audience. One of my favorite parts of the event was when Gabe would announce the name that was next to read all the women would immediately cheer her on before she even got up in support of her. Some of the women that attended I had interviewed in previous weeks and I felt special when one woman even winked at me because she recognized me. I noticed how well the women related to each other with their stories and how much they respected what anyone else had to say. It was moving when women were brought to tears because of the writing. Everyone in the room thought it was incredible when George was singing, too.
ReplyDeleteI think as a class we have showed The Gathering Place that we genuinely care. I know it was with great attention and dedication that we prepared all the food- thinking of what these women would like to eat, entertainment- with a heartwarming mini-concert, and decorations- to make the room even more welcoming. I think we helped to maintain the aspect that The Gathering Place is more than just a women’s daytime shelter; that instead it is a place to grow as an individual, learn new things, and have a huge network of help. So far, I have learned of the immense need for services like this, but also what it means to help and serve the community. I think that while contributing food and money is critical to a charity’s success, it is also just as critical for there to be face-to-face interactions. I think that some women were surprised we had taken time out of our day to put on the event. I think that the service learning has definitely enhanced my learning in this course. Because we started out reading Kozol, that gave us examples of people suffering from homelessness, but given the opportunity to interview women currently or previously struggling with the same issues we read about, I was able to connect with them and understand on a deeper, much more meaningful level.
I have had to shift my writing, simply because there are some pieces we are completing that I have never attempted before. As some of the women were reading, I thought that they were much better writers than I am. I think that research needs to be more than just in books. While those are helpful and do much to give facts and tell stories, personal experiences are key to realizing the depth of an issue.
Overall, I think we ROCKED Voices at The Gathering Place.
I really enjoyed the open-mic night or the “Voices of The Gathering Place” event our class helped put on. I personally helped prep some of the goodies the Wednesday before mostly by taking crusts off of bread and helping eat the cookie dough leftover in the bowl (which was a lot of fun!) I also helped with the decorations, although I did not get as many done as I would have liked to. From my point of view the event was a success as there were many members of the staff present and a good amount of women excited for the open mic. I will admit I was expecting there to be more women present, however, the ones that were there made all of that planning and set-up worthwhile. What struck me as most meaningful was the woman who read the poem her deceased husband had written, the woman Brenda who’s writing style and voice was amazing, and the crowd’s reaction to George and Danni’s rendition of “You Raise Me Up.” Of course all of the performers/performances were impactful but those were what stuck out.
ReplyDeleteI think the format using service learning to supplement courses is a great one. I have learned so much about how homelessness and poverty by doing essentially doing qualitative research at The Gathering Place through the interviews and general interactions with the people there. I think our class being there has also had a positive impact on the community as it has shown college students at DU do care and desire to help other people. This course would not have been the same had we just learned about gender and homelessness rather than going out and experiencing how it impacts people in the real world. In the future I hope to become a Service Learning Associate so I can continue on helping the community as now I wholeheartedly believe in the benefits of service learning. The Gathering Place has also taught me that research does not just need to be done in a narrow, boring way but can be done through experience. Additionally I now also realize that it is easier to write about something I have a personal connection to and am emotionally invested in.
The Voices of The Gathering Place event was very successful. My role in the open-mic event was officially the publicity side of it. I helped plan what we were going to put on the flyer for the event. I also helped brainstorm the idea of the event. When helping hands were needed in the kitchen for baking, I assisted the baking crew and also attended the event itself.
ReplyDeleteThe event itself was so wonderful. I felt that the interviews had only scratched the surface of all the wisdom these women had to offer us. This open-mic event revealed yet another side of the women of the Gathering Place. I felt truly touched listening to the women share their stories so openly. They wrote beautifully. The decorations were very subtle and helped make the event feel cozy. I especially loved the poem where the woman took on the different personas of the Gathering Place, the letter from the deceased husband, and the crowd’s reaction to George and Danni’s music. Seeing these women feel special and like ladies made the event so special.
The women of The Gathering Place seemed very appreciative of all the effort we put into making the event special. I think we showed them that we genuinely care about The Gathering Place and are interested in the women’s stories.
Before I came to The Gathering Place, I was so nervous for how the women were react to us intruding in their safe haven. Although my parents had always raised me never to attach stigmas to groups of people, I did have some preconceived notions of the homeless in my head. I was nervous for what I would find at The Gathering Place. This experience taught me that you can never judge a book by its cover. As cliché as that sounds, I met some people that have so many layers to their lives. Some have masters degrees and simply hit hard times. Others are struggling with addictions. I learned so much about how to love people and be open to their words through this experience. The service component made this class completely unique. So far this has been my favorite class because I got real world experience. I felt like we were really connecting with the subject of the class.
