In Cultural Foundations I aim to show how alive canonical works actually are. I encourage students to develop their own personal relationship to such works, to think of them as messages from the dead addressed to their eyes only, and as posing questions that must be answered in life. It is therefore imperative for students to hone their close-reading skills—in order to understand what the dead say to them (the dead speak very quietly). It is also imperative for students to learn how to talk back clearly and precisely (the dead are a trifle hard of hearing). Since what makes a work canonical for me is the force with which it goes past and against preconceived notions, the way it continually sabotages systems of political dominance to focus on the tragedy and slapstick of being human, my favorite moments in my canon are: the story of Jacob in Genesis; that of Tamar in the Second Book of Samuel; that of Dido in the Aeneid; and, last but not least, when Farinata makes a face after Dante tells him what family he comes from.

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