Hi Marion,

I’ve been wanting to tell you how much I enjoyed your class and to wish you well during this trying time. Your email has prompted me to write. When I signed up for the class, I was expecting a somewhat didactic reading and dry deconstruction and discussion approach to this literature. But I signed on because I knew that Brecht — and more importantly, Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya — were  contemporaries of my father, who had bittersweet memories of his life in Germany. I think my father was less interested in Brecht because of the Communist connection. I regret tuning some of that out when I was young and now wish to learn more, since both of my parents are long gone. 

In fact, I found the class most interesting. It was great fun and quite stimulating, with the participation of an enjoyable and involved group of students. This was due to your excellent leadership and teaching skills, which brought out the juiciest and most relevant Brechtian material, instead of the traditional “is this really part of Marxist theory?” stuff that I had expected (and hoped to keep at a minimum). Your innovative consideration of his work, as well as the influence and important literary collaboration of women in his life, is really important, and made the course even more interesting. ~ Dr. Charles Moser