goodbye Julie Granum
One of my first posts about grad school included the note that Julie Granum “is a fine poet.” I didn’t know Julie. I didn’t know that wearing tank tops in…
Category Archives: codename:MFA
Fairly softspoken and incredibly close
Jonathan Safran Foer came to Pitt. He spoke winningly on laughter, using notes but kind of musing, as though he were working out the ideas for a new essay. In…
It’s practically snowing authors
me, in the snow. It was time for a picture. Winter weather continues. Tonight Sasha Frere-Jones is going to be at Carnegie Mellon (cool!), but if things get horribly sleety…
In praise of the library coffeeshop
Here at Pitt, Composition teachers are encouraged to have midterm conferences with all of our students. (Mine begin in 30 minutes). I know that teaching one class, 19 students, isn’t…
Welcome to the oughts
The Publishing Spot has interviewed author Tony D’Souza. Here he is on whether or not to get an MFA (his is from Notre Dame): In the seventies, if you had…
Amazon breakthrough novelist award
If you’ve been thinking you might want to read some of those Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award entries but don’t know where to start, may I recommend The Stars Here Are…
Going to AWP
In a bout of shyness, I’ve neglected to mention that my review of Lydia Millet’s How the Dead Dream ran in the Los Angeles Times this past weekend. It’s a…
O’Nan and Pancake and Lee, oh my
Monday: Stewart O’Nan reads in the evening at Pitt, in the 5th floor room where we have workshop, featuring arching gothic windows and the occasional wintry breeze. Afterwards a few…
Just when you say the name Stewart O’Nan
The man shows up and starts reading. At least that’s how it worked on Monday, when I blogged that he was coming and then he appeared later that night. O’Nan,…
the backwards academic
Why is it that in the sciences, universities try to move forward, and in the humanities, they seem obsessed with looking back? I’m considering applying to PhD programs in creative…
