Next week I begin my Fall Semester 2026 with an assignment called, “Two Truths and One Lie.” Whatever time the schedule says, that’s when I fire up my Canvas instructions on the Big Screen. When my students walk into the classroom, they will see three of my paragraphs I use to introduce myself to the class. Two are TRUE. One is a LIE. (If they are taking my class online, it’s all the same idea.) I stick with what works for me. I haven’t changed my paragraphs in a long while. I write about my life in Mexicali. My students seem to appreciate that. I don’t tell them right off which one is the lie – I first ask them to write three paragraphs of their own. This is my first-day ice-breaking activity. After about 45 minutes – 15 minutes per paragraph – I encourage students to break up into groups and discuss what they have written. When all is said and done, I hope we have the beginnings of a dynamic learning atmosphere to build upon.
Now that I’m preparing my lessons, I’m thinking about replacing one of my three paragraphs for “Two Truths and One Lie. When I’m not creating lessons plans or grading assignments, I read Spanish-language novels. That’s TRUE. I’m on the verge of completing a 340-page Colombian author Laura Restrepo novel, actually two of them. One version in English, and the other in Spanish. Delirium/Delirio tells the story behind a young woman’s mental collapse. I chose it from a display table at the UABC bookstore here in Mexicali. I’m really HAPPY with myself. Two or three times a day, I make the time to get a few pages in. I underline, highlight, record interesting phrases in my hardcover journals. At night, I force myself to watch a half-episode on Netflix based on the novel. I doubt, I will ever bring Delirium into the classroom, but I’m HAPPY with my progress in learning Spanish. I read a new novel every semester. Most all of them are large paperbacks ( for the purpose of better note-taking) and carry the Netflix stamp. I’m HAPPY I’ve found something I can look forward to every day. I used to get this feeling from RUNNING. Now I get it from READING. Beyond the classroom, I will encourage my students to follow their own curiosity in their own reading selections. Too often they read in isolation. They read because they have to. Wouldn’t it be cool if reading wasn’t something extra but part of their lives?
Delirio may be the third or fourth novel I’ve read the past few year written by a Colombian writer. Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Laura writes in a non-linear, fragmented style I appreciate. I’m not writing a book report here, but the story is about a middle-eged college professor, Aguilar, who abandons his family for a young woman, Agustina, who sufferes from extreme mental illness episodes. Consciousness is divided between Aguilar, Agustina, Agustina’s grandfather, and Midas McAlister, Agustina’s former lover. These four characters give us clues, memories, recollections that may provide sense of Agustina’s breakdown. The problem for Aguilar is that Agustina comes from a rich, powerful family. She’s grown up in a house full of lies. Her father is linked to drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. Her mother is sexually repressed. Her brother is physically abused. Her lover is involved in a murder. Aguilar can’t determine where one trauma ends and the next begins. When Aguilar tries to nurse Agustina back to health in the comfort and safety of their family apartment, he watches a frightening obsession develop. She moves about each room with a pot of water and a handful of rags and has to clean everything, like she can’t survive without scrubbing her life away. She reminds me of a Colombian Lady Macbeth: Like, “Out, damn’d spot!” That’s just the beginning of the turmoil.
Why am I bringing up my reading of Delirium? Soon after we complete our ice-breaking activities, I will introduce annotation assignments for our reading of research articles. In more than a few of my classes we develop mental illness research papers. My students write about anxiety, depression, anorexia, suicidal thoughts. Along the way, they will learn how to make effective/meaningful notes for what they read. I find the BEST NOTE-TAKERS write the BEST ESSAYS. (Funny how that works!) This is the way I see it: If i’m not writing down anything significant, I feel like I’m not LEARNING anything. Just for the fun of it, I just may pull out my hardcover journals I use when I read Delirium. Jaja, I might say, Remember when I told you about my reading of Spanish-language novels…. THAT WAS TRUE!” I understand many people choose their books through recommendations from people they trust, or Goodreads reviews. Many of my students have told me they choose their leisure reading books by the design of the bookcover. Yo? I offten choose what I read by the height and width of the pages. This allows me to create notes in the margins. I then tranfer what I have written to my hardcover journals. I keep organized records of page numbers and telenovela timestamps for everything I want to remember. I manitain my chunks of grammar rules , vocabulary, and interesting phrases in alphabetical order, so I can find them when I need them.
