2020 Applicants Forum

[Ydrl]

14 minutes ago, rbr542 said:

I wish there were MFA acceptance reaction videos on YouTube. Would have been the best way to kill time. ?

I would make one but I don’t want it to be public. I just want a series of videos to watch on my own time.

[buckles]

@anarchisttiger  before you hear back go to a few open houses and work on the financial side of buying a house. It's quite time consuming and messy.

I'm curious about what everyone writes about. 

Edited January 23, 2020 by buckles

[polkadotpoet]

10 minutes ago, buckles said:

@anarchisttiger  before you hear back go to a few open houses and work on the financial side of buying a house. It's quite time consuming and messy.

I'm curious about what everyone writes about. 

My personal statement explains that waaay better than I can in normal words, so sorry in advance for this pretentious quote:

"My work addresses the truthful and nuanced experiences of womanhood, spanning topics that include the prevalence of sexual assault, the pressures of fertility and motherhood, and gendered power dynamics within relationships."

I also write a lot about the erotic and how who gets to own their sexuality v. who gets their sexuality weaponized against them is political. My genre is poetry, BTW.  

[Ydrl]

16 minutes ago, buckles said:

@anarchisttiger  before you hear back go to a few open houses and work on the financial side of buying a house. It's quite time consuming and messy.

I'm curious about what everyone writes about. 

I’m also a poet. I’m somewhere between surrealism and commentary (not always political or social). Think of me as the incomprehensible person muttering to themselves and when you get closer the words oddly resonate with you. I like to think my writing is like that anyway. Sometimes creepy, sometimes depressing, sometimes oddly specific.

[Ydrl]

Update, first rejection from Ohio state is up. Whoever applied should check their portals.

[litty]

Has anyone been following the American Dirt controversy?

#WritingMyLatinoNovel on twitter is hilarious!! 

[MFALongshot]

2 hours ago, litty said:

Has anyone been following the American Dirt controversy?

#WritingMyLatinoNovel on twitter is hilarious!! 

saw it before I decided to deactivate my twitter along with all other social media (except this and youtube). They were digging into that author. Haven't read her book so Idk how much of it is deserved but I feel like people enjoy mob mentality and pouncing in groups. Some places I saw constructive criticism though.

[MFALongshot]

5 hours ago, Ydrl said:

I’m also a poet. I’m somewhere between surrealism and commentary (not always political or social). Think of me as the incomprehensible person muttering to themselves and when you get closer the words oddly resonate with you. I like to think my writing is like that anyway. Sometimes creepy, sometimes depressing, sometimes oddly specific.

I just started reading poetry last year and I can't say I understand poetry per se, but I enjoy it and have tried my hand at writing it. My favorite poet so far is Terrance Hayes but I also enjoy Natasha Trethewey, Mary Karr, Ada Limon and many others. I guess I'm writing all of this to ask the poets out there, what makes a poem good in your eyes?

[Ydrl]

2 hours ago, MFALongshot said:

I just started reading poetry last year and I can't say I understand poetry per se, but I enjoy it and have tried my hand at writing it. My favorite poet so far is Terrance Hayes but I also enjoy Natasha Trethewey, Mary Karr, Ada Limon and many others. I guess I'm writing all of this to ask the poets out there, what makes a poem good in your eyes?

I mean, poetry is ultimately what you get out of it. There can be a lot of confusing layers in a short poem (based on a lot of techniques) like “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams.

I enjoy all of those poets, but to really get the most out of poetry, I read pretty wide.

Billy Collins is a good introductory poet, he exemplifies what I like most about precise imagery and creative topics, two of the things that really make poetry so wonderful to me.

The things is, no matter who you ask, you’ll probably get the same answer of imagery, and then something different. Poetry can also be fiction or nonfiction, or have a hand in each pot.

What poetry isn't very good (subjective but I’m trying to encompass literary (as opposed to Instagram) poet opinions here): Always rhyming for no reason. A lot of things in poetry need a reason, the form is too short not to have a reason for most of the things you do (even line breaks). It’s also not just a thought broken up into a few lines without imagery or context to back it up (I’m not a fan of most instagram poetry for this reason, but let them do what they will).

Sorry for my ramble, I’m a poetry nerd with opinions. Thanks for listening!

Side note: I had a dream where I was accepted into Syracuse and I woke up ugly crying about it only to realize it didn’t actually happen.

[MFALongshot]

6 hours ago, Ydrl said:

I mean, poetry is ultimately what you get out of it. There can be a lot of confusing layers in a short poem (based on a lot of techniques) like “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams.

I enjoy all of those poets, but to really get the most out of poetry, I read pretty wide.

Billy Collins is a good introductory poet, he exemplifies what I like most about precise imagery and creative topics, two of the things that really make poetry so wonderful to me.

