Short Interview with Dr. Donald Anderson and Marist Video

Dr. Donald Anderson taught my playwriting class the fall of my junior year of college. I had never written a play in my life, nor had I ever considered writing one. Anderson, however, took on these challenges anytime he teaches a class. He got me to write a couple short plays and taught me the finer aspects of character and dialogue. In a way, he got me jump started into the fiction world. I turned to him for some level-headed advice in terms of the graduate school process and for some interesting comments about his own time studying.

Anderson told me that he felt “under-qualified” to be one of my interviews, since he felt grad school was such a long time ago. However, he still answered all my questions. Anderson decided on a path in English by his junior year of college. He received a National Defense Act grant to attend the University of Arizona.

“It was a Cold War program to develop college teachers so we could ‘compete with the Russians,’” said Anderson. “I was a literature person at that point. The creative writing and theater components of my teaching evolved during my years at Marist.”

At Marist, Anderson had opportunities to branch out, one of the reasons he really loved the time spent teaching at the school. Arizona was on the opposite side of the country from where he grew up. It was a welcome change and he still loves that area of the country.

“I was the first in my family to go to grad school and get the Doctorate,” Anderson said. “My family was very encouraging, even about having me head so far away from the Northeast.”

Anderson’s point proves how you can’t choose a school on location alone. It was a chance going that far away, but it ended up being a well-made decision as he ended up enjoying his time there.

Anderson has advice for prospective graduate students. “I try to tell students to be realistic about where they apply,” Anderson said. His reasoning behind this comment? Although Marist’s reputation has been gaining popularity and repute over the past few years, it’s still lacking the “pull” for students to get in anywhere, even with “high GPA’s.”

Also, while Dr. Graham suggested NOT choosing the school for the place, Anderson recommends being well aware of the city or area where the school is located. If you hate big cities, then maybe the New School isn’t the greatest choice. If you think you can deal with it, then great, go for it.

“Grad school isn’t just academics,” Anderson said. “It’s also potentially the larger experience of a new living situation or culture. That being said, we are clearly sending more and more students to grad school in the past ten to fifteen years.”

Anderson explained how in the mid-90’s the concentrations were “re-tooled” to allow a better preparation for students to attend graduate school. He brought up how Dr. Graham, along with Professor Zurhellen, was one of the professors brought in and, since her arrival, the creative writing program has become much more geared toward students attending MLA programs.

“Prior to their arrival, the courses were more like ‘hobby courses’ for faculty who wanted something a little different to teach from time to time,” Anderson said. “The last decade has shown a marked improvement. Students have become more highly skilled in workshop dynamics, which I could see quite clearly when I taught playwriting.”

In the end, know what program you are coming from and what you’re trying to go into. As with all the other pieces of advice that were given, students need to be knowledgeable about the programs they’re applying to. They also need to really know what they want to do with their graduate degree. Do they want to teach? Be a publisher? Dr. Graham gave me a list of job options that she wrote up in a graduate school packet.

Search out every nook and cranny of graduate school: the school itself, the program, the area, where graduates are working. Be inquisitive. And don’t be afraid to travel somewhere far away because it may give you one of the best educations and experiences to date.

Thank you again to Dr. Anderson!!

Here is a short video about the PRE COLLEGE creative writing program at Marist, featuring Dr. Graham. It’s interesting, after listening to what Dr. Anderson had to say, how this complies with the changes that were made in the program. There appears to be a much stronger focus on the writing programs.

Three Brevities...Writing Samples

So I took 3 of my other Brevities from last year and decided to post them on here just to break up the monotony of the last few posts. "Train Ride", "Winkie", and "Growing Up". "Train Ride" is the only one I really need to do any revision work on. But I think all three would be strong options to send in as writing samples. Would love some feedback. I'm still trying to generate some original work. We'll see how that goes... Click on "read more" to see the examples :)

Personal Statements: Personal to You, Personal to the School

So I took a crack at writing my first personal statement. Vermont College of Fine Arts sent me a rather large pamphlet about their program and some of application guidelines. One of the first things recommended: “a two to three page essay that addresses your background in writing, goals and writing strengths and weaknesses (as outlines on the application form).”

