This would have been spring 08 I think... I remember the teacher talking about the "I was up in New Haven" and the fake self-effacement. I remember the valley of ashes and talking about why he described Queens that way (a lot of us were from Queens and commuted into Manhattan for school)

I'd read it already but we did it in junior year, teacher had us write a personal narrative using some quotes from the book. My school was mostly immigrant, so remember a lot about the green light, fertile American dream and the costs of pursuing that