Happy New Year!

Feliz Año Nuevo!  Hope this new year brings you and yours an abundance of blessings.  I will strive to post more often and keep folks updated.  For the last few months, I’ve been focussed on my teaching at the University of Central Florida.  In November, in celebration for the Day of Dead, students in Latin American Popular Culture and Art class created an ofrenda–a beautiful display of assorted items significant to people in their lives.

Students created this ofrenda for Day of the Dead

Later on in November, I attended the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Convention in Chicago to present on a couple of panels, one was with current and former students.  Our topic was on Teaching Latino/a Literature Twenty-Five Years After Fronteras/Borderlands and to discuss the possible impact of the Norton Anthology of Latino Literature.

Presenting with me, my dear friend, former grad student Lisa Treviño Roy-Davis (professor at Collin College in Plano, TX), María Nuñez, newly graduated from UCF, and current UCF student and McNair Scholar Esteban Santis.  It was a pleasure to co-present with these talented scholars.

    From Left:  María, Esteban, me and Lisa.

 Discussing the impact of Latino/a Literature

It was a busy semester, but to be honest, I can’t recall a semester that wasn’t.  Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my classes, the students and look forward to the spring semester.  I will be teaching a large section of Women in Literature–100 students!  This promises to be an adventure and I hope to make it enjoyable and productive for all.  I leave you now to finish preparing for my classes.  Below is a photo of another one of my former students, Bronwen West, who invited me to visit with her English and Creative Writing Classes at Wekiva High School in December.  We had a grand time and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to share my writing with young writers.

After a day of visiting with Bronwen’s students

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