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islander
Tamara Kaye Sellman

Jun 21, 2000, 3:55 PM

Post #451 of 2528 (5600 views)
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West Coast low-res people, where are you going? I would love to go to
VT, but I'm in WA, and that just adds days and money to the
experience. Any points west of Denver? Tamara

lynda

Jul 11, 2000, 7:27 PM

Post #452 of 2528 (5600 views)
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Hi, I'm new to these message boards at P & W. To those of you who
planned on attending the July residency at Warren Wilson College
(Adrian, Kelly and Champa), I was also admitted to WWC for July, but
had to defer my start until January. I plan to attend fiction
workshops. Would love to hear how the workshops and meetings with
supervisors went for you. Did the WWC residency period meet or exceed
your expectations? How was the Director, Peter Turchi? He sounded
extremely nice over the phone. Did you all have your own semester
projects outlined in your head prior to going there? Or does your
supervising writer take the lead in creating the project? How much
planning was required before the first session with the project
supervisor? You new WWC MFA students are probably sitting in workshops
right now (this being the residency period of July 6-16). Please drop
me a line if you ever see this message. Or else I'll wait and see if
we meet at a future residency at WWC. LY

robt
Robert Thomas

Jul 12, 2000, 10:39 AM

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Hi, Lynda, I am writing this from the WW residency. Yesterday was our
"day off." As a San Francisco person, my biggest problem during the
residency has been the hot and humid Southern weather! We finally
(thank God) had a rainstorm yesterday, which was great. I haven't had
a lot of interaction with Peter Turchi, mainly because he's a fiction
writer and I'm a poet, but yes, I feel I can safely say that he is
extremely nice, a very hard-working and effective director, and a good
writer. I think it really depends on the individual supervisor whether
they are "directive" in suggesting projects for you, or whether they
want you to direct yourself. You do need to write up some sort of
draft project at the start of the residency, which is mostly used for
the faculty to get an idea of who you are and decide who will
supervise whom. Once the choice of supervisors has been made, the
actual projects may change drastically after you've met with your
supervisor. My supervisor is going to be Tony Hoagland, and I am
excited. Also, don't quote me on this, but I would say essentially
zero planning is required before your first meeting with your
supervisor. I suppose you might meet with your supervisor two or three
times during the residency for a total of a couple hours, but
typically I think you don't really get into depth with your supervisor
until the residency is over and you're corresponding with him or her.
The projects really tend to be very general, e.g. Tony Hoagland
suggested I pay particular attention to the "emotional plot" of poems
I read and write over the course of the semester, and to pay attention
to how poems may stay grounded even as their imagery spirals wildly.

lynda

Jul 12, 2000, 2:11 PM

Post #454 of 2528 (5600 views)
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Robert, thanks for the feedback about your WWC residency experience.
Southern humidity and heat, eh? Hope the WWC dorm rooms are air-
conditioned. Regarding selection of a project supervisor, did you get
to suggest the names or did some anonymous committee do the selecting
for you? In other words, did you have much say in this process? Did
Tony Hoagland ask you to compile a list of books by other poets for
your reading list? (By the way, I'm also a Californian. Not the
beautiful Bay area, unfortunately, but the smoggy city further south.
Do have a lot of old friends in SF, though, and hope I'll be lucky
enough to live there someday.) Hope you get to meet the other poets
who left messages here--Adrian, Chalma and Kelly. If any of you are
out there right now in cyberspace, please drop me a line and let me
know how you like the WWC experience so far. What did you think about
the workshops? Lynda

lynda

Jul 13, 2000, 3:42 PM

Post #455 of 2528 (5600 views)
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Champa, how did you like the fiction workshops at Warren Wilson? I was
also admitted for fiction for July, but I had to defer my starting
residency to January. I'm very interested in your learning experience
there. How many writers in each fiction workshop? Who will be your
supervisor for the upcoming semester? Are you working on a novel or
short stories? Drop me a line here or at my e-mail address. Thanks. LY

samh
Sam Howie

Jul 18, 2000, 10:16 PM

Post #456 of 2528 (5600 views)
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I recently returned, charged with creative energy, from my first
residency at Vermont College. Not only do I feel like a better writer
already, I feel like a better person from having joined such a warm
and productive community. I'm working hard on my first story under VC
faculty guidance, plodding when inspiration fails, but thrilled by the
frequency and strength of the pockets ... nay, WHIRLWINDS of
inspiration. Hope others are having similar experiences.

champa
Champa Bilwakesh

Jul 19, 2000, 1:38 PM

Post #457 of 2528 (5600 views)
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Sam How wonderful for you! At this moment I feel a little overwhelmed
and in awe of the whole experience. I think I have just six exchanges
with my supervisor over the semester and I better make good use of it
and that is enough to block my writing completely! Lynda
Congratulations and will look forward to meeting you in Asheville in
Jan. Let me see if I can answer all your questions. The workshops: I
opted for the mixed poetry & fictions workshops and I have mixed
feelings about it. My fiction was workshopped on the last day and I
got some excellent feed back. But sometimes I felt poets critique
fiction in just a different way but they also bring some interesting
insights into it. There were a total of 9 submissions, 5 fiction and 4
poetry. Each session was split between a poet and a writer. Two
memebers of the faculty were present as well as two graduating
students whose work was not reviewed. People genreally read carefully
and made thoughtfull comments. Wilton Barhardt will be my supervisor
and I am extremely happy and feel very lucky. The selection process,
have no illusions about it, is extremely one sided:-) THEY do the
picking. But almost everyone who I spoke with were very happy with the
faculty they were assigned to. You can also request and many people
got whom they requested. I did not make any request but I was quite
specefic in my project preference form which you turn in on the first
day and on which decisions are made. I have decided to use the program
to write my novel and that is where my concentration will be, besides
the workshop where I will submit short stories exclusively. Wilton is
extremely nice to work with and he does not hesitate to throw ideas at
you and I look forward to working with him. On my first session with
him he wanted me to tell him what my novel is about in a short
sentence. We talked about that, about outlining, about charecter
developement, tone, research. Second session was more of the same, and
he has suggested a few novels that have specefic relevance to my
subject matter. He has 4 other students besides me. Pete Turchi is
very nice, so is the staff, they are all very laid back and helpfull.
Pete is a very talented writer. Feel free to ask if you have any other
questions. Champa

champa
Champa Bilwakesh

Jul 19, 2000, 1:40 PM

Post #458 of 2528 (5600 views)
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Sorry, it is Wilton Barnhardt

lynda

Jul 19, 2000, 5:34 PM

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Hello, again. I'm so glad some of you returned to this topic. Robert-
Thanks again for the feedback you gave me about WWC's MFA Program in
the earlier posting. I do appreciate all the information you gave me
about semester projects. The semester projects sound much more general
in scope than I had expected after reviewing the pages of the offical
blue handbook. (I had expected to compile a detailed reading list in
advance of the first meeting with the project supervisor.) It also
sounds extremely flexbible for the student. Robert, congratulations on
getting Tony Hoagland as your supervisor. Based on what Champa just
reported to me, the WWC faculty members actually "do the picking."
That means Tony Hoagland must have been impressed with your poetry and
picked you. Champa- Thank you for sharing your WWC experience with me.
I'm so glad you came back to this message board so we could finally
meet in cyberspace. After all, we'll probably be in the same workshops
in January. You are lucky to get Wilton Barnhardt for your supervisor.
He sounds like someone who will really pay attention to your specific
writing goals and demand that you do your best. Good luck with your
novel. I'm sorry to hear that you had mixed feelings about your recent
workshop. In light of your recent workshop experience, I wonder if I
should plan on fiction only sessions. By the way, I'm also working on
a draft novel, but I'm keen on drafting new short stories while in the
MFA Program. You mentioned that five fiction students were present in
your combination poetry and fiction workshop. Do you happen to know
the total number of brand new fiction students at WWC? I wonder how
many fiction writers began in July and whether any of them live in my
state, California. I know it is very unlikely, but it would be
fnatastic to find out that one of them lives close enough to me that
we could begin manuscript exchanges/critiques. (I'm not part of a
regular workshop group right now. I posted a message in Where You
Live, but so far no one is responding from my area.) If ANYONE ELSE
here in cyberspace has comments about his or her WWC experience,
please share them with us. Did the ten-day residency meet your
expectations? If not, how did it fall short? Kelly, Adrianne,and
others--where are you? What do you think about the low-residency
program so far? Lynda P.S. When will the MFA Program at WWC know the
names of the faculty members planned for the January residency? Does
anyone know why the website only posts OLD (i.e. last year's) course
descriptions and faculty bios? Where is the new listing of writers for
the current and upcoming residencies?

lynda

Jul 19, 2000, 5:37 PM

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Correction of Typo: "fantastic," not "fnatastic." Sorry about that! LY

champa
Champa Bilwakesh

Jul 20, 2000, 11:13 AM

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Lynda There were quite a few people from CA. I suggest you call Amy at
the MFA office or Barney and have a chat and they may be able to share
that information with you. There were about 20 new people coming in
but I forget how they split. I think evenly. Champa

lynda

Jul 20, 2000, 4:30 PM

Post #462 of 2528 (5600 views)
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Champa, Thanks for the information and suggestion about contacting Amy
Grimm. Hmmmmmmm. . . only TEN new MFA students in Fiction. That's a
very small entering class. Most fiction workshops I've attended have
at about twelve to thirteen student writers. Good luck with your
writing plans, Champa. Everyone else, Good luck to all of you
hard-working writers and poets out there in cyberspace. Is anyone from
the greater Los Angeles area? Drop me a line and let me know I'm not
alone. Lynda

islander
Tamara Kaye Sellman

Jul 25, 2000, 4:15 PM

Post #463 of 2528 (5600 views)
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Sorry to bust in here, but I posted a question a while ago and got
absolutely no reply. Perhaps you folks here, now, can help. I live in
Washington state and would like to find a decent lo-res MFA program as
far west as possible, but it seems everything is stationed in Vermont.
I know it's a dumb question, because one does not pick and choose so
much their place in an MFA program, I understand that there is the
application process, and students are selected from the pool, etc. And
one should be happy to be picked up anywhere where the reputation is
solid. But is there absolutely nothing outside New England? Tamara

aeedwards
Arthur Edwards

Jul 25, 2000, 5:41 PM

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I didn't see your old post of I would have turned you on to Antioch,
LA. Low-Res. MFA. Nice people. Call or email them. I'm afraid I don't
have their contact info but any decent search engine will get you
there. It's a young program but seems to be on its way up. Besides
that, I don't know of any others south of Ohio. There should be more.
Maybe we should start one.

