In reading Queer Theory in the Writing Classroom, I found an immediate connection to Donald Murray’s article “Idea that writing should be taught as a process rather than a product”.

One question in this article sparked my interest. “Can an esoteric theory such as queer theory really have an impact on daily interactions with first year writing students? Before this question could be answered, students must have a clear understanding of what Queer Theory means.

As I read the article, I found it to be important to the pedagogical writing process. Creating a framework to assist educators to produce a step by step journey of writing as a process rather than a product. It allows students to think, research, and understand the meaning of what they’re writing about. Generating ideas, brainstorming, building background knowledge, planning and organizing, draft writing, revising, editing and proofreading, and reflecting.

As an educator, I think these practices enhances the pedagogical strategies of scaffolding each step in the writing process, by using organizers, charts, and other instructional strategies that can help students connect and organize their thoughts.

Jonathan Alexander an Michelle Gibson’s writes that their goal was to create a curriculum that challenged students to think critically about how personal stories are told, how complex issues are represented, and how compelling lives are mediated through the process of writing about dramatic, traumatic, and transformative experiences, and how a master writers explores difficult issues through narration and exposition, and how, in the process of writing, the writer comes to empowering insights about herself, the nature of family, and the construction of identities in the interaction between the two.

To approach this goal, they incorporated Dorothy Allison’s “Bastard Out of Carolina, as a primary text for both discussion and writing assignments. I strongly believe that this approach can open up students minds to critical thinking. The idea of this was to show dramatic trauma, using a narrator’s voice. I think this is an excellent teaching approach. I think it will allow students to think and write about their own personal experiences to practice writing exposition so readers can understand their story.

I believe this is a great strategy to introduce Queer Theory in the writing process to challenge students to think critically how personal stories are told about themselves, family issues, and their own identities.

This article connects to my own personal experience. I started a girls club in the after school program. We talked about hygiene, responsibilities, and boys. I had a total of eight girls. To my surprise, six out of the eight girls were all gay. I would have never knew. Because I formed a personal group, we became very close and developed a sense of trust. As the girls became more comfortable with me and with one another, they began to open up and share their personal stories and experiences. Some learned to accept their sexual identity, while the others were still hiding. Some shared why and how they chose to be gay. Some were molested, some were engaged through their own community and upbringing. The list goes on. I asked them if their parents knew. Some parents knew, and some suspected. I didn’t know how to handle this situation.

This article has given me a greater insight. It helped me develop a better understanding of how to teach the writing process of “Queer Theory” .

Quick Disclaimer: For everyone who saw the blog post about me pirating articles, no you didn’t.

And if you really insist that you saw it—

it was AI—

not me confusing my blogs.

Now go on about your business.

I actually wanted to start with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk “The Danger of a Single Story.” When I first started teaching, in the heat of the 2024 election race, I actually used to play this video for my students. I did a few things with this video:

1. First off I used it as an introduction to our narrative unit. My students were expected to write college essays. I used this video in an attempt to shift the impression the students had of college applications. While the resume and transcript tell one story, they have an entire life of stories that affected those two documents. I tried stressing the importance of the college essay to counter any obstacles their transcript or resume might create. “Oh, you failed a class, well you lost a loved one the month prior.” “Oh, you’ve never had a job, well you had to take care of your siblings.” “Oh, you never participated in a club, well you had to work to support yourself because your parents kicked you out.” I think this video did a good job segueing into these conversations.
2. I also juxtaposed this video with twitter posts, and a video of a certain P*dophile, claiming that immigrants were eating dogs and cats. Using the context of “The Danger of a Single Story,” students were able to see the real world implications of what Ngozi Adichie was saying.

All this to say, I have a history with this video.

It was pretty refreshing to watch it again and I liked the side-by-side of it and the “Queer Theory in the Writing Classroom” article by Jonathan Alexander & Michelle Gibson.

While I try to be a very inclusive teacher, I never considered the difference between inclusion and criticality. While I do try to pull diverse text, like All Boys Aren’t Blue; however, I didn’t think about acknowledging how the excerpts are impacted by the unique perspective of the author.

It’s the same thing with the way the students are learning to write. Some students have certain mannerisms, or use certain vocabulary, that are frowned upon by Engfish (Callback ftw.)

I think, going forward, I’m going to have to reanalyze the way that I include LGBTQIA+ literature in the curriculum, especially since were going into memoir/college essays again.