VCFA also requires that I send in a “three to four page critical essay that demonstrates my ability as a reader and critical thinker; this sample may be something formal that was previously written for another class or you may write a short essay on a literary work you read recently.”

                 

My point here: READ THE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS! Most schools require some letter to be written that is around two pages long. This is the requirement for VCFA. The personal statement that I drafted up last night, does not fulfill all their requirements, so I will have to do a separate draft for them. However, my point was to simply illustrate how you need to know what they want in the personal statement. Some schools do not specify. Caela Provost sent me her personal statement and it was a huge help in writing mine. I was able to see how she highlighted her strengths and how she explained why she wanted to continue her career in English.

               

Fairfield, the program I am MOST interest in, explained what they want in their personal statement: “Students should describe why they want to be a writer and emphasize their commitment to their craft. While students in the program can work in more than one genre, they should specify which of the three genres they are applying for in their personal statement.” This is alongside the 2 letters of recommendation and the 20-30 page portfolio of writing samples.

                 

Syracuse wants: “Describe in about 500 words your main academic interests, why you wish to study for the degree you've chosen, why you wish to study at Syracuse University, how you expect to finance your studies, and your plans for the future after you receive your degree. ” Again, for this one, I would need to tweak my basic personal statement.  Syracuse also asks for a teaching statement about why you want to teach at the program and afterward. That would be a separate draft.

               

I recommend writing up a basic personal statement and then re-writing for the programs so that you manage to say everything you want in the most concise way. Writing a first draft helps you organize your thoughts about what you want to say as well.

                 

Western Connecticut asks for: “In a five-page essay, address why this particular MFA program is better suited to your goals and needs than other MFA programs. In answering this question, touch on your interest in writing and your aspirations for a future in the writing profession.”

               

                 

They’re all similar, but some want different details added in. Pat Taylor gave me a sheet with tips on writing Personal Statements. One tip was to remember your audience. It said to stick to what you’re an expert in – your life and experiences. It also says to establish your voice (confident but not arrogant), answer the question, and turn weaknesses into strengths.

                 

She then has written five topics to help writing a personal statement. One topic was to answer the question, “how did you become interested in this field?” This part can open up the essay by drawing on past experiences, such as an enjoyable English class that sparked a continuing interest.

                 

One topic was to answer “what kind of activities or experiences have you had that have contributed toward your preparation for an understanding of this field?” This might be a section where you put in internships. She writes that you can group activities or write them chronologically. But she says to NOT write it out resume style. Talk about what you did, as well as what you learned.

                 

Next, “the type of graduate study you’re interested in and the objective.” If you want to teach, SAY SO! If you want to be a publisher, SAY SO! The objective needs to be clearly defined.  She also writes how you need to talk about “Research interests.” Knowing the program you’re applying to helps in this case. What you want to research should be something already in action in that program.

                

 Finally, write about why you are so attracted to the program you are applying to. Caela wrote in how she had already studied abroad at Limerick. This is a great example of carrying this out.

               

                 

The tip sheet ends with the comment that the reader can see “for the applicant, attending graduate school is the next logical step in the sequence toward a specific goal.”

Sample statement under the link
(note: this is the very first draft, obviously in need of work)

Dr. Lea Graham Interview

Dr. Lea Graham is an Assistant professor of English at Marist College. She recently published a collection of poems titled, Hough & Helix & Where & Here & You, You, You. Graham, a native of Arkansas, has definitely traveled and done what she wanted. I recently sat down with her for a brief interview and to receive some advice.

 

I’ve had three classes to date with Dr. Graham and always receive tremendous feedback and support. She’s published her own work and she really knows how to get her classes engaged in the workshops. She also introduced to one of my favorite writing genres – nonfiction, specifically, the brevity and reckoning essays. I asked her what her graduate school experience was and what her advice would be to future graduate students. She gave me a lengthy reply, but after transcribing it from my voice recorder and thinking about it, she really put me at ease. There shouldn’t be any rush. Some writers need to experience the world and travel. 

