Your lonely voice cries across the starlit coast

[raybear]

Yesterday was sort of awkward and weird, for various reasons, but today is a new day, and so far, so good.

I love that I can sit at home all day, half of it on the computer, and never update. But right now I'm updating while standing at a computer terminal in the engineering library. I'm killing a few minutes waiting for a copier to be done. In lieu of an actual entry, I will present for your Friday pleasure, a poll!


[Poll #351637]

Comments

so long, i had to break it up

[jediknight11.livejournal.com]

granted, i moved back to chicago to finish my thesis going into my 3rd year, since i was done with my course requirements. i e-mailed them my work frequently, called and left messages. at one point i forgot all about them and gathered up the discipline to work on my own, probably a goal most writers should have, but even professionals have editors.

the english department was extremely divisive, mostly in terms of phd's vs. mfa's. the phd's thought the mfa's were too dumb to understand theory. the mfa's felt that the phd's were just jealous.

on the bright side, yes, there is a bright side, none of which is directly related to the mfa program. :) i met the man who's now my husband, and made a tight circle of friends (all ma's) with whom we still keep in contact even though we don't all live in ohio anymore. i got a chance to play hockey again bc osu had (though it may have been disbanded since then) a women's hockey club, where i met women outside the english department. it was also a nice break to be able to take roadtrips on some weekends for away games.

and...i deliberately did not apply to big 10 schools for undergrad, where it's common to have 500+ students in class. but as a grad student, the program was much smaller, so it was less overwhelming. i was glad to have experienced being at a huge school and have become one of those people i used to think were weird: a big 10 football fan. :p

so, the time i spent in the mfa program included some very positive experiences, though none of them had anything to do with the program itself. i did find a sense of community and bonding with the women i played hockey with as well as the larger ohio state (discourse!) community by becoming a huge buckeye fan--believe me, i resisted at first. these ties remain strong today bc there are alumni associations in nearly every city, and even if you don't know the people next to you at the bar on game days, you'll definitely have something in common, and it's good for networking.

it never occured to me that i'd make connections w/ people outside the program, and i'm happy that i did, so it wasn't a complete waste.

sorry this is so long. if yo get this far, thanks for reading. :)

Re: so long, i had to break it up

[raybear.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it maybe wasn't the master's degree itself, but the particular program you were in (as well as the expectations we already talked about). grocerygetter and I are in low-residency MFA program, but different ones. Hers is in Vermont, mine's in L.A. I chose my program because even though no money came my way (except for the federal kind I have to pay back, but hey, it's low interest), it was less expensive than the tuition elsewhere, and the nature of the program meant it would be easier to work while attending school. I like that my program has no phd students, not even any undergrads connected to the program directly, so we mfa-ers get all the attention. The program is also nearly 100% writers, not academics, who are publishing and trying to publish and helping us students get published. I like the emphasis on being working writers, not just ivory tower writers.

It's sad to think you've spent so much energy on poetry and now it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. But it you're writing other stuff, you're still writing -- even if it's fanfic! Hell, my friend's mfa thesis was a fanfic novel. it's all about choosing the right hippie school.

Re: so long, i had to break it up

[jediknight11.livejournal.com]

thanks, raybear. i was definitely at the wrong hippie school. ^_^

my friends and i often wondered if our experiences were common across the board for English grad programs, what our experiences would have been had we chosen different schools. most of them had planned to go on for the phd, which i'd also considered myself, but were fed up w/ the hoops we were expected to jump through:

**here, little grad student...come on, that's a good grad student...now, tell me--who was the first writer?...oh, i know you know the answer, little grad student. don't you want a good grade? who wants a good grade?**

i shit you not. we were asked that question. the prof's answer? Moses. i still don't get it. he wrote down the Ten Commandments, but who taught him to read and write? oh, well. guess i'm just a dumb MFA. :p

none of it matters now, i guess. at least we're still friends. that's more important than a piece of paper.

i considered the different MFA options when i was applying. a low-res would have been nice, esp. bc i didn't want to leave Chicago, but it wouldn't have worked bc of the money and bc i wouldn't get to teach.

thanks again, for the encouragement. and don't be a stranger to bloggo chicago (http://bloggochicago.blogs.com/). it's where most of my writing occurs these days.

so i'll leave you with this--stay away from Jewel's ground beef--they found a batch w/ E. coli.

cheers.