I’ve learned how to put passion into writing. I’ve always been a strong academic writer, but through this class I learned how to put genuine interest and a voice into writing. I still have a lot of work to do, but I feel this class gave me a strong foundation to work on.
Thursday's Service Learning event, in my opinion, was a great success. In contribution to the project, Danni Snyder and I prepared a set list of songs to perform as background music, and one song to be featured. We really mixed it up with classical tunes such as Nacht und Traume sung right after Hey There Delilah and several jazz tunes in between. In addition to actually gathering the chord charts, picking songs, and making copious copies, Danni and I gave careful though to the order of our songs. We knew that we wanted the music to be uplifting yet not overbearing so that the ladies could socialise in peace. The only thing that caused us any real anxiety was the state of the piano at the Gathering Place. Danni had mentioned that there was one, but she had never listened to it to make sure it was in tune. Luckily for us it was tuned only slightly sharp and created no real problem.
ReplyDeleteThe event itself went about as smoothly as possible. I was very seriously impressed by some of the poetry that I heard. For instance, the lady who wrote about Capital Hill and the things that one can see there and the lady who wrote her piece about the Gathering Place both impressed me immensely. It was, however, the older homeless lady who truly touched me. She wrote about how she would sleep in the cold with all of her worldly possessions in a shopping cart tied to her foot and the conditions of her situation. Never before that moment had homelessness been so real to me. As I watched the tears fall down her face and fog up her glasses, I too couldn't help but feel the start of a sob. Hence, when Gabe asked if I wanted to sing, I knew I had to. I felt as though Danni and I needed to share some of our passion with the ladies who had showed theirs. And we did, and it was good.
In evaluating this service learning course I feel that we have had a good, but not monstrously significant impact on this community. I am certainly glad to have given these women a chance to speak and I'm glad to have been enlightened regarding the conditions of poverty and homelessness. But, I feel as though we (not as a class, but in general) should be doing more to eradicate this population in a good way- through housing projects and the like. From this experience I've learnt that homelessness is mostly caused by issues with our society and not with individuals. Society should be doing more to stop people from becoming homeless simply because they lose their job and can't pay rent. The service learning part of this course has made me see that we need more independently functioning centres like the Gathering Place to fight homelessness.
For the Gathering Place my role was as caretaker of the active even essentially. Prompted by a love/hate relationship for extemporaneous and impromptu speaking there was little preparation involved. What struck me most from this event was speaker Peg I believe. She represented a visible minority that had been rampent in Denver, but her poem resonated with me in a profound way. She spoke of her attachment with her cart and few worldly positions. From her poem, and the other women that spoke (often with tears) they wrote or read with a sincere passion. Words had given them the strength in a creative way to express what they could not before. As well it was great to see the solardarity amongst the women, they would encourage each other, cheer, laugh, and cry as others spoke.
ReplyDeleteFrom a service perspective I think the course was extremely successful. Far too often class room experiences are perceived as limited due to a lack of real world practicality or inclusion. Its often frustrating to be taking a course that relates to modernity but stay in the confides of a classroom. This class helps transcend some educational barrieres where as now research is met with context. This context are individual women who make up a wide spectrum of a crisis in Denver. Working with these women and hearing their stories was not only refreshing, humbling, but often times heart breaking. There is often a gendered neutrality in the rhetoric of homeless where not only are women's voices are not heard but their demographics not accounted for in public policy. Anthropologists Sen and Grown wrote in their 1986 work that the best developmental policy is one that works with a women's voice to better society not just women themselves. The Gathering Place offers this grass root and specialized center that provides the necessary progress for a lot of displaced and impoverished women.
To help set up for Thursday, I went to the store and bought the non-perishable groceries for baking on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday I helped set out all the food on plates. I also folded flowers for the decorations. The open-mic night event was incredibly moving! Both staff and clients of the Gathering Place attended. Many of the women shared pieces of stories and poetry. Also, classmates shared their work. Danni and George were an amazing pair on the piano and singing. When George sang “You raise me up” women were crying and comforting each other, exemplifying the community of the Gathering Place. Lauren was really sweet putting her arm around ladies and hugging them. Lauren’s actions and the women of the Gathering Place supporting each other struck me as the most meaningful and significant.
ReplyDeleteWe have impacted the community by giving these ladies an outlet to share their feelings and their lives. We have listened to and conversed with them and formed bonds of friendship. Some ladies met when we asked to interview them both since they were at the same table. The event enabled them to share their writing with each other as well as with us. By sharing, the women of the Gathering Place are brought closer together by sharing experiences. From this experience, I have learned a different aspect of life that I did not understand and could not even fathom. Stereotypes were broken down. The service learning aspect of the Gathering Place greatly enhances the impact of the class. Instead of just reading and discussing hypothetical situations. We have seen and worked with people first hand who have experienced what we are studying. From the experiences of the Gathering Place, I have learned that transcripts take a while to transcribe! Also, I have learned how to portray a person’s story by letting their quotes drive the piece. While interviewing, I realized that it is hard to word language and to get people to elaborate in a way that will be useful for my writing.
I helped to prepare some of the food for the even Thursday as well as help set up some of the decorations before the event started. All the women that came to the event seemed to really appreciate the opportunity to be heard. I think that, more than anything, was what stuck me as meaningful. These women often don't have a chance to be heard even though they have a lot of very important things to say.
ReplyDeleteWe helped to bring the voices of these women out into the open where they might be heard. Going down to the gathering place has really helped me to leave some of my stereotypes of homelessness behind. I knew that there were all sorts of people experiencing homelessness, but to be able to put a name and a face to it really changed how I look at it. I think that this was an extremely important part of the course and that I would not have been able to write with the same kinds of insights if we had not gone down to The Gathering Place. I also had not realized how much power could be conveyed in an interview. There is something that is hard to convey in writing that comes across in the interviews that I think is important in telling the story of these women.
For the open mic event I helped with publicity. Trina and I went to TGP for lunch one day and talked to woman about the event and handed out flyers. It was nice to see some of the women I specifically talked to at the event!
ReplyDeleteI also offered to reach my piece from class at TGP. No one wanted to read first, so I offered. I was honored and humbled by the ability to read for the women whom I had written. I got choked up when I heard someone in the audience crying. When I finished my piece I truly felt like it had done justice to the women of TGP and I loved hearing their feedback about what I had to say.
I loved turning it back to the women and hearing their words and voices. As much as I like to talk, I also enjoy listening. Many of their pieces were beautiful! There was great talent in the room!
I hope that my work made an impact on the community. Whether we were able to help a woman whom I had talked with if she needed to vent, if my reading my paper made anyone realize that we are listening and appreciate them, or if TGP can use our writing to catch the hearts of donors, I know that we have made a difference.
This course has been so much more than a writing course. I feel that I have experienced things with the ladies of TGP that I will not forget and will always appreciate. Taking this course was a very meaningful thing for me.
For the open mic event I collaborated with George Arvidson to bring background music to the event. We took careful consideration as to what pieces we were to perform, with You Raise Me Up, the featured song, having been carefully chosen. At the event itself, the audience seemed to very much enjoy the pieces we had chosen, which gave me a sense of pride that George and I were able to satisfy our audience. The stories that the women told, particularly the women who read the poem that her husband wrote about her in prison, were very touching.
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope that the work that all of us have done is helping The Gathering Place. I don't know how much different a few songs can make, but I hope that our performance brought some happiness to the women at The Gathering Place. I also hope that our writing will help to bring more money into the facility.
Unfortunately I did not get to join everyone at the open-mic event on Thursday but I did get to contribute in some way to the creation of the event Wednesday afternoon. I, along with several students of the class, was in charge of picking recipes, buying groceries, and preparing the meals. After stumbling around, we found a few recipes for tea sandwiches and cookies. We decided that those would be good and quick to make meals for this event. On Wednesday, when I arrived at The Gathering Place, I got started on making the cookies and sandwiches. After we were all finished with that, I helped by cleaning up and washing some of the dishes.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, the overall service to The Gathering Place was inspirational, nerve-wrecking, and mind-boggling. First, I considered talking to the women a great privilege as I have not until then gotten the opportunity to talk to ‘strangers’ about the dire circumstances that they have and are experiencing. I understand it is hard to open up to others about what you’re going through for fear of judgment. However, many of the women I spoke to did not hesitate to share their stories. I admired their strength and courage to open up to me. Their stories were inspirational and after reflecting on the interviews I think a lot about what the women have thought me. For instance, the first women I interviewed said to me “a closed mouth don’t get fed.” This statement continues to stick with me and make its way through the actions I take every day. It applies to everyone. To ask for help does not make you weak but rather strong. The women at The Gathering are not weak. From what they go through every day and still continue walking forward makes them one of the strongest women I know! Although they have inspired me in many ways, the conversations we’re the easiest. I was very nervous and fear intruding and slipping inappropriate comments. I learned that acting as casual as possible made the women more comfortable to talk to you. This approach lessened my anxiety and made me much more confident in talking to them about anything. Lastly, the overall experience was mind – boggling. What these women thought me and told me about their lives, in some cases I would have never imagined a person to be able to recover from. They thought me that as an individual you are much smarter than others might see you as. When put in a live or die mode if you want to live there are some things you will have to do. No matter how bad things are going, getting up is the first step towards a better day. You will not know if it will be a good or bad day regardless you try your best.
