Photo by:
For the last three years, Professor Geoffrey Bateman has worked with The Gathering Place, a daytime drop-in shelter for women and children experiencing homelessness in Denver. He hopes to enlighten students through his experiences.
As a lecturer in the Writing Department and the interim director of the Gender and Women’s Studies program, Bateman has developed a way for students to get involved in the organization: to write for them through a first-year writing course.
One of the major projects involves students interviewing clients, staff and volunteers about their experiences at The Gathering Place as well as asking them to reflect on what’s been significant for them in being a part of the community.
Students will then transcribe these interviews to write narratives that can be collected and given to a development staff member to use in future writing, such as appeals for donations and funding.
“To be honest, I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I’ve had working with the women at The Gathering Place – they’ve taught me much about writing and community – and I look forward to sharing a part of this experience with my students,” says Bateman.
This service-learning course will focus on utilizing writing skills to aid the needs of the Denver community and giving back to the public good.
As a professor, Bateman emphasizes the role of academic knowledge as a tool useful and applicable to the community and current conversations within it, regarding gender and women’s studies.
“What we know can shape what we can do or be in the world and help our communities or help our politicians, if they would listen to us,” says Bateman. “It has been fun to see our students make some of those connections or find those possibilities.”
Bateman’s classes deal with controversial topics, which aims to prompt students to think and connect with the ideas that are presented to them.
“So many students come asking, ‘How can I make a difference in the world?'” said Bateman. “It seems ‘polyannaish,’ but I think for many folks they realize that this knowledge means something.”
Bateman is currently teaching a course titled “Introduction to Gender Studies,” which introduces students to the topic of gender and sexuality through a variety of literary tools and discourses.
While the majority of the spring writing course will focus on articles drawn from The Denver Post and student’s individual research, Rachel and Her Children, a journalistic account of homeless families written by Jonathan Kozol will also be used.
Bateman’s current course recently finished reading the novel “Stone Butch Blues,” written by Leslie Feinberg, dealing with issues of transgender and abuse before the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City that jump-started the gay rights movement.
“Novels bring to life things that may not even come out with a good academic study, and it brings the students to talk about how these ideas play into history and they begin thinking about it critically,” said Bateman.
Bateman attributes his personal interest in gender and women’s studies to one specific course he took at CU Boulder as an undergrad, “Literature by Women.”
“It was as if suddenly the whole world was cracked open to me, recalls Bateman.
Bateman’s first-year writing course aiding The Gathering Place and homeless women is listed as WRIT 1633, CRN 2091.