The Spanish-language novel I read previous to Delirio was written by a Mexican author, Jorge Ibargüengoitia. It’s called Las Muertas, or in the English version, The Dead Girls. I discovered the existence of the novel on Netflix, for their ever-present/intrusive algorithms based on my watch history that alert me to “series populares basadas en novelas.” I could then search for Las Muertas across the online Latino-American publishing houses until is identify the Netflix stamp on the cover. This is the one I purchase, for I know it will meet the size dimensions I’m looking for. Apparently, Las Muertas is a true-crime thriller based on two Mexican sisters who run a few rural whorehouses in 1960s Mexico. Spoiler Alert: A prostitute or two seems to mysteriously disappear in each episode, hence, the title. This novel was a better read for me than the one I’m currently reading, for it takes the form of a traditional police procedural: lot’s of summaries, facts, and dialogue. In fact the first scene of the Netflix drama begins when the Mexican National Police discover the corpse of a young woman discarded in a roadside ditch. Frightening. Violento. From the beginning I realized not only is the story about Murder, but it is also about Love and Revenge. The younger sister, Serafina, I would call a Femme Fatale. That’s a French term, not Spanish, but I know one when I see one. A femme fatale is traditionally portrayed as a a mysterious, seductive and beautiful woman who can lure a man to his own destruction. I say “mysterious,” because you never really know what they want: Money, Power, Sex, Opportunity. Serafina falls in love with a baker, Simon Corona, whose decision to reciprocate, for him, it may have been like throwing his life down a Black Hole. Serina destroys him. Her need for him is relentless and compulsive, so when the time comes for him to leave her, she vows to seek revenge. She will have no peace, until he is DEAD. (My students tell me this is a very common theme in the novelas they watch.)
Here is a case of unintended consequences from watching telenovelas on Netflix. I didn’t think about it at the time, but many of my students share with me their novela-viewing experiences. In fact, last semester, I had asked my students to collaborate in groups to research a Mexico-City based idea – this was to reinforce our appreciation of reading a Frida Kahlo historical novel. This may have been one of the best ideas I have ever had. On the last day of class students presented their findings about Mexico City Teen Subcultures, Mexico City Street Food, The Legend of Juan Gabriel… I told them to choose a topic that sparked their interest as a group, their responsibility would lie in their ability to use the newest research methods we covered through the semester. Jaja. In my brainstorming activities, I modeled a few ideas that Jay would like to tackle. One of them was a Mexico City Telenovela based on the work of a famous Mexican Author.
As part of my instructions for the event, I ask my students to include a Visual Analysis in their presentations. I leave it to them to find a meaningful image they can share that will enhance their potential for discussion.
This is Hector Belascoarán Shayne – He is a Mexico City private detective. I know him from reading my first Spanish-language crime novels while I was a student in Mexico City. I don’t know exactly the definition of “Chilango” yet, but I believe Hector is a great representive of this class. He loves his city! I’ve read like four or five Hector Belascoaran Shane novels. He is a very educated man. In fact, before he was a detective, he was a successful mechanical engineer. But that’s why I like this Netflix promotional picture for his telenovela series. At age 30, he decided that he had enough of normal life, and studied to become a detective through a mail-order certificate program. (This was before the internet.) He seems to like the DARK more than the LIGHT. He is attracted to violent, chaotic cases. In this picture, he’s sitting in a brown leather jacket with his boots up on the desk. Tough Guy! I don’t know if you can see it in this dark picture, but Hector has only one eye. He often wears an eyepatch. On one of his cases, he was shot in the face in a dark alley, trying to protect the daughter of one of his clients. He drinks a lot of Coca Cola and smokes a lot cigarettes. The bottle is set right in the middle of the desk. Like it represents the center of his universe. Dark shadows fall across his face. I read this in every one of his novels: He was a very good engineer and was married to a beautiful wife. Even though his new career is both dangerous and unstable, he appears to be much more happier in his new life. He doesn’t even think about going back to anything normal. That’s why he is Chilango.
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