I took seminar 9: Grim(m) Indeed with Dr. Laura Lorhan in Spring 2020, the quarter we were all first adjusting to online classes. This is probably my favorite class I have ever taken at UCLA (which is saying a lot), I could not recommend Dr. Lorhan enough. Lectures were SO engaging as we actually got to actively participate and make comments throughout because of the seminar format. Dr. Lorhan formatted the class so well in my opinion, which was even more impressive due to the sudden adjustment we all had to make to online learning. Each week we focused on a new Grimm's fairytale, reading the original, several retellings (a mixture of modern and classic), and watching a film. Several of the retellings were from the books Dr. Lorhan suggested we get, and I actually liked a lot of these retellings so much I continued reading these books even after the class ended. I also thoroughly enjoyed the films included in this class, and I really appreciated that Dr. Lorhan included such a wide breadth of movies: new, old, French, Korean, Spanish, B & W, silent, etc. We wrote three mini essays (less than 3 pages) on any of the retellings we wanted to choose, had a presentation project on a retelling we found outside of the class (you can do whatever you want, I did Harry Potter), then wrote our final paper. With the amount of guidance and help Dr. Lorhan offers, you seriously can't do bad on the final paper, and she is super generous when it comes to choosing a retelling to write about (I wrote about a YA novel I read in high school and got an A plus haha). Overall, this was a fantastic class and I have nothing but praise for Dr. Lorhan. She not only has created an interesting, engaging class, but I also feel like I gained so much confidence as a writer because of her feedback. I am so thankful I got to take this class with her, it really provided a bright spot in my week despite it feeling like the rest of the world was kind of falling apart due to covid-19. Love her, love the class, take it if you can!!