Sunday, October 12, 2008

Stall Dos

I am, in fact, applying to MFA programs this year. I once vowed I would never, ever, under any circumstances get an MFA. But vows are generally stupid, as I now know. Besides, I made that vow in a time and place where/when no one around really cared about MFAs. In DC, an MFA didn't prevent me from teaching at the Corcoran, because DC is a city, and cities have art communities that, while they include universities, are not defined and created by them. However, most of the USofA is suburban, not urban. With a new, interesting MFA program at UCSD, I might as well apply. Hey, if you don't have an MFA yet, why don't you apply, too...

I frequently say, "I want an MFA so I can get crappy adjunct work." However, as Mark has pointed out, I already get crappy adjunct work. But I want better crappy adjunct work. I have no delusions about getting a tenure-track creative writing job, but a local MFA might make me more attractive to area community colleges. Maybe I'm guilty of wanting change for change sake. A dangerous want, but oh well.

Tangent: I found my female Robin Hood-type doll. She has a Robin Hood hat and everything. I played Robin Hood in 6th grade. The play was in French, which seems ironic given the history of the Normans and Saxtons.

6 comments:

rodney k said...

Hi Lorraine,

Yay for the MFA--it'd give you time to write and probably, at a place like UCSD, a good cohort. I believe though that the ticket to crappy adjunct work nkis called the Ph.D. :)

K. Lorraine Graham said...

Right, focused time to write among peers and an interesting faculty can't hurt.

Ah...so many paths to crappy adjuncting! I am slowly attempting to shift more of my income making towards graphic design. It's a slow process. Too bad I actually like teaching...

DUSIE said...

oh a crappy mfa sounds so enthralling right about now! actually I am there with Rodney, a crappy PhD, I have daydreams about pursuing that one day! something I too said nein to back in the DC heyday of poetics poetics everywhichwhere... alas, now we are all virtual and not there :( how is your ms going? are you still sending it out? xS

tmorange said...

"a local MFA might make me more attractive to area community colleges" -- that's a good reason. yr right, potential north county employers see GW and GU and probably get scared off.

hell i still toy with the idea of getting and MLIS now and then. how many degrees are too many? i think it's something like being the crazy cat lady and how many cats you can have before you become her...

Jeannine said...

I have to say, after several years resisting the MFA after my MA, I am really happy I went ahead and got it. I think you would get a lot of really good writing done, and the support of your faculty and fellow students can't hurt, either. Go for it, say I!

Mark Lamoureux said...

You should have no trouble getting crappy adjuncting jobs with an MFA. The other thing you can get (which I don't think you can get without a Master's degree) is sub-line work which is basically full time non tenure-track.