"The Pedestrian"

19 February 2020: I keep telling my students this semester that I wish every one of them was in every one of my classes because the material keeps intersecting in such unusual and unexpected ways. In American Ethnic literature, we've been wrestling with questions about identity, racism, and double-consciousness. In Young Adult Literature, we've wrapped up our discussion of Monster and are about half-way through The Hate U Give. In my seminar on gender and humor, we've finished Phoebe Robinson's book and spent our last class discussing 2 Dope Queens. 

So today's poem-of-the-day just really hit me. I love its use of the sonnet form, its title's double-meaning (as a noun and an adjective--as in, this is just an ordinary occurrence), and its quiet devastation. Give it a read.

Back to 2 Dope Queens...

18 February 2020: Spent part of this morning grades students' "Listening Responses" to episodes of 2 Dope Queens, an assignment in my "Gender and Comedy" seminar this semester. Basically, I told them to pick any episode, listen carefully, take some notes, and write some things down.

The students loved the podcast. Loved it.

And the assignments? These were really good. I am telling you, even their grammar was better than usual. What? How? A Phoebe and Jessica miracle, especially impressive for a show that isn't even producing new episodes anymore.

More from the marches...

24 January 2017: “I am my ancestors’ dream. They fought for me to be able to stand up here in the cold-ass snow in front of a bunch of white people wearing Uggs.” --Jessica Williams at the Women's March at Sundance. Read about her powerful speech here.