LBR STD 153
Stories of Struggle: Work, Class, and Narrative in Contemporary America
Description: (Formerly numbered Labor and Workplace Studies 153.) Lecture, three hours. Overview of contemporary working narratives. Investigation of how working-class Americans from diverse backgrounds have narrated their struggles with poverty, education, work, parenthood, bodily suffering, and war. Inquiry into what readers can learn from these struggles as students, writers, and activists. Emphasis on 21st-century narratives. Analysis of variety of genres, including poetry, lyrics, short stories, journalism and reportage, novels, memoir, and autobiography, for how they portray working class people and what they offer working class movement culture. Consideration of class as intersectional category of experience along with race, gender, and sexuality. Students read narratives about class and work, and contribute to body of working class literature through memoir, fiction, poetry, or journalism. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - So, the class was overall good. The professor is super kind and genuinely cares for you to succeed, so if you have any questions, just email or visit during office hours. I had a little issue, so I emailed her for a PTE, and she was happy to issue it, so right from the get-go, I knew she was gonna be great. The structure is that we have weekly reading (2/3), and obviously it's not the whole books, it's a part of the books/works, and you read those, answer discussion questions about one that you liked, answer another student, and every 3/4 weeks you have an exam. The exams are just essays (topics vary), but the main idea is that you use the readings for the essays (the first exam, to an extant is an exception). During classes you talk about the readings, discuss future projects and how the class can connect with your major, and so many things, like overall it's fun. My ONLY problem was that participation (discussions and in-class discussions) is 20% of your grade, and the rest of the 80% are the 3 essays (first two are 20, and the final is FORTY PERCENT). So that really "annoyed me" because you kind of worry and get anxious for no reason, since if you mess up even one of the exams, they're worth so much of your grade. Other than that, she has a rubric, grades fairly, and as long as you follow that, write something interesting and use her feedback to fix everything, you should be good. Overall, this being an online class, I'd definitely recommend it; the topics were fairly interesting, and it wasn't a "burden class," where it had a lot of course load and annoyed me or took time away from other classes, so, if you can, and you want a upper division course, take it.
Fall 2025 - So, the class was overall good. The professor is super kind and genuinely cares for you to succeed, so if you have any questions, just email or visit during office hours. I had a little issue, so I emailed her for a PTE, and she was happy to issue it, so right from the get-go, I knew she was gonna be great. The structure is that we have weekly reading (2/3), and obviously it's not the whole books, it's a part of the books/works, and you read those, answer discussion questions about one that you liked, answer another student, and every 3/4 weeks you have an exam. The exams are just essays (topics vary), but the main idea is that you use the readings for the essays (the first exam, to an extant is an exception). During classes you talk about the readings, discuss future projects and how the class can connect with your major, and so many things, like overall it's fun. My ONLY problem was that participation (discussions and in-class discussions) is 20% of your grade, and the rest of the 80% are the 3 essays (first two are 20, and the final is FORTY PERCENT). So that really "annoyed me" because you kind of worry and get anxious for no reason, since if you mess up even one of the exams, they're worth so much of your grade. Other than that, she has a rubric, grades fairly, and as long as you follow that, write something interesting and use her feedback to fix everything, you should be good. Overall, this being an online class, I'd definitely recommend it; the topics were fairly interesting, and it wasn't a "burden class," where it had a lot of course load and annoyed me or took time away from other classes, so, if you can, and you want a upper division course, take it.
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