OK, it’s kind of a trick question. But recently I boarded two cross-country flights to go in two different directions to visit two schools. Here are some photos from the trips.
Driving through Golden Gate Park.
Hanging with Roger.
At the beach.
Sutro Baths — my favorite place in SF.
On the campus at UC Santa Cruz.
View from the English Building..
The Elysian Fields.
Driving into SUNY Buffalo.
View from the English Building.
Haven’t seen one of these in a while.
The Frozen Tundra!
At home with Rich and Kara.
David– I would go to UC Santa Cruz. But I bet that’s the answer you were expecting anyways. 🙂 I grew up in Sacramento, CA so I got to spend a lot of time in SF and surrounding areas. The California coast is just the most beautiful polace in America, I think. Are you going to one of those 2 schoosl to study or to work?? Either way, best of luck.
I heard you defended your MFA thesis successfully, and I just wanted to say congratulations. I know I was a rather difficult/bitchy classmate at times during our overlaps in the MFA program, but I hope you know that I only gave you a hard time beacuse I expected so much of you. You’re a really talented writer, and I wish you all the best. Hope your Tx State MFA serves you well. I mean that sincerely.
Take good care of Tina! She’s one of the nicest people I met at Tx State.
Hey, you didn’t take me to that beach at all when we were visiting San Francisco. 😡
And where are the photos from UT? :smirk:
And Megan, thanks! I just thought of you the other day. Hope all is well in Virgina.
megan
thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it. mostly i’m glad to almost be done with this part of the process, though i’ll miss the school and the town and everyone else. and likewise, i know i’ve grated on some nerves here and there in class. it’s all part of the game. no hard feelings. i was always an admirer of the chances you were willing to take with your writing, and i hope you’re keeping up with all that in virginia — and congrats on the gig!
Just look what Buffalo does to people. It’s brutal.
UC Santa Cruz for godsakes…
I think the impending depression that awaits in Buffalo could either be invaluable or debilitating, both of which may be beneficial to your study/writing.
Kara:
Nah, you two are beautiful! I love this photo of you. And I wanted to point out the remains of the one square meal we shared, sitting in the corner of the picture.
Trey:
Well said.
So, what’s the story? You definitely going to one of those places? Are you flipping a coin? Neither is likely to be a battle ground state in the fall, so that’s a factor you don’t have to consider. (That’s why we moved to Iowa, to make a difference in the voting booth. It was between there and Ohio.)
Do you feel the programs are equally desirable and now you’re justing deciding on climate? Pretty obvious choice there, but I’m assuming there are other factors as well.
Andrew:
No. Actually, it’s not even between these two. It’s more between SUNY and UT-Austin, which is also courting (however tepidly) my favors. But the Elysian Field / Frozen Tundra comparison was too good to pass up.
There are too many factors to go into. Suffice it to say, I’ve got to make a decision, and everyone’s getting tired of hearing about it by now, I’m sure.
Week-old piles of frozen snow, brined in exhaust and filthy slush, are at the very core of our Northern beings, David. I’ve even come to your blog to remind you of a secret these other people do not know. When baby-you cried on your mother’s bosom in winter, the whoosh of cars in the wet and salty street was your sole non-bosomy comfort. Not the vacuum or burning sage, like these Southern people use, but the wet tires, the steel on stone, the amber light flashing into the room from the city plow truck. And when was the last time you had to go into the snow, wearing boots sans socks, to dig for your newspaper sans gloves because it is early and who knows where the goddamn gloves are, and wouldn’t it be funny to wake Tina with a snowball? Beauty abounds! In snow-blindness, in the sun burning the bottom of your chin while you walk to class, in the sour and syrupy smell of wet maple leaves! In Canada!
Well, 10 years ago I went to UC Santa Cruz, and 8 years ago I thought about SUNY Buffalo– what are you aiming for with a Ph D? What are you wanting to get out of the programs? That’s really the more important question.
Personally, SUNY stopped being my gig a long time ago. The poetry that comes out of there often lacks a certain kind of heart in my opinion.
John, how very poetic. I was ready to buy till I got to that waking-up-Tina-with-a-snowball part. 🙂
Buy it, of course.
At this point, I suppose you could say I am flipping a coin! Though I just did turn down Santa Cruz. So it’s SUNY or UT. My goals, in no particular order, are as follows:
— continue with research / reading / teaching in a stimulating environment
— continue to build my press
— get a job (when I’m thru)
As far as being someplace where I’m at peace with the kind of poetry being done, I don’t know where that would be. I suppose technically if that’s what I wanted, I never should have left Di Prima’s workshop!
That’s an interesting list– I don’t think it’s what I’d have put, which makes me think….. maybe that’s why I never got an MFA, etc. hahahaha…., but if you’re general focus for the degree is the press, getting a job, and doing research/teaching …. my opinion would be SUNY. That’s exactly what I think it offers, and it does so very very well. And it is a big big poetry community.
Personally, I’ve occasionally looked more at Naropa, but I have no real direct experience with it. Often people who go to a school sort of poo-poo it after leaving– “Oh, New College, it used to be good, but now…”, or “Naropa, ugh, yeah, it’s no longer etc etc…”– so I can’t really tell. I’ve thought of taking a summer workshoppy thing to investigate. I guess I am looking more for a community of writers– people to bounce things off of, experiment with, etc.– than a more normal academic environment. Although I wish there was more focus on prosody, and less on production of poetry.
Anyways, when do you have to decide by?
As for Diane’s workshops– I loved listening to Diane ramble about the universe and poetry– I learned a lot from her, absolutely.