I think I’m having a rough time conceptualizing an open-access queer studies overview because it seems so broad and so daunting. Increasingly, I’m contemplating narrowing the scope of my curriculum to something I feel confident about and would actually enjoy teaching. Thinking back to the classes I most remember and valued as part of my undergraduate education, I remembered a course I took entitled Black Women Writers of the 40’s and 50’s, which led me down the path of an in-depth exploration of one author/decade/movement with plenty of space for analysis, discussion, and contemporary connections. But this level of specificity would likely create even more challenges when trying to find free/accessible resources. So my current questions are: how can I realistically construct a curriculum that serves as a close examination instead of an overview—and is this even valuable to the students we’d be teaching?

As for research related to what we actually discussed last week, I did research LGBTQ course offerings and resources at Medgar Evers College, but didn’t find much. I’m still looking through their Center for Law and Social Justice for potential resources:

http://www.clsj.org/about-us/

On another note, I’m including a link to the James Baldwin screening next week at the central BPL location, as an example of a potential event I would encourage students to attend if I were to teach a course:

https://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/james-baldwin-price-central-library-dweck-022218