Until next time, Dear Reader.

I found this week’s read, Queer Composition(s): Queer Theory in the Writing Classroom by Jonathan Alexander and Michelle Gibson, a very interesting read.

I’d like to start out by restating what was said in one part of this article: Why do we accept and validate identity rather than try to uncover how identities were constructed?

There’s this kind of notion that says to educators and students that our personal stories aren’t any good in an academic context. In other words, saying they don’t matter. Or they have nothing to do with this.

By why are we really avoiding doing the more difficult thing?

Instead of overlooking these personal experiences, we should try to understand what our identities (& how they were constructed) say about social structures and how it manifests in our writing. It definitely adds to the transgressive approach to pedagogy as we explored when reading bell hooks last week.

Which brings me to this quote: “a pedagogy that uses the vantage point of the social margin,” said by Malinowitz (pg. 13).

By looking outside borders of this kind of pedagogy field that slyly advocates for the protection of the status quo, we can instead gain a deeper understanding by taking a step back and looking at everything that constructed these almost oppressive frameworks. No matter how radical that might sound. In fact, our stories matter so much, so much so that it makes us even better writers.

“…students are asked to consider lesbian/gay experience in the context of heterosexist and homophobic American culture.”

This is so important and is something being touched upon in my identity of racial and ethnic identity class too. To put it simply, there is a reason why everything exists and moves the way it does (gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, etc.), and a lot of those explanations are hidden behind what is told is appropriate to talk about (especially in the classroom). And as for something I found myself agreeing with:

”…it is better to acknowledge and grapple with the political within the pedagogical than risk teaching from unaware and uniformed ideological biases.” (pg. 1).

P.s. I enjoyed how this article very clearly taught me the timeline of how queer theory came to exist within English studies. It gives me a gauge of how far the field has come, but also how much more there’s left to do. (Also, did this make sense?)

adamari 10/1/2026

The (kind of nonsensical outtakes): Which is so obvious but so overlooked at the same time. Like, of course exploring our identity and understanding that we must always continue to do so because it’s fluid and ever changing with whatever happens in our personal lives is important. Gaining that understanding in turn makes us better writers. That’s why so many of our worlds respected writers were known to have journals (franz Kafka, Sylvia Plath, etc. ). It’s us processing ourselves to then come to the table with a clearer mind of why what we’re writing about matters and how we are going to uniquely approach it.

(oh! Which sort of connects to the single story podcast. These writers weren’t magically great writers, they explored their 4dness.)

(happy October!)

Yep. I spoke it into happening. Monday night I was feeling like a cold COULD be coming, but I was like “nah… it won’t..”

It did. It sure did. Tuesday is usually my day off, which is great! So great!
Cause that is when I plan to do homework!
Guess who still went over the page limit despite being sick and wanting to be done with homework!

Today, well not today anymore it is 2 am as I write this, Wednesday was now my “writing the paper and making the presentation” day. I skipped chamber meeting and Guitar’s class cause I was sick. I couldn’t keep my head up.
Found out hours later I could work laying down. So many hours later. Like at 10 pm when I started at 4pm.
I also apparently did half the notes and didn’t read the other half the article Tuesday, so. I had to make this a huge work day.
And honestly, I have been up and rocking since. But, laying down. So. Who knows if I will actually be healed to give this presentation or if I will forget all the great stuff I feverishly thought up at 2 am. Cause right now I think what I have is great, but watch. Tomorrow I am going to look at all this and go “…. what in the world was this guy on…”

Dayquil. Powerful stuff man. Laying down? Do it guys. Cause I LOCKED IN once I gave up on sitting up.

Bring me back to Monday when I was functional.

Bring me back to last Thursday when I jokingly said “you guys are never going to see me again”. Oh those were the days.

(Wash your hands, stay safe, people are DROPPING out here, the sickness is coming, you have been warned).

Also, lucky for all of you, you DON’T have to read a CJ yap! Instead you MIGHT (if I can manage to not die) get a CJ presentation!!!! Yaaaaayyyy!

I felt like this creature all day

But either I am a creature of the night, or laying down is the most magical thing ever, cause I did indeed get it all done. By 2 am. Yaaay! We love this guys.
I may be healed by tomorrow? Let us hope. But, I mean, a CJ presentation is great and all, but it sure is not worth getting everyone sick over.

Stay strong soldiers. We shall maybe hopefully survive this.