The things is, no matter who you ask, you’ll probably get the same answer of imagery, and then something different. Poetry can also be fiction or nonfiction, or have a hand in each pot.

What poetry isn't very good (subjective but I’m trying to encompass literary (as opposed to Instagram) poet opinions here): Always rhyming for no reason. A lot of things in poetry need a reason, the form is too short not to have a reason for most of the things you do (even line breaks). It’s also not just a thought broken up into a few lines without imagery or context to back it up (I’m not a fan of most instagram poetry for this reason, but let them do what they will).

Sorry for my ramble, I’m a poetry nerd with opinions. Thanks for listening!

Side note: I had a dream where I was accepted into Syracuse and I woke up ugly crying about it only to realize it didn’t actually happen.

Thanks for all of the information. I'll look up Billy Collins as well. And I hope that dream becomes a reality.

[Ydrl]

14 minutes ago, MFALongshot said:

Thanks for all of the information. I'll look up Billy Collins as well. And I hope that dream becomes a reality.

You’re welcome! Billy Collins is very easy to read, he’s far from a depressing poet, and I think he’s pretty funny sometimes. Needless to say he’s refreshing to me.

I hope so too TT_TT

[rbr542]

14 hours ago, litty said:

Has anyone been following the American Dirt controversy?

#WritingMyLatinoNovel on twitter is hilarious!! 

It's such a complex issue that's also fuzzy in nature. It isn't like casting a white actor in place of an Asian one for example, where the 'wrong' is so clearly defined. I was willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt, but then, I saw the barbed-wire centerpieces of their book launch party. That was super disgusting. 

https://twitter.com/lesbrains/status/1219985319648301056

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by rbr542

[rbr542]

8 hours ago, Ydrl said:

Side note: I had a dream where I was accepted into Syracuse and I woke up ugly crying about it only to realize it didn’t actually happen.

I have these too! for HZWP though ? 

[Ydrl]

8 minutes ago, rbr542 said:

I have these too! for HZWP though ? 

Good, it’s not just me. Or we could be collectively going nuts over here. I’m already nuts so it’s fine, I’ll descend deeper into the madness.

[litty]

24 minutes ago, rbr542 said:

It's such a complex issue that's also fuzzy in nature. It isn't like movie casting a white actor in place of an Asian one for example., where the 'wrong' is so clearly defined. I was willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt, but then, I saw the barbed-wire centerpieces of their book launch party. That was super disgusting. 

https://twitter.com/lesbrains/status/1219985319648301056

 

 

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/culture/2020/1/22/21075629/american-dirt-controversy-explained-jeanine-cummins-oprah-flatiron

https://ew.com/books/2020/01/21/what-you-need-to-know-about-oprah-winfreys-controversial-new-book-club-pick-american-dirt/

These two articles were illuminating. 

I'm sure academics are already turning this into case studies -- so many layers!

I won't touch the political or social aspects of this (ok, maybe lightly), but what I'm fascinated by, and I hope to see more writing about, is how the quality of the writing is perceived dependent on how the work is portrayed. Meaning, all the critiques of the book that looked at it through the lens of literary fiction considered it lacking and not a good book. All the critiques looking at it through the lens of commercial fiction considered it a fun page turner. Add to that mix that white critics generally praised it while Latinx critics panned it. So you have this weird dichotomy of a book written for a white commercial audience is marketed as an ethnic minority literary masterpiece. And here's the most mind-blowing aspect of it all. If this book was not co-signed and championed by a black woman with 'respected' literary tastes (Oprah), this entire controversy may not have happened. But since the aggrieved parties are the subject of the work and not the audience for the work, the truism may certainly hold: controversy sells. This book has an initial first print run of 500,000 copies. most highly anticipated novels top off on initial run at 20,000. The publisher of this book is the same one that published the Oscar winning 'The Help', which was also controversial. The studio that made that has the film rights for this. There's a clear blueprint and audience for these types of works. 

[Ydrl]

@litty thanks for the brief explanation. I wasn’t about to dive deep into this issue (which I’m sure would make me angry). I think the thing that stood out the most was the fact that Oprah endorsed it which for a lot of people makes it okay?

Let me put it this way. Let’s say that someone is minority 1 and the book they’re endorsing is a controversial representation of minority 2. Just because they’re both minorities, doesn’t mean they are in the exact same boat on every single issue that the majority don’t have to deal with. Oprah, and any one POC celebrity, isn’t the be all end all to let everyone know that something is or is not okay.

I’ll get back to this if anyone responds.

[MFALongshot]

1 hour ago, rbr542 said:

It's such a complex issue that's also fuzzy in nature. It isn't like movie casting a white actor in place of an Asian one for example., where the 'wrong' is so clearly defined. I was willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt, but then, I saw the barbed-wire centerpieces of their book launch party. That was super disgusting. 

https://twitter.com/lesbrains/status/1219985319648301056

 

Holy smokes, I hadn't seen that (I deleted twitter). That's super messed up. Thanks for illuminating me.

