Intro to Asian-American Literature and Culture

I took this class hoping to get a good overview of Asian American Literature, and wow was I completely disappointed. I only stayed in the class because it fulfilled 2 major requirements for me and was absolutely no work. I think I went to half the classes and read 10% of what was assigned and walked away with an A. Professor Gamalinda is a poet (not teacher) by profession and seems to avoid saying anything educational or substantial. He breaks the class into small groups and basically lets go of the reigns, resulting in the most disorganized discussion you'll ever experience. The only two books you read in class are The English Patient and America is in the Heart (which, by the way, we got complete weeks of NO CLASS to "finish reading the book")....everything else comes in his coursepack, a flimsy group of pages of random poems and short stories that are of course interesting, but not particularly challenging. We spent entire classes discussing two or three poems with no focus, which basically led to beating a dead horse. If you really want to learn about Asian American Literature, wait until another professor teaches this class. Otherwise, it's a great slacker class.