Initially I wanted this course because of the service learning component it offered. Today, I am happy to have taken this class at the end because I learned a great amount from the project. It made this class much more interesting and more of a learning experience. This is a writing class but the service engagement helped reach out and touch lives of others with writing. It is putting what you have learned into practice. I realized the impact writing has had on many lives. I believe many other writing classes that are offered do not offer this opportunity. Many times, the students find the classes pointless because they don’t feel like they have learned anything. However, I believe this class has thought me so much and not just the components of writing but deeper than that. It has thought me about the different styles of writing and how each style impacts a life differently. For example, the literature reviews we wrote were predominately for academics or anyone looking for concrete facts and analysis of an issue. The literature reviews would have impacted academia a lot while the narratives were focused on the general population. The narratives could apply to multiple groups which is what’s so great about the style. It’s easily understood and many readers can sympathize and understand the topic.
ReplyDeleteI learned how to transcribe interviews but most importantly, how to build a story from these transcriptions with focus in the interviewed individual. Ultimately, I learned how to bring a story to life with the voice of another. To be able to take myself out and build a story with what was most important: the interviewed reactions, words, etc.
In preparation for the open-mic event on Thursday I worked on publicity. Within my group we discussed the most effective ways to present the information and get attention for the event. After deciding the best format and information to include, Aspen took on the responsibility of putting the flyer together. After the flyer was finished, I went down to TGP during their community meeting on the Wednesday before the event to introduce myself and announce the event to the community that was present at the meeting (around 30 people) along with handout the remaining flyers to those interested. Before the event itself I helped to set up decorations and make signs.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed the experience of both helping to plan and attending the event on Thursday. The event provided a nice closure for me after our time and work at The Gathering Place. I was very impressed not only by the amount of women who were willing to be brave enough to share, but also by the pieces they created. The writing was beautiful and showed how talented so many of the women at The Gathering Place are. I was also very happy and relieved to see how many women attended the event. I was worried not many women would come. What struck me as meaningful was how personal and vulnerable the women who attended the event were both in sharing their emotional stories to those they did not know and in allowing themselves to feel their emotions in such a public setting, and support each other in feeling and experiencing these intense emotions. Through the women’s’ sharing and their reactions to what they heard, I felt I got the best sense of the strong, supportive, and loving community that exists at The Gathering Place. Another significant moment for me was when George sang, “You Raise Me Up” with Danni. There was such a cathartic reaction to this performance and brought almost the whole audience to tears, which was really beautiful and special for me to be a part of. I felt honored to get to be with these women in the amazing pieces, stories, and feelings they were sharing. The song was so fitting to sing at this event because I felt it touched on the incredible strength and resilience these women continue to possess throughout the difficult struggles they face. The lyrics spoke to the strength and support they give each other as a community in times of need.
In terms of this class and our overall service to The Gathering Place, based on the amount of time we spent at the organization, I feel that we’ve had an impact on this community. I think that there seems to be a general stereotype that most youth today don’t have respect for the older population and that there’s a general ignorance in terms of helping and giving back to others in society and communities. I feel that our class and age group making an effort to show this community that we care and that them and their stories are important to us made a difference in altering the general perspective of this population. I think us taking the time to talk with them and hear their stories allowed them to maybe open their minds to the possibility of youth being kind and respectful in our letting them now that we are curious and interested in learning from them.
From this experience I have learned that the more people you talk to from different backgrounds, different walks of life, and different experiences, the more you are able to learn and gain personal insight. From our writing and research experiences with The Gathering Place, I have learned that you have to be open-minded and prepared for whatever information through conversation is given to you. You can’t go in with an already formed idea of what you are looking for, you have to go into the research and interviews with an open-mind, prepared to work with what information comes your way. You have to let the interviews guide your focus, not have the interviews fulfill what you want your focus to be.