Hey everyone. I know I’m posting these blogs late, but I am at least posting them! However, since I’m posting these blogs late I decided to edit all of them and begin all of the posts from the perspective of having finished my service. So instead of a blog this is probably going to be more like a series of chapters.
At the beginning it was quite interesting. I had a rough plan for what I was going to do, and took it (for the most part) and then ran a whole different direction unexpectedly.
My main purpose was to do something somewhat intensive and long-lasting in regards to the gay liberation movement. So my proposal contained a three part plan to fulfill that goal.
The first part was I wanted to make a research paper that would focus on the psychological progression behind the movement and suggest its flaws and solutions. To do that of course requires that labor intensive job that is ACTUALLY RESEARCHING. The only way this paper can actually get any attention is if I make it credible through statistical analysis. At this point in the summer I had NO IDEA how to do that. I didn’t even know where to begin. There are so many articles and novels on the subject it would take years to be an expert. Well, luckily I don’t have to be an expert; I just had to prove my point.
I went to Dupont Library and checked out a few books I thought might be of use, printed almost every article and pdf file on the Human Rights Campaign website, and actually started reading the newspaper regularly! This is of course way in the future, but as of July 8th 2010 the New York Times published an article on the unconstitutional act of banning gay marriage. This was pretty big in the state of Massachusetts and sent a shockwave through the nation. Side anecdote over…
We’ll talk more about the paper later in another post, but for the sake of laying out the rest of my proposal, I’ll continue. The second part was to begin building what would be the first gay music organization at Stetson. This was probably less ambitious than the first part, but much harder to facilitate. The first question anyone should ever ask when starting an organization is WHY? To say it plainly I find some GLBT composers to be under represented. I wanted an organization that would foster the performance and presentation of music by GLBT composers. In the current climax of the movement it is most evident there is a need for role models. This is something I’ll continue to talk about in my paper, but role models like these composers would reinforce the inclusive state of mind in the general public. There are of course many other reasons for having an organization that are probably more generic than anything; however, that’s the gist of it.
Finally the third portion of the service is of course the nitty-gritty-get-your-hands-dirty hands-on service! In my opinion this is the most exciting part, because this involves the planning with my community partner. This includes workshops for the public, speaking to the elderly and the younglings, and speaking up to our businesses in Deland. Ideally the goal was to educate, but as you’ll read later, it turned out to be much more than that. I was immersing myself in the minds of others. It was almost the most thrilling thing I’ve done in a long time. I got a chance to understand the minds of my community and how they arrived at their conclusions and opinions. Of course you can imagine the hardest part of hands-on service is communication and planning. I officially know how to reserve rooms at Stetson! A tool I plan to utilize again and again during my last two years here. I can also talk in front of a crowd without stumbling on my words not nearly as much as I use to!
I think after week one I was pretty certain no matter what I did, even after my hours were completed, I wasn’t going to really finish anything. Most of this service is carrying on into the fall semester. I won’t spoil anything just yet, but things are looking really exciting for the fall!!!
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