For Dr Z: (or any of yall rats who want to be spoiled)

Reflection paper:

Presentation:

When reading Jonathan Alexander and Michelle Gibson’s “Queer Composition(s): Queer Theory in the Writing Classroom),” one of the first things I thought about was the importance of identity in the classroom and outside the classroom. Identity isn’t just a writing voice, writing agency, or persona; it’s who we truly are and our right to express our stories. The authors describe how they used Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina in a first-year composition class to highlight how personal stories are told and how writers can empower insights about themselves. The article explores the evolution of queer theory scholarship in composition studies, challenging the ideology that writing should only center academic pedagogies. The authors go beyond demonstrating that queer theory involves social and political norms, family structures, and the construction of our identities.

One significant idea from this article is that queer theory introduced marginalized perspectives into the classroom and transformed composition into a process pedagogy. The authors state, “for queer theory asks us to question, at the most fundamental levels and in the most essential ways, the nature of authorship, representation, and the process of coming into being through language.”  It’s impacting how many people may think that queer theory is about just the inclusion of LGBTQ writers’ and scholars’ perspectives in writing studies, but it’s much more profound. It is about empowering identity, empowering story, and challenging the social norms of fixed identities. Queer theory shows us the power of language by bridging differences and giving a sense of belonging to communities. It wasn’t until the 1990s that queer theory offered scholarship to voices who felt they couldn’t express themselves in writing due to heteronormative narratives.

Many of the articles the authors mentioned, such as Margot Francis’s “On the Myth of Sexual Orientation: Field Notes from the Personal, Pedagogical, and Historical Discourses of Identity,” were remarkable works that broke stereotypes and resonated with many students’ and individuals’ experiences. Francis infers that the openness of identity categories and sexual orientation gives many people the confidence to understand that their sexual orientation should not be fixed by society. The importance of scholarly articles that use language connecting deeply with readers is essential. However, before the study of queer theory, scholarly articles were shaped by dominant narratives that excluded the perspectives and experiences of queer writers and readers. These dominant narratives were rooted in heteronormative approaches, which silenced the identities of queer individuals because this was considered “normal” in society.

In other words, this was the only story told to the public. Anybody catching my drift.

Of course, I see an enormous connection with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk “The Danger of a Single Story.” I connect them by reflecting on how identity is often treated as something already decided before we even begin to write or narrate. One thought I take away from Adichie’s talk is that identity is not just lived; it is narrated. The stories others tell about a specific group can create boundaries and rob them of their dignity. Therefore, in both the article and the TED Talk, I hear an echo of identity as fluid rather than predetermined. Identity cannot be generalized based on a single narration or experience. One single story, one perspective, can ruin the vibrant culture or identity of a group. One single story becomes a blindfold that prevents people from seeing past prejudice. One single story dismisses the essence and humanity of a person. One of my biggest takeaways is that every life holds more than one truth. And all of those truths should be valued.

The article and the TED Talk bring to mind my own experience. I’m from El Salvador, and I don’t know how many are familiar with my country’s history, but in 2015, El Salvador was labeled “the murder capital of the world” due to having the highest homicide rate per capita of any country. Every day, there were many murders. Government corruption and its association with gangs made my country a dangerous place for many innocent people. Many innocents lost their lives. For years, El Salvador was labeled as a poor, dangerous country bombarded by gang activity.

Years back, (which happened here in the U.S) I remember vividly when one of my former neighbors asked what country my family was from, and my mom, with a smile on her face, said, “El Salvador.” The first words that came out of that man’s mouth were, “Oohh, you guys gangsters from MS-13 or what gang?” in a joking manner. Then he said, “I’m just playing.” Though we knew he was joking, I could see my mom’s face drop slightly in embarrassment when she heard that. All I could think in that moment was: if only he knew the beautiful volcanic landmarks of El Salvador. How about the innocent, hard-working people who were labeled as criminals? How about its rich archaeological sites? How about my family, who don’t belong to a gang and have worthy jobs? The danger of a single story. My neighbor had one narrative, one fixed identity, that robbed us of our dignity.

In 2019, Nayib Bukele was elected president and became the first leader to dismantle the corrupt government parties that had dominated for years. Bukele brought dramatic change by eliminating gangs, raising the economy, and establishing one of the most sophisticated security systems in the region. Fast forward to the present, after two-hundred and one years, El Salvador has been labeled the safest country in Central America. I mention all of this because identities are constructed as fluid narrations (Alexander and Gibson). Identities are not fixed. They are not permanent. Identities change over time. Identity is something we tell through personal stories, cultural background, and lived experiences. We have the right to express our stories to break stereotypes and give voice to silenced and underrepresented communities.

