Very kind. Easy A. Gave us a one-page syllabus on the first day of class. Literally no essays, two one page write-ups and then a final group project. Some readings, and that was it. With that said, it was very hard to follow his lectures. Despite this, his class is very fun and is sure to make your STEM friends jealous.

I loved Fred, I hope you love him too! I found his observations and quips to be deeply insightful and profound. He's unapologetically himself, extremely generous, and freaking hilarious. He is a bit unorganized and chaotic, but it's a harmless and healthy type of chaos. When you get to know him and if you really listen to him during his monologues you will discover that he is a truly wonderful human being. I will miss his poetry seminar.

Fred is very funny, kind, and approachable, and he often brought us snacks during class (our last lecture was in the Sculpture Garden and he brought pizza and soda!). I got to know my fellow students and their writing very well; he was tolerant of fantasy and science fiction, so many people submitted stories in that vein. However, because this was his first time teaching a short story workshop, it was a bit of a mess. We didn't have a syllabus and each week we brainstormed what we'd like to do for the next in terms of prompt/peer review, etc. At first it was a bit overwhelming because we all had to read and provide feedback on everyone else's fairly long stories (so for example, reading eleven other people's ten-page stories before the next class). However, later it switched to us reading everyone's but only providing in-detail feedback to one other person he matched us with. I really liked Fred, but the structure of the class was frustrating. Most of our class time was spent reviewing the student stories, which I appreciated, and we only read about three published short stories and a book by one of his former graduate students ("Happy for You" by Claire Stanford). If you take this class, I recommend just obtaining clarity on what's expected of you in terms of the assignments and talking to Fred.

Fred is kind of a chaotic lecturer but a genuine ray of sunshine. Interesting, very modern and accessible readings and a very free flowing discussion. Class was small and everyone got to know each other. It was nice!

Honestly, just take this class to experience the joy that is Fred! He's got an eccentric, entertaining way of speaking and is very outgoing. You'll become close with the rest of the poets in class and sometimes he'll even let you convince him to do class in the sculpture garden.

Professor D'Aguiar was one of my favorite professors I had during my time at UCLA. He is an extremely friendly Professor and is very outgoing. He has an admirable passion for literature and poetry on top of an outgoing personality that makes the classroom environment a safe place for everyone. It is hard for me to imagine that a single student had a bad time in this class. There are a lot of opportunities to meet your fellow classmates by working on group projects with them and you are also assigned in-class group projects to keep everyone interacting with one another as well. Overall, Professor D'Aguiar is an extremely understanding, friendly, passionate person who is an amazing addition to the UCLA English Department's staff. He genuinely enjoys teaching and he wants to see all of his students succeed.

In terms of how the class is set up, there are 3 papers you have to submit and one of the papers was part of a group project so it was much easier than the other two. Both papers weren't hard! Only a short paper, a medium length paper, and the group assignment. To be perfectly honest, the way Professor D'Aguiar set up this class was perfect for studying postcolonial literature. There were no specific prompts so it allowed students to really come up with their own takeaways from the readings which was awesome as it provided great flexibility in the class. You should take this class with Professor D'Aguiar, you won't regret it, and it was honestly exactly the type of classroom environment I love being in. Flexible, interactive, engaging, safe, and not overwhelming.