This course ended up being a course in Latin American history with a heavy focus on social justice issues. While any composition course does well to have a theme, the course description should be updated and perhaps count for GE credit. This course was not focused on what I would consider to be the important writing skills that many heritage Spanish speakers lack. We did not learn grammar rules, Spanish language-specific writing structures, or anything else specific to writing in Spanish. The class was largely focused on extremely basic writing skills, such as how to write a formal letter and how to write a thesis. I did not need a history course, and if I had, I would have signed up for one. It was extremely disappointing that the range of topics to write about in this class was so clearly biased and limited. That, added to the fact that we were learning skills that are taught to students in middle school, resulted in a very poor experience in this course. If you are interested in the struggles of women and the Latin American population, I highly recommend this course . If you are looking to improve your skills in writing and speaking the language, this course is practically useless.

Professor De la Torre is a very unorganized Lecturer. Her class produces no meaningful discussion. Even though it was pretty easy to get an A in the class because she is a easy grader her instructions for the essays are extremely vague and you're left doing a lot of guess work. Overall she is a nice lady but I would not take a class with her again. Definitely do not recommend.

I have mixed feelings about this class. Basically, below I'll list the good and the bad:
Good side:
- Nice professor. She is an indigenous woman so basically you're getting a first-hand account of the indigenous narrative through an indigenous woman.
- Doesn't care if you're late. Attendance is basically through a sign-in sheet that goes around in class.
- Willing to answer any questions you have and willing to help you out.
- Despite being a middle-aged woman, she is pretty funny and relaxed.
Bad side: (Sadly, i think there is more bad than good)
- Quizzes are not easy. She tells you when the quizzes will happen but that doesn't make it any easier.
- Absence policy is weird. If you're going to be absent, you basically have to notify her 24 hours beforehand and bring a note to excuse you. You MUST have both, if not your absence is not "valid". This policy should be fixed by her- I got food poisoning once the night before class and I still had to go to class the next day because I 1) didn't have enough time to notify her and 2) felt to sick to get a doctor's note.
- She has clear favoritism towards students she has had in the past and in other classes at the same time. She makes it a bit obvious as she allows these students to talk way more than others and is more lenient with them.
- Some of her lectures were very (I'm sorry for this) boring. Sometimes she would spend way too much time on personal narratives instead of teaching the course material. She assigned us a 100+ page story to read and assigned us our mid-term on that and REFUSED to discuss anything about it. Instead of spending 6 out of the 20 classes on other stuff, she could have invested in helping us understand the story better.
- She could discuss topics in a more respectful manner. I know a lot of people within the class had religious beliefs but she would openly and constantly categorize religion and religious leaders as "ignorant" or "stupid" because of how they treated the indigenous community. Although I understand and respect her perspective on historical elements, I think she should do the same.
Overall, this class is interesting but for sure has the ability to be better. I would but I would also not recommend this class.