Do whatever you can to get into his class. Joel was the best professor I have ever had. He manages to relate the readings to contemporary situations and plays funny videos at the beginning of each class. As for grading, if you don't want to do any work, this is not the class for you. There are countless papers and two presentations each semester plus an in class midterm and final. However, if you read summaries of all the books and listen to him in class, the papers are graded fairly and the exams reflect what he says in class and are totally fair. I got an A both semesters and thoroughly enjoyed CC, even though I am a science major and absolutely loathed Lit Hum. I had this class at 810am and he still made it the only class I looked forward to. If you are looking for a fun CC professor and a good grader, take his class you will not regret it. Yes it is more papers/presentations than other CC classes, but totally worth it and his grading is very good.