 

“I did both my M.A. and Ph.D at the University of Illinois at Chicago,” Dr. Graham said. “So don’t choose the school for the place. But, in a big city, there’s a lot of choices. And I already knew that UIC would be the right place for me to stay and I knew some of the writers there.”

 

Dr. Graham explained that an M.F.A today is a better choice than just getting your M.A. Dr. Graham knew she wanted to go for her Ph.D, so it ended up being fine that she only went for her MA at first. However, an M.F.A. is its own degree, not just a stepping stone. She said she may have thought differently if she knew what an M.A. and M.F.A. meant. 

 

She went on to explain how she took time to do other kinds of work. She mentioned doing advocacy work, work for nonprofits in Central America, as well as work in political issues and a lot of inner city organizations. It worked out to a total of six years out of school before she decided to head back. 

 

“There’s always a question with writers, at which point do you stop relying on your experiences and you rely more upon your reading,” Dr. Graham said. “I don’t want to play up experience. I would say the median age of graduate students is still around 32 to 33 years old.”

 

Dr. Graham did all these different kinds of work and then realized she really knew what she wanted to teach. She had been an ESL teacher and spoke Spanish. This helped her get her foot in the door and actually gave her a small head start. She explained how you need a second language and one of her projects was on translation. It ended up being a part of her doctoral dissertation. 

 

As for being back at school? “I liked it,” Dr. Graham said. “I got smarter. One thing I would say, I got more mature as a student as I went along. I wasn’t a mature undergrad. I was serious and inquisitive, but at the same time, I don’t think I had this confidence that ‘if I get serious I can take this somewhere.’ And that’s what graduate school really did for me.” 

 

It took Dr. Graham six and a half to seven years to complete her Ph.D. She moved to Massachusetts part way through and the long distance complicated the process. 

 

One of the big questions students ask themselves before deciding on graduate school is WHERE DO I WANT TO TAKE THIS? In my own life, I’ve considered teaching. So I asked Dr. Graham about this. She told me about her experience at UIC. “The great and terrible thing about doing grad work at a place as big as UIC, is that you’re really teaching classes,” she said. “You’re really learning on the fly how to teach a class.”

 

Being one of her workshop students, I asked her what that atmosphere was like for her. He explained how workshops vary from class to class. A lot of writers don’t like them and you can never really tell what a workshop class will be like until it begins. “It’s high anxiety,” she said. “A workshop is based off everyone’s work.” Orchestrating a class based off student’s work can definitely be a challenge.

 

The teaching at UIC pushed Dr. Graham to definitely stay on that path. She always knew she would be writing. She mentioned that she had journals from her six years outside of school. If she never published another piece of work, she noted that she would always be writing. She doesn’t really like the rush to publish writing, but explained that it is what it is. 

 

“I think we’re at a turning point in writing because it’s so public all the time,” she said. She brought up current blogs. She said how some are brilliant and others are messes. Technology has changed the face of writing and people are still figuring out how to marry the two together successfully. She also brought up how academia has changed as well. “The reasons that people used to go to school for then are a little different now,” she said. She admitted she could be wrong, but anyone can see that times have changed in the academic world. 

 

Dr. Graham offered me some final words of advice and some interesting examples. “You have to live your life,” she said. “To quote “Sex and the City”, ‘choose your choice.’ Think about why you want to do it. Why do you want to teach? Why do you want to be a grant writer? Writing books, you’re just going to have to do that besides everything else you do.”

 

She gave me the example of a friend who would wake up at 2 a.m. and write until 5 a.m. He would then take his son to school, teach his classes, come back and do it all over again. “People make great sacrifices to write,” she said. “The great thing about writing is that you can always do it, no matter what.” Dr. Graham is up writing two hours before she comes in to teach her own classes. She laughed about how she should be doing lesson plans, but sometimes you have to make that trade-off. 

 

“What are you inspired by?”

