C LIT 240: Like a Duck to Water

When I realized that I needed a composition credit to apply to computer science this summer, I started looking through courses on the UW registration website. Out of all of the classes available, C LIT 240 stood out to me. "Comparative approach to literature and a workshop in writing comparative papers in English," read the course description. "Emphasis on cross-cultural comparison of literary works. Readings in English with an option to read selected texts in the original languages." In high school, I wrote my extended essay (a self-directed piece of research required for the IB program) on a similar topic, comparing 2 magic realist books from different regions. I researched the cultural background of each of the authors, even reading one novel in its original Spanish and incorporating Spanish-language academic research into my paper. Reading over the course description again, I felt like this class was made for me.

Arriving to class on the first day, I took to the course material like a duck to water. Professor Weatherford began by introducing the course syllabus and lecturing on the history of neoliberalism, colonialism, and queer theory. As a high school and college debater, I engage with a plethora of niche philosophies, including moral and critical philosophy. In particular, over the past two years, I had been steadily building up my knowledge of critical philosophy dealing with settler colonialism, neoliberalism, and gender. It felt validating and exciting to hear these topics being brought up in a college class, knowing that I would get to finally apply my debate research.

Throughout this quarter, I have felt excited to wake up every Tuesday and Thursday to come to Professor Weatherford's class. Not only have I continued to learn about critical philosophy, but I have also learned more about how I am implicated in different structures of power, practiced how to apply new lenses to critically analyze texts, and made new friends! I also met with Professor Weatherford outside of class to discuss his research, learning a great deal about academia and college in general. While I am sad that my time in with Professor Weathorford is soon coming to an end, I am grateful that I was able to start off my first quarter at UW with such a wonderful professor and class.

Read one of my essays from this class below: