taking stock

[emchy]

what do i really want?
i want
a MA in Pop Culture Studies
a MA in Poetry
a MFA in Poetry

I don't want some custom program that rolls all of the above into one
I want dedicated time to think and explore and work my brain into those directions
I want to study poetry so that I can have the base core of knowledge around the writing i love the most.
A base core of knowledge that I have always managed to get away with not fully learning in the classes I have taken that only gloss over poetry as part of creative writing. I want to study form, and poets, and know writing, and the history and intersections and writing movements and and and.
I want to study my own work. How to craft. Revise. Push myself. Analyze what I am trying to say, the how and why of saying it. Really dig in to the craft of it.

These degrees, this time, this debt, would only be to feed my heart. There is no economic impact that I could rely on from this study except debt. And yet my heart wants it. I don't even know where I would want to go. But when I look at what I want in my life. I want this. I want it sooner then later so that the thoughts and time and words that this study will breed starts sooner than later.

and yet.

wholly impractical.

Comments

[postmaudlin.livejournal.com]

ha. i know what you mean. even with a degree, i have so many blind spots (particularly the things i think i don't like, e.g. poetry before 1950).

i try to combat that at least a little by doing things like buying norton anthologies and reading them cover to cover, getting books on form and reading a chapter at a time, etc. there's obviously a huge difference between doing this within and without a classroom, but regardless, the information/experience becomes part of you, and enriches your art, to boot.

i want two of the three degrees you list (and i have one of those two!). Gah. How much fun would it be to go back to school for the cult of pop?

[cindymonkey.livejournal.com]

i know!
the year before we met i went to Bowling Green to interview them about their Pop Culture Studies program (at the time the only one in the States) and though I was really interested - I passed on it.

Time to do some research and see if there's more than just Ohio rocking out the pop culture.

[fightingwords.livejournal.com]

pssst.

uc santa cruz... history of conciousness....

[postmaudlin.livejournal.com]

that's PhD, no MA possible

[fightingwords.livejournal.com]

that's true. though that phd would take as long as three masters.

[postmaudlin.livejournal.com]

also true!

[postmaudlin.livejournal.com]

there absolutely is, but it's under different guises, e.g., american studies, rhetoric and the like.

[goodbadgirl.livejournal.com]

Education is never impractical.

I completely believe that *and* I'm totally running from the student loan man. :)

xo

[sult.livejournal.com]

oh, i deleted my comment b/c i thought you were this other girl on my journal friend's list who keeps bouncing back and forth and i was excited she was actually thinking about writing b/c it would've been the first time ever....sorry, i'm hung over and not thinking clearly. anyway, disregard my comment. today i hurt. ;)

[cindymonkey.livejournal.com]

ah i gotcha.

yea - i already am a poet / writer and not too worried about my muse. for me this is more about giving myself some dedicated time to dig into my brain. a brain that is currently taking way too much time dealing with other things.

[bionicfemme.livejournal.com]

These degrees, this time, this debt, would only be to feed my heart. There is no economic impact that I could rely on from this study except debt

Not true! I have a few friends who, after getting MAs, have established freelance writing workshops either on the weekend or twice per week. They generally make a few extra hundred dollars per month from it. I know, it's not a full income, but they say it helps pay for loans/accrue teaching experience.

That's what I plan to do after graduation...try to start up a writer's workshop at the LGBT center or LYRIC.