Disclaimer: For all intents and purposes, especially for the purposes of a legal matter, all of the following is a joke. Again, any references to any hypothetical theft, piracy, or crimes (punishable by law within the fifty states of the United States of America) are purely hypothetical scenarios made in jest in order to entertain an audience. The persons and events in this blog are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons or events is unintentional. Please don’t sue or arrest me. I’m broke and too pretty for jail.

Anywhoseits, on a completely unrelated note, I refuse to pay the NYT, or any other major news corporation for that matter, any amount of money in order to read a document. (And before you say anything, the writers have already been paid! Any money I hypothetically did not spend on the subscription would have gone to the the shareholders and upper management.) It’s also just so much fun. If you wonder where I get this sentiment from, please watch the video below.

In order to circumvent this, I may have, possibly, allegedly, hypothetically, stolen a bunch of articles for my thesis. I currently, may, have about 45 articles hidden in a google drive folder. I definitely didn’t do this by clicking on the article then hitting command+A before the paywall arose. And I would never open up a blank google doc and paste everything into that. And I most certainly didn’t go through each article to get rid of the ads and find more victims articles. I definitely wouldn’t recommend anyone do the same.

“Freedom is so much the essence of man that even its opponents implement it while combating its reality; they want to appropriate for, themselves as a most precious ornament what they have rejected as an ornament of human nature.” -Karl Marx

How’d that get there?

Now that I have finished my, entirely hypothetical, warning of what not to do when finding sources, let me get to what I have actually done.

So, for those who don’t know, my plan is to write a speculative horror fiction anthology focusing on the impact LLMs are having within writing centric spaces. I am drawing inspiration from works like Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone, and The News (Dun Dun duhhhh). By “The News” I mean that I only want to use events that have already happened or have a foundation in things already happening, similar to the approach Atwood took to Handmaid’s Tale.

““Somebody asked me on Twitter recently, ‘How do you come up with this shit?’ My answer was, ‘It’s not me who has come up with it, it’s the human race over the past 4,000 years.'” – Margaret Atwood

The section I am working on right now hits particularly close to home. The chapter follows a teacher who, over the course of a year, is replaced by the very AI she trained. There are a few precedents I am drawing on as inspiration for this story.

1. There is a large push in the education field to integrate AI into both our professional practices and the classroom. We are being told to use programs like Chat and Magic school to create resources, lesson plans, and activities for our classroom. At the same time, they are telling us to have students use AI chat rooms for activities and project creation.
2. Earlier this year, Melania Trump praised AI in the field of education and suggested that it could/should replace teachers in the classroom. (Which is ironic, coming from one of two first ladies who hasn’t completed a degree since 1897.)
3. While Linda McMahon disagrees that teachers should be replaced, she does cosign that it should be integrated into the curriculum and classroom environment. (Also ironic, considering the fact that she has never actually taught a class.)

My general virtial for the government aside, the move towards AI being a staple in the classroom is terrifying.

So the plan is to draw on that sense of dread that I experience that keeps me up every night, staring into the dark abyss, contemplating my existence. Write what you know and what not.

I want to give a special shout out to Dr. Sisler! Dr. Sisler has helped me a lot with establishing a basis for the research. She was nice enough to send me some links to articles (for legal purposes, these links are completely unrelated to any links mentioned in the prior, completely made up, story.) that really helped when it came down to a starting point for the research.

I’m having fun writing it, so far, and I’m excited for what the other stories have in store.

Until next time, Dear Reader.

I love writing my reflection after we meet. Our topic of the day was : If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be and why? I chose the Toucan Sam bird because of its bright colors and how it was flying over the water falls in the rainforest. It seemed so peaceful. I spoke about the music of nature that the animals make. They’re in a class by themselves. If you close your eyes and envision your standing in the middle of a rainforest, the sounds from different animals make their own music.

We also covered which topic and date we will do our presentation.

Dr. Zamora had us go on the course website and write in the boxes that our names were in. The topic was: How Did I Really Learn To Write.

As usual, it was an enjoyment listening to our class responses.

Can’t wait till next week! I wonder what Dr. Zamora has for us this time. lol