I took him for Recent Chicana/o Lit - not sure if thats M180? Anyway, he's a really nice professor - very personable despite being the head of the English Dept. He's very approachable and friendly. I was initially worried about his class because in another Chicana/o Studies class we used a book he authored and it was an EXTREMELY difficult read. Clearly he is a brilliant man and very enthusiastic about literature and la gente. While I initially enjoyed his interpretations of the texts, it did become just a tad bit tedious by the 5th & 6th week. Loved some of the readings (Cisneros), but hated others (Zeta Acosta - yuck).
The first graded paper was a quote intepretation and it was graded hard. I was really bummed because I thought I did better than what my grade reflected. I didnt know it at the time, but he had a reader grading the papers. I think perhaps someone must have tipped him off that the reader was grading WAY TOO HARD, and for the next paper, he actually allowed us to resubmit if we were unhappy with the grade. After that, the grading was a bit more reasonable. My faith in him (and in myself) was restored.
All in all, he's a good professor to take, ESPECIALLY if your not an English major because he really shows you how to deeply examine the texts - its like mind expansion without having to take acid. He would be a cool person to smoke out with - he's pretty deep.