Jusayan 7

Part II
Alpha Chi Omega and the Social Calendar
In accordance to how John Swales believes how discourse communities have specific
genres, Alpha Chi Omegas utilization of a quarterly social calendar illustrates how this
organizational text of my discourse community is indeed a genre. Professor Amy Devitt also
points out a relationship between discourse communities and genres, saying: Whether through
discourse communities or some other social frame, genre must respond dynamically to human
behavior and social changes (Devitt 579). Another professor, Kerry Dirk, references Devitt too,
who also says that texts of a certain genre are a rhetorical action meant to bring about a specific
response (Dirk 254). The creation of the social calendar serves as one response to the rhetorical
need of organizing all of Alpha Chis events, and, further, Alpha Chis nature as a social
organization. The calendar also elicits a response in members to pursue the sororitys goal. These
reasons, as well as the reasons I am about to present, illustrate how the social calendar is
considered a genre.
Setting
At the beginning of each quarter, the member of the Executive Board responsible for
creating the social calendar, VP Membership Programming, places the descriptive piece of paper
under the mailboxes at our chapter house for everyones disposal. The calendar appears in many
different places for those in Alpha Chi Omega, but is usually found in a members room, hung up
on the wall for everyone to easily access. My roommate and I are both in AXO, so we share a
social calendar that is hung up on a wall, right in the middle of our room, available to those
present in the room.

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Subject
The social calendar essentially provides a tentative schedule of all the events AXO,
UCSB, and even other discourse communities have planned for the quarter. These events include
meetings, philanthropic events, TGs, practices, workshops, date parties, Initiation, Big-Little
week, sisterhoods, study nights, bill due-dates, and more. The genre of the social calendar
addresses questions that pertain to when a certain event is.
Utilization of the calendar promotes all members of Alpha Chi Omega to socially interact
with one another about AXOs own social events, and also with those excluded from the sorority
and their events, like UCSB and other discourse communities. Within these interactions come
many discussions, including discussions on what to wear to Thursdays TG, who is playing in
Sigma Phi Epsilons Flag Football tournament next weekend, and who will be Helpful Hera for
the date party this coming Sunday.
The purpose of AXOs social calendar is to efficiently organize all of the social events.
The sororitys members use the calendar, in turn, to gain information about the quarters social
events. The social calendar therefore fulfills Alpha Chi Omegas social goal of creating lifelong
friendships and connections, a product of these numerous events and programs.
Participants
The writer of the social calendar is an expert member of Alpha Chi Omega on the
Executive Board: Vice President Membership Programming. VP Membership holds
responsibility over all the programs that AXO produces and programs that AXO participates in.
In order to organize these events effectively, VP Membership, as her main role, creates a
tentative calendar/schedule for the AXO. Since one individual cannot possibly create a calendar
alone, the writer works with other writers to produce such a product. VP Membership consults

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other members of the Executive Board, who each have their own role of relaying information
relevant to their position to VP Membership, in order to make sure that events they are all
responsible are accounted for on the one single calendar.
The writers of AXOs social calendar only use their own characteristics of creativity and
organization in order to compose it. The skills they use are not all that important, for what is
more important is not the information given by the writers themselves, but the interpretations of
the calendar by its readers.
All of members of Alpha Chi Omega are the readers of the social calendar. Both novice
and expert members from different ages and grades utilize the social calendar in a variety of
different ways, all depending on their own personal view of the text. Members can either fully
utilize the calendar as a basis of their daily schedules or completely disregard the text, and
maybe even throw it away. I usually take a look at it to see what important events fall under
which exact date, and whether it coincides with other events that I have planned for myself
personally. Whenever I have a major assignment due, I use the social calendar and look at the
events that take place on the day(s) near or on the due date of that assignment. I will then decide
whether or not I should miss these events in order to allocate more time for myself to complete
the said assignment. For example, at the end of this week on Friday, I have to turn in the final
draft of this Discourse Community Analysis paper as well as take my second Statistics exam. I
looked at the calendar last week, and saw that on Tuesday I have Chi-Brary, which is lexicon for
study night with other AXOs at the library, and on Thursday I have a TG, themed-gathering, with
UCSBs club water polo and soccer teams. Knowing that I have my exam and paper due on
Friday, I used the information I gained by looking at the calendar to make the decision of using

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Tuesday night of Chi-Brary to write this paper, and missing out on the TG on Thursday to have
more time to write my paper as well as study for my Statistics exam.
Members not only read and use the calendar, but they can also assume critical stances
towards it. For example, readers, the members, can praise the writer, VP Membership, for
scheduling date party right after midterm seasons on Week 5. They can also criticize the writer
for scheduling a philanthropic event on the same weekend as Stagecoach. For this quarters
social calendar, members have even criticized our VP Membership for misspelling Alpha Chi.
Members do not need to possess certain characteristics in order to utilize the social calendar.
Members usually read the social calendar when they need to view the social events of the week,
the month, or the quarter.
Features
The social calendar essentially provides a tentative schedule of all the possible events
planned for the quarter. Although AXO events mostly comprise the social calendar, other events
from UCSB and other discourse communities are also included. Content that is excluded from
the social calendar are events that are irrelevant to AXO or events that AXO is not particularly
interested in. In order to have the social events flow in AXO, members will treat the social
calendar as an actual schedule to stay organized.
Like any other calendar, AXOs social calendar is structured on a large piece of paper in
the likelihood of a regular calendar with slight modifications; instead of typically 4-5 rows to
represent the weeks of the month, there are 12 rows to represent the weeks of the quarter. This
calendar format is the only format that this genre is presented in. Throughout the entire calendar
would be clever phrases describing certain events on that date, as well as cute little icons to go
along with those titles/phrases. Lexicon appropriate to AXO would be used throughout the

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calendar as well. The writers voice is clear, simple, and concise, since there is not necessarily
complete sentences on the calendar. With all this in mind, the social calendar is essentially a
descriptive, yet extremely simple, piece of text.
Implications
Analysis of AXOs social calendar illustrates the significance of its features in aiding the
organization of the events, providing a schedule to the communitys members, and further
pursuing the goal of expanding ones horizons. Since the calendar is mostly comprised of social
events, the calendar reveals AXOs beliefs in strengthening sisterhood and developing an
individuals social skills and connections.
Alpha Chi Omegas goals, however, illustrate the exclusivity of the sorority to solely only
its members. This exclusivity can be seen through the creation of the social calendar. Members of
AXO are invited to use the calendar and are encouraged to look into the given social events and
decide whether or not to participate in them, while those who are not apart of this community are
excluded from using it. Lexicon familiar to AXO members must be understood too to read the
calendar. The creation of the calendar also discourages members to idly stand by as the quarter
goes by, forcing conformity within the discourse community.
These implications primarily illustrate the social goal of AXO to build lifelong
connections and friendships. The social calendar is used a primary vehicle for members to join
the outside world through these events. It thus helps make AXO into a social discourse
community, making it a part of the bigger picture of Greek Life at UCSB.