 

 A link to Dr. Graham's work:

http://www.notellbooks.org/hough

Second Writing Sample

This week, I decided to post one of my other options for a writing sample. It’s always hard to write about relatives. I haven’t received any feedback on this piece. However, the prompt for it was simply “hearing.” The essay, another brevity (which means it only has 850 words or less), was a sample for class that I never handed on. Writing about my grandfather is difficult. As Dr. Graham instructed me last year, when we write about our relatives, it can come across as overly sappy or dramatic. It needs to be crisp, clear and reflective.

This piece clearly needs a lot more work than the Bella essay. I’ve refrained from working on that one just yet because I’m struggling removing and adding new material. This piece about my grandfather, who passed away in the fall of 2008 as I was starting college, feels like it could be a prominent piece alongside my reckoning essay. It’s also interesting how it’s four years later and could possibly be the start of another school year that he is distantly involved in. 

Currently, it’s at about 800 words and needs serious work in terms of sharpening my images and creating a clear, poignant reflection without falling into the cliché, “Oh I miss my grandpa.”It’s difficult because as Dr. Graham taught me in class, we love our grandparents. We want to write warm, fuzzy things about them. But readers want the truth and honesty. They want to see both sides. Maybe grandpa went to jail or grandma stole flour from the supermarket. I’m making these up and they’re ridiculous, but I hope everyone got the point. This essay hasn’t touched upon the ugly sides. It’s a struggle, but I have a feeling if I can push aside that pedestal I’ve placed my grandpa on, I can get somewhere. 

What’s to be remembered, we love people no matter their flaws. That’s what makes us human. In fact, I feel as though I loved him more because he magnified my own flaws for me to see. He was my grandpa. We shared some of the same personality quirks and flaws. 

Also, have several options for writing samples. My longer reckoning may be tossed aside if I have a sudden burst of inspiration. Never stop writing. a little scribble on a napkin can become your next personal statement or narrative essay.

Keara Driscoll: New School poet, Marist alumna

Keara Driscoll is a Marist alumna who now attends the New School in New York City. The school is actually comprised of seven separate schools. Driscoll is attending to complete her M.F.A. in poetry. Dr. Graham recommended speaking with Driscoll who came from the Marist programs and is in a successful, competitive M.F.A. at this point.

Driscoll told me how she always wrote a lot of poems, but until she really got to the end of her college career, did she realize that that was what she wanted to be doing. She said she needed to find what “impassioned” her. Grad school was a way of her being able to continue in this field and maybe take it somewhere further than just an undergraduate degree.

Interesting was one of her comments about how she chose poetry. It appears that it more likely chose her. “I wrote a lot of nonfiction and fiction in workshops at Marist, but it always felt as if I were just looking for new ways to write poetry,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll was drawn to the M.F.A program because she felt it “encouraged students to have a life outside of a day job, even outside of the classroom […] you need a life to make art.” This really resonated with me because it really made me think about how searching for programs that fit what you want to do are crucially important moments. Driscoll explained how, for her particular program, she attends poetry readings with her classmates, listens to certain authors and even gets to speak with them afterward. Discussion and attending readings are a huge part of the program, not just the personal writing process.

I asked Driscoll about what her homework and daily life were kind of like. Really, I was just curious about what she does every day for her program and what it’s like at the New School. Her main comment: the workload is what you make of it. She explains that for her workshop classes, there’s a poem and a writing assignment due each week. Seminar classes are different. She has to read a book and supporting articles a week, write a two to three page response paper or creative piece. Sometimes, both. It sounds daunting, but then when you take a moment to think about it, it’s a field you WANT to work in and enjoy. So really, the program should be working toward the goal of broadening and sharpening skills.

Driscoll stated how grades aren’t the issue. Students need to take initiative in these programs and revise their work, read for their assignments as well as outside works, “explore, experiment.” There are assignments that are due, such as the workshop assignments.

“You could not care about the work, not challenge yourself, participate little,” Driscoll said. “You may get a few warnings, but no one is going to hold your hand. Then what? You’ve just spent two years of your life coasting, making very little and all in all wasting a chance to engage in a community of young writers who are passionate, crazy and in love with what they do.”

