Beginning of the end

Well, my super-long break is coming to an end in a couple of days, and my last semester of my master's program will begin. I am teaching one section of first-year composition, plus I am working for the English department computer/technology center as part of my grad assistantship. It will basically consist of hanging out in the computer lab and helping other teachers with their computer needs.

In addition to my "how to teach composition" class that I have to take as part of my assistantship, here are my other two classes:

• 20th Century American Poetry: "English 584 offers both micro and macro analysis of the field of Twentieth-Century American poetry. Course participants can expect close, careful reading of individual twentieth-century poems and, at the same time, exploration of the range of American poetry written in the twentieth century. This dual project demands an understanding of Modernism and Postmodernism and their uniquely challenging poetics. It also demands an engagement with trends that escape, or cut across, these movements: the persistence of the “genteel” tradition; the “New Negro” Renaissance; the Beats; and recent trends in multiculturalism. The primary mode of instruction will be discussion, supplemented by lectures and student presentations."

I am excited about this class because almost all of my favorite poets (Cummings, Stevens, Williams, Hughes, Frost, Ginsberg) will be covered.

• Topics in Film and Literature: "What is retail therapy? Why is shopping fun? Where does desire end and ideology begin in a world of mass consumption? Engaging with such questions, this course explores how a diverse range of writers and filmmakers have sought to understand and come to terms with the rise and triumph of consumer culture. Drawing on theoretical concepts developed in the work of thinkers like Karl Marx, Jean Baudrillard, Guy Debord, and Slavoj Zizek, the course will move from the naturalism of Emile Zola through the modernism of Jean Rhys to the postmodern narratives of writers like Martin Amis and films like Wall Street (1987) and Trainspotting (1996)."

Of course this class will rock.