Sociology 1010 Service Learning Presentation

Service Learning

WE CAN
Where did I volunteer?

“WeCan is a group where women come to uplift, inspire, and enlighten one another. Cofounded by Martina McBride and Emily Hayford, our mission is to help survivors of sexual trauma recognize that they are not alone and that is hope for healing through sharing our experience with each other.

WeCan aims to be a safe place where we can share our stories and remind each other of our worth, no matter what stage of life we find ourselves in.”

What role does this community partner play in our society?

¨Services provided?

¤Monthly workshops, blog articles, private Facebook group; an all around safe place

¨Social problems addressed?

¤Women’s issues:

nNot just giving women focus on international Women’s Day, but instead year round.

nDiscuss topics that might be a little taboo

nEmpowerment and Equality

¨Who is served?

¤Women- not just in the Salt Lake area where the workshops are held because of the Facebook group there is a larger outreach

Experience

¨Great experience!

¤New friends

¤Now part of an amazing group

¤Invited to Write a blog article for November

¤Helping organize a service project for December

¤Learned from experienced, talented, educated women

¤Bracelet kits for women in third world countries

Course Connections

¨Norms that are broken:

¤Some topics are “taboo” or considered weird or awkward to talk about

¤That you have to be an “artist” to express yourself in artistic ways

¨Functionalism:

¤Women with different backgrounds or skills coming together to share knowledge and to empower one-another

Policy

Recommendations

¨Wave a magic wand:

¤Have a sponsor, help with costs

¤Have two or more group meetings a month:

nWorkshop, service, and outdoor/ physical activity

¤Help it grow to accommodate larger groups at a time attending monthly workshops

¤Spread the word

¤Contact other women’s organizations in the community and come together 

Humanities 1100 Reflection Paper #4

HUMA 1100 Reflection Paper #4

            Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the poet of The Charge of the Light Brigade, uses his poetry to convey the experiences of the soldiers involved in the charge by utilizing poem structure to give visual aid of war order, word usage to provide imagery of battle, and dactylic syllables to provide sounds of battle. These three tools each provide a way for the reader to understand the experiences of the soldiers in such short but powerful writing.

            When looking at the poem initially, the reader sees a few things regarding the structure. Firstly, each stanza is roughly the same length give or take a line or two, and each line within each set of stanzas are roughly the same length. This simple observation aids the reader in visualizing soldiers in a line marching forward into battle. Secondly, the reader notices as they begin to read, that there is pattern that follows. Each line is short and to the point, almost as if they are similar to what it would look like to write down the orders or instructions given by the military leaders. Tennyson even writes a few of his lines to imply quotations coming from these imagined military leaders. He writes, "Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!" which are to be interpreted as a call to action given by a leader.

            Tennyson's use of imagery aids the reader in imagining for themselves where the soldiers are in battle in regards to enemy lines because he gives a description of their location within each stanza. In the first stanza Tennyson begins by saying "Half a league, half a league, half a league onward," which lets the reader understand that the soldiers are not quite to the enemy lines, but that they are closing in quickly. In the Third Stanza, he gives a description of where the soldiers are in relation to the enemy's cannons as they approach the enemy lines: "Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them". Then as they progress deeper into battle, the fifth stanza explains their location in regards to the cannons "Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon behind them".

            Along with the imagery of the soldiers location and progression amongst the enemy line of defense, Tennyson provides descriptive word usage that lets the reader imagine the soldiers grueling point of view during the progression of battle. He begins to describe the battle field as the "valley of death" which is very appropriate when he continues onward with the rest of his descriptive words of war such as: " jaws of Death", "mouth of Hell", "battery-smoke", "Storm'd at with shot and shell", and finally "horse and hero fell". Putting Tennyson's gruesome words together leads the reader to understand the difficult battle for the soldiers.

            Dactylic meter is used by Tennyson to provide sound to convey the experience of the soldiers when the reader reads this poem aloud. Dactylic meter is when one stressed syllable is followed by two unstressed syllables, and reading a poem correctly can prove to have more depth to it than just the word meanings. In just two lines of Tennyson's poem ,"Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them" we can hear the intended sounds of cannon fire due to the dactylic meter, and one could arguably say the sound of horses hooves pounding the ground as they gallop into battle.

            Utilizing these three poetry tools, Tennyson is able to convey the experiences of the soldiers in The Charge of the Light Brigade by providing visualization of military order within the stanza's structure, imagery to give perspective of the soldiers location in battle or their view of the battle, and finally Dactylic meter to provide a soundtrack of war cannons. Tennyson understands that in order to enhance and add depth to his writing, application of poetry tools provide the reader with a deeper connection and understanding of his work.