aeedwards
Arthur Edwards

Jul 25, 2000, 6:18 PM

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I meant WEST of ohio. thx

wiscokid
Robert Schwoch

Jul 26, 2000, 6:57 AM

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www.antiochla.edu. It's unfortunate that the low-res programs are
concentrated in one area of the country. On the other hand, next to
$10,000 a year in tuition, what's a few hundred dollars in airfare?

islander
Tamara Kaye Sellman

Jul 26, 2000, 10:43 AM

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Arthur, thanks for the info. Robert, thanks for the link. But here's
the catch, it's not just a few hundred dollars for me. It's several
extra days in the air which raises the expense of childcare. For me to
fly to Vermont every semester will cost me four extra days in
full-time childcare just getting there. For me, it's not $10,000 a
year, it's more like $12,000. (The parent penalty, ever heard of it?)
That's a lot of money to someone who is a full-time parent and not a
wage-earner, especially for spending on an education that cannot
guarantee success in such a fickle industry. I have to justify it to
my husband somehow, right? It is unfortunate that these programs are
concentrated in the east, though I'd love to see Vermont all the same.
I'm a traveler to the core. Is anyone here aware of any distance
programs via e-mail which are worthy? I had heard of something through
UCLA, but can't be sure what. Tamara

pongo
Real men bake bread.

Jul 26, 2000, 11:06 AM

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Tamara, I think Robert meant that the tuition at a low-res program is
about $10,000 less than a regular one. (Although I never looked at
tuitions for regular programs, so I'm guessing.) dmh

islander
Tamara Kaye Sellman

Jul 27, 2000, 11:44 AM

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Do you think, David? I was always under the impression that most
low-res program tuitions were equal to those of standard full-time
grad programs... I'm sure someone will enlighten us. Thanks, Tamara

pongo
Real men bake bread.

Jul 27, 2000, 2:17 PM

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My tuition at Goddard was between $6000 and $7000 a semester. And of
course there was no housing cost or any of that stuff, no student
fees. Can someone give us a number to compare? dmh

aeedwards
Arthur Edwards

Jul 27, 2000, 2:58 PM

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I remember adding up the total tuition to get an MFA at Antioch LA,
and the number I can up with was $18,000 (no books, no travel, no room
and board). That would be significantly less than Goddard, if the
Goddard program is about two years, which is what Antioch LA program
is. I don't know why it's so much less. It might be an East vs. West
thing. My experience is that college in the West is cheaper.

pongo
Real men bake bread.

Jul 27, 2000, 4:15 PM

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Yes, Goddard is a four-semester program. (A lot of people don't do it
in two years.) dmh

robt
Robert Thomas

Jul 27, 2000, 5:00 PM

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Warren Wilson is about $5,000 a semester, a four-semester program
(though some people do five semesters). That includes room and board
at the residency (if you can stomach the cafeteria food).

wiscokid
Robert Schwoch

Jul 27, 2000, 6:12 PM

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Actually, Tamara took my comment exactly right. As a childless writer
I didn't even think about what those extra couple of days would cost
in terms of day care, etc. The tuition for low-res programs is less
than most full-time programs. But many full-time programs offer
substantial or total aid, while the low-res programs generally do not,
making the low-res programs far more expensive in reality. The low-res
programs rationalize the lack of aid by pointing out that the format
allows you to keep your day job and your luxurious salary. However,
they also caution that the commitment for low-res study is at least 25
hours a week with no vacations or breaks. I'm not sure how you're
supposed to work that around any sort of responsible full- time job.
In fact, I've heard from a number of low-res students that their day
jobs suffer immensely. So you probably have to drop down to part-time
if you care about your job, which means you need aid...there's your
vicious circle. Welcome to the land of crushing debt. I've applied at
Southampton, which has a program you can complete in two six-week
summer sessions with some low-res study in between. They also offer
partial and total scholarships. No word yet on if I've been accepted
or offered any sort of aid.

rebliv
Rebecca Livingston

Jul 27, 2000, 8:11 PM

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Bennington is just over 5k/semester as well and it's much cheaper than
out-of-state at the University of Pittsburgh (which was almost
9k/semester). Travel costs me around $150 per semester. Yes, it's true
that there's not a lot of aid offered at low-residency programs
(except regular student loans). TAships and fellowships aren't
necessarily plentiful at full-residency programs. Some programs do
offer all their students full rides, but many programs offer a few
leaving the majority of their students left to pay their own way. When
I was at Pitt they gave 3 TAships per incoming genre and accepted
roughly 20 students per. There were a lot more have- nots which meant
many of them could only go part-time so they could keep their jobs.
Reb

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