Driscoll had one final word of advice for prospective graduate students after filling me in on her own experiences.

“My advice: KNOW that you are willing to put a lot on the line for the chance to make art before applying,” Driscoll said. “Don't be afraid to talk to other people. If you wind up in NYC, remember it's the type of place that challenges you to explore on your own. Go to readings alone, come out with a couple of Facebook friends at least. Mainly, speak out about what moves you in writing. And most of all, don't take yourself too seriously, but take your work seriously. Be completely fearless--making mistakes is the only ONLY way to get better at something. Remove all fear, never let the phrase ‘I can't write about that!’ pop into your head. If you fail, you're in good company.”

After graduate school? Driscoll has discovered she actually does want to teach. She’s been doing a little at the New School and feels it’s been working out well. She hopes to stay for a little while in South America, teaching English. She’s also always got Ph.D. programs in the back of her mind. But it’s all a journey about trying out other things.

As for publishing her own writing? “Getting published would also be pretty rad,” Driscoll said.

Keara’s advice was really interesting and insightful. It helped me think about WHY I’m applying and what I want from my own programs. I think it’s really important to create a checklist of what you’re looking for in a program. That way, when you find one, it needs to meet the requirements. It’ll help pinpoint the search a bit. Here’s a few links. The New School has an EXCELLENT program. And despite my fear of the city, at Pat Taylor’s prompting, I’ve added it to my own list. See you all next week! I’ll have a post on my interview with Dr. Graham and hopefully a revised writing sample. However, I may start the process for my statement of purpose. Little nervous for that one. I’ll also be in Pittsburgh this weekend and if time allows, I will hopefully get to check out the university and maybe get an idea of what their program is like.

Link to the program:

http://www.newschool.edu/writing/

YouTube video!!!

Writing Samples! The first of many...

Ok, so this week into next will be a few different posts. I have a couple interviews to put up. One is with Dr. Lea Graham and the other is with graduate student Keara Driscoll. This post, however, will be about WRITING SAMPLES! I used the previous week to go through my nonfiction samples and select a few to revise actively on this blog for people to see. Many were written last semester in my nonfiction workshop with Dr. Graham. I do have a longer, 15 page reckoning essay that I may send in with my applications, but for the purposes of this blog, the shorter pieces will be more helpful for everyone to take a look at. 

One of my first recommendations is to GET FEEDBACK! I’m still considering applying in the fiction area as well, so I asked another professor, Dr. Anderson, who taught my play writing workshop, if he wouldn’t mind helping me out with that. However, I may wait until the spring to apply to a fiction program, after I take the Fiction workshop at Marist. Dr. Graham has already made really instructive comments about some of these pieces when I handed them in to be graded. So I already have some work that I can do. However, having feedback from my professors is what is most helpful and will be down the road. 

Another recommendation, pick pieces you are CONFIDENT in! Even though they may need some revision work, pick pieces to work with that you are comfortable sending to a college. For example, you wouldn’t want to send in a piece filled with vulgarity and sexual content. But you may be able to tone it done or incorporate some of the really great, clean parts into another piece. Send your best writing. As Pat Taylor told me, the writing samples are extremely important. Sometimes picking pieces you feel strongly about help as well. Using work from creative writing classes is also a great idea because you can still talk to the teachers and get feedback.

One more recommendation, talk to other graduate students. I spoke with Caela about her writing samples and she even sent me the one that she sent with her application. Get a feel for what the schools are looking for. Be familiar with the programs you’re applying to. You want your writing to fit in where you’re going. Some programs have different focuses than others and you want to be at the right program. 

My first writing sample will be posted under the link and I will also include Dr. Graham’s comments to me from last semester. In a week or so, I will hopefully be posting a revision of this essay. Or I may decide to keep it as is and begin working on another.

One final comment, writing samples vary from school to school. Some ask for 10-15 pages, others ask for 30. So be aware of how much you are able to send and how much you WANT to send.