Apropos of nothing...

Lately, every morning when I come into my office, I find mouse turds on my desk. Just thought I'd share.

Bawdy Birds update

I've been AWOL from the site lately, because I've been working on papers and such. I gave my presentation today on the Libro de cetreria, and it seems to have been a success.
I promised gratuitous sex and violence, and I think I delivered.

Sharing resources

Does anyone have a multiple choice SPN 101 exam they would be willing to share?

Europeana: Stay Tuned

I caught wind of this site on Spanish TV. It promises to offer a wealth of didactic materials. It is scheduled to officially open tomorrow. As of now, I found that I could not access and materials.

Teaching Introduction to Lit. Studies

As the semester winds down, I start thinking about how I would do things differently. In my Introduction to Literary Studies, which I taught for the first time, I used Aproximaciones and pretty much followed the organization of the book: Narrativa, Poesía, Drama. I think that next time I teach the course I will begin with poetry and spend more time on it than the other genres, since it seems to me that poetic language is part and parcel of good literature. I also think I would proceed in reverse chronological order, dealing with the Siglo de Oro/Baroque last, since it is more challenging and I think it would be good for students to become accustomed to poetry before diving into Garcilaso or Sor Juana. I did ask students to memorize and recite a poem this semester, though.

Any thoughts? Have you used other textbooks worth recommending?

The Onion's take on "illegal re-emigration" in light of the souring US economy

See article.

Resources for Teaching Literature

This section on the auladeletras site had some materials that may ( or may not) be useful for teaching basic literary concepts to undergraduate students. I found their powerpoint-esque introduction to _DQ_ to be quite interesting.