[MFALongshot]

1 hour ago, litty said:

 

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/culture/2020/1/22/21075629/american-dirt-controversy-explained-jeanine-cummins-oprah-flatiron

https://ew.com/books/2020/01/21/what-you-need-to-know-about-oprah-winfreys-controversial-new-book-club-pick-american-dirt/

These two articles were illuminating. 

I'm sure academics are already turning this into case studies -- so many layers!

I won't touch the political or social aspects of this (ok, maybe lightly), but what I'm fascinated by, and I hope to see more writing about, is how the quality of the writing is perceived dependent on how the work is portrayed. Meaning, all the critiques of the book that looked at it through the lens of literary fiction considered it lacking and not a good book. All the critiques looking at it through the lens of commercial fiction considered it a fun page turner. Add to that mix that white critics generally praised it while Latinx critics panned it. So you have this weird dichotomy of a book written for a white commercial audience is marketed as an ethnic minority literary masterpiece. And here's the most mind-blowing aspect of it all. If this book was not co-signed and championed by a black woman with 'respected' literary tastes (Oprah), this entire controversy may not have happened. But since the aggrieved parties are the subject of the work and not the audience for the work, the truism may certainly hold: controversy sells. This book has an initial first print run of 500,000 copies. most highly anticipated novels top off on initial run at 20,000. The publisher of this book is the same one that published the Oscar winning 'The Help', which was also controversial. The studio that made that has the film rights for this. There's a clear blueprint and audience for these types of works. 

Thanks for the information. I'm reading the articles now and understanding why my LatinX brothers and sisters are so upset.

31 minutes ago, Ydrl said:

@litty thanks for the brief explanation. I wasn’t about to dive deep into this issue (which I’m sure would make me angry). I think the thing that stood out the most was the fact that Oprah endorsed it which for a lot of people makes it okay?

Let me put it this way. Let’s say that someone is minority 1 and the book they’re endorsing is a controversial representation of minority 2. Just because they’re both minorities, doesn’t mean they are in the exact same boat on every single issue that the majority don’t have to deal with. Oprah, and any one POC celebrity, isn’t the be all end all to let everyone know that something is or is not okay.

I’ll get back to this if anyone responds.

That's very true. Being a minority doesn't mean you're automatically open minded, empathetic etc. on every issue.

Edited January 24, 2020 by MFALongshot

[anarchisttiger]

My opinion is simply this – you probably shouldn’t write from the POV of another ethnicity or culture unless you’ve done your research, including sensitivity research and whether or not the story would be appropriate. There are plenty of POC, trans*folks, WOC, and so on to tell their own stories. 

[MFALongshot]

https://thebluenib.com/a-poor-imitation-american-dirt-and-misrepresentations-of-mexico/

This is a great article regarding American Dirt. It seems like she really missed the mark.

[rbr542]

9 minutes ago, MFALongshot said:

https://thebluenib.com/a-poor-imitation-american-dirt-and-misrepresentations-of-mexico/

This is a great article regarding American Dirt. It seems like she really missed the mark.

This is so thorough and focused in it's criticism.

I thought this was a good critique as well: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/17/books/review-american-dirt-jeanine-cummins.html it was probably the only major newspaper that published a negative review of the novel before the controversy broke.

[Ydrl]

So I think I know what I want to do to pass some time. Probably going to start getting in shape enough to do aerial silks. I’ve gotten sucked into the YouTube vortex and now I’m pretty jazzed about getting in shape. Imagine that. I highly recommend watching aerial silk videos on YouTube, it’s kind of magical.

[litty]

1 hour ago, Ydrl said:

So I think I know what I want to do to pass some time. Probably going to start getting in shape enough to do aerial silks. I’ve gotten sucked into the YouTube vortex and now I’m pretty jazzed about getting in shape. Imagine that. I highly recommend watching aerial silk videos on YouTube, it’s kind of magical.

[Ydrl]

54 minutes ago, litty said:

Not into aerial silks? Or the weight loss? Both?

Edit: Just realized that most of you are grown men.

Edit edit: My bad

Edited January 25, 2020 by Ydrl

[anarchisttiger]

2 hours ago, Ydrl said:

So I think I know what I want to do to pass some time. Probably going to start getting in shape enough to do aerial silks. I’ve gotten sucked into the YouTube vortex and now I’m pretty jazzed about getting in shape. Imagine that. I highly recommend watching aerial silk videos on YouTube, it’s kind of magical.

I am ALSO interested in aerial silks! But I want to do hoop more than silks. The amount of muscle it takes to do either is totally unexpected – I think that’s a great goal and way to pass the time!