You can call me Ms. MFA
My manuscript is done, the paperwork is done, the administrative staff in the English Department are so sick of taking my calls that they tell me to stop worrying. My…
Category Archives: codename:MFA
Since you asked (or not)
I gave the house on St. Andrews Place a quick once-over on my way up the walk. It was wide, with a nice fat yard, two stories and a big…
To Miriam Cooper
Today I read Dark Lady of the Silents, the autobiography of actress Miriam Cooper. She starred in two of D.W. Griffith’s biggest films, possibly two of the most important films…
A writer is someone who likes writing.
At Ward 6, J. Robert Lennon writes: If you’re a writer, you like process. Occasionally I’ll meet a book enthusiast who has an idea for a book. “Now all I…
All good news edition
Good news: Maud Newton throws a story into the universe, the universe throws her a $1500 prize. Good news: I’m catching up with back issues of One Story and “Bar…
quote of the day
Theory is good but it doesn’t prevent things from existing. – Charcot to Freud
Graduate school has stolen my brain
It’s stuck in a vortex of two papers due very soon. One paper is for my Narratives of Teaching and Learning class, and it’s actually a two-parter. I’m spending about…
Things learned in graduate school (or not)
I found, after spending ten years as a journalist, learning to say exactly what I meant in short sentences, that I must learn, if I was to achieve literature and…
Snap judgments
Racial politics in Pittsburgh, from the MFA perspective. It’s like it’s the 70s. Or the 50s. Or maybe even the 30s. Jane Smiley on Jennifer Weiner’ Certain Girls. She condescends…
Hot Metal Hot Metal
Pitt’s online literary magazine Hot Metal Bridge has launched its third issue. I particularly love the short story by Dan Chaon and the interview with Tom Perrotta. But I admit…
