I am definitely going to be in the MFA program at UCSD next year! I was very ambivalent about applying, but now I'm genuinely excited and looking forward to being in the program. I still have moments when I think something likeWhy do I need an MFA when I have a BA and an MA and 4 years of teaching experience and a book coming out and special collections in Canada collecting my random chapbooks and visual poetry being shown in international exhibitions?
There are several answers to this question.
1. I don't actually need an MFA.
2. If I want to be eligible for jobs, I should have an MFA, which will barely make me eligible and I don't think it should matter but it does etc.
3. The job market sucks and I won't have a degree from either Harvard or Iowa, but going to UCSD does nothing to impact that particular problem.
4. I will have studied with Rae Armantrout, which will be cool.
5. An MFA will help me focus on my creative work in a different way, which I need.
6. San Diego is a community wasteland, so having a teeny bit more community will be, in theory, nice.
7. I may get to work in the library or archive, which would be great, and I've often wondered if library work would suit me. I used to think I was not "detail oriented," but that's crap. I just need to understand the larger context a bit before I can understand details.
8. I am looking forward to a change in my work life.
9. Now I won't have to imagine that all the people with MFAs think they are better than me while at the same time thinking how stupid this imaginary feeling I atribute to them is.
10. I think it will probably be fun.
11. It is fully-funded.
10 comments:
Congrats. I hope that you enjoy the program. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.
I firmly believe in the random search and find in libraries. People concentrate on things you wouldn't imagine. For example. The bountiful periodicals on Sedimentology.
As a fellow person-who-had-an-MA-and-decided-to-get-an-MFA-too: Yay! I think you will have a great time, and produce a lot of work!
Hi all,
I think it will be fun--and yes, I'll get to make a lot of new work. And I'm looking forward to having regular access to such an awesome library...with a potentially bountiful collection of periodicals on sedimentology....
yah, sounds like a no-brainer. waytogo!!!
(word verification: shotwing)
Fully-funded?!
WOOHOO! Then why the hell not?!
Congratulations. :)
I actually thought you were better than me because I had an MFA and you didn't (i.e. you were more authentic.) But now I guess we'll be at parity.
Stan, it doesn't work that way out in the boonies. Out here, we don't care whether or not you can really do a thing. We just care that you have a certificate saying you can.
Stan, we will be at authentic parity!
What Mark says is true. In all of my various employment situations down here, certificates were a lot more important than experience. The community colleges around here don't really care about my teaching experience. They just know that my degree is from another state, and that it's not "terminal."
10 and 11 sound like the best reasons!
Post a Comment