Morgan Davis

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1101-101
3 December 2014
After the group conference I feel a little bit better about the direction that my paper is
going. I received a lot of feedback, which I had hoped for and I am still in the process of
incorporating those ideas into my paper. I was hoping to interview Matt, the
organizations president, but that did not happen, so I had to interview another member
instead.
Spectrum- A Safe Place for Everyone
I chose the organization Spectrum as my discourse community. Spectrum is an
LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, intersex, and ally) organization.
The goal of this organization is to make sure that everyone in the community feels safe.
They also try to promote awareness, advocacy, education, and the culture of issues within
this community to the UNC Charlotte community. I chose this community because I am
currently part of this organization and because I feel like Spectrum is a good
representation of Swales six characteristics. Talk about Swales.
In a way I have been observing this organization all semester, but I had not been
focusing specifically on the six characteristics, but now that it has been brought to my
attention it is always in the back of my mind whenever I go to meetings or do other things
with this group.
Communication is key in this community because there are many touchy subjects
that get discussed in our meetings so it is important for the members to communicate

with each other if they feel uncomfortable with the topic or if they feel disrespected. For
example one of the members is a transgender female, also known as an mtf (male to
female) transgender. She voices her opinion a lot because not many of the people in the
organization are familiar with terms concerning transgender people, so when she feels
that something is unintentionally disrespectful to herself or other trans people she will
speak out about it. We also had an entire meeting where she presented on transgender
people and gave a lot of information and tips for how to address trans people. Some of
these tips were to not ask what their former name was because it could trigger something
negative within, wait for them to volunteer information because you do not know their
comfort level, and if you knew them before their transition to not make a big deal about
messing up their pronouns because that could make them feel uncomfortable.
This organization is largely based on member involvement. Our president, Matt,
is constantly asking us what we would like to do as an organization or what topics we
would like to hear at our meetings. The last meeting I went to he asked us to be thinking
about what community service we would like to see the organization get into next
semester as well as things we could do to bond within the community and to brings
proposals to the next meeting. This is very important because without our feedback we
would not get involved in new things that we have interests in. It also gives us the
opportunity to express any concerns we have with the direction the organization is going.
I interviewed my roommate Kayleigh, who is also a member of this organization
as an Ally and she brought up some very good points on how people are perceived in this
organization. An ally is someone who supports members of the community. Interview
stuff here.

We all have the same goals as an organization as a whole. The main goal is to
provide a safe environment for everyone who is involved with this community. There is a
low tolerance for negativity and bullying towards others. Another common goal is to
teach people within and outside of the community about important issues within the
LGBTQIA community itself. These issues include homophobia, transphobia, and suicide
and homelessness amongst LGBTQIA teens. I have been part of the LGBT community
for years, but Spectrum has taught me a lot. If I can learn something from this
organization I know others can too.
While we all have a common goal as an organization, there have been a couple of
conflicts at some of the meetings. Sometimes an individual will lose sight of the purpose
of these meetings and make it all about them or one specific area of the LGBT
community, which makes it awkward and uncomfortable for the rest of the members. So I
think thats an issue that needs to be addressed. Another example is that one meeting
turned into a debate about stereotypes within the LGBT community and instead of
making it a learning experience some people tried to one up each other and it just got
really out of hand. Also sometimes the mood can get tense depending on topic and it may
make some people uncomfortable.
To make the meetings more interesting Matt uses a variety of ways to present
topics to us. These things include PowerPoint, videos, jeopardy, and guest speakers. The
use of these different genres is important in making sure the meetings go smoothly and to
keep members interested. If we have too many meetings in a row with one type of
presentation, such as a PowerPoint, members are quick to lose focus because they are
tired of the same thing over and over. I personally like when he comes up with a new way

to teach or talk to us about certain issues because I learn better when things are switched
up. For example my favorite meeting was about stereotypes and we played a game acting
out certain stereotypes for other people to try to guess. I liked this meeting so much
because it got the members active and interacting with each other.
Lexis
As with any organization the only way to keep it going is by having younger
people take over once the leader leaves. We do this by electing a new executive board
(President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) at the end of the year, or as needed
if an individual graduates mid-year. This year we had to hold elections mid-semester
because our vice president graduates after this semester and we had to figure out who was
going to take her place so they could begin learning the duties of vice president.

Works Cited
Pettyjohn, Kayleigh. Personal interview. 11 Nov. 2014.