Also makes me think about how it’s “cool” to have an indie film or record, but not a book in that vein.

Ralph Angel told me that poems were “art objects” & it’s such a lovely way of remembering our art! (Poems, fictions, essays, etc…) It’s all craft.

& you’re such an awesome crafter.

Me: I’m starting an MFA program.
Her: MFA? What the hell do you do that’s FA?
Me: Uh, write?
Her: Oh… yeah. I guess that’s art.

What I was talking about is the feeling that you’re not allowed to call yourself an artist and expect to be taken seriously unless you can prove that other people have vetted you and, better still, paid you for your art. Specifically, what I was talking about was the thrill of being on campus and having everyone refer to me as a writer, and being able to refer to myself as one, without ever having to have the “Oh, really? What do you write? Would I have seen it somewhere?” conversation.

Non-writers still always want to know who’s paying me to write and, if no one is, what I REALLY am, then, as opposed to a writer. The MFA doesn’t impress them, either. :) But I could call myself a writer freely around other people in the program, which was quite an unexpected thrill.

Josh, thanks! And I love “Drill, drill, drill!”

I always have found it odd that criticism of the existence of writing programs does not seem to carry over into criticism for any other similar schools. Art school, music school, film school: all fine; meanhwile, writing school is to some still an object of ridicule.

I remember once a long time ago I was an assistant teacher at a summer “writing camp” for high school kids interested in writing. There was a soccer camp going on on the same campus. When the head soccer camp guy became aware of our much smaller camp he incredulously asked one of the writing teachers about it. “What the hell do you do all day over there?” asked the soccer guy. “Aw, you know, same as you,” replied the writing teacher. “Lots of drills. All day long. Drill, drill, drill.”

The main thing I have a comment on though is what you say about being able to call yourself a writer without having to qualify it (2nd-to-last paragraph). I’m from the “everyman” school of the arts I guess you could say, and I think it’s bad that someone needs either a degree or some professional background to say you’re an artist of any form. It’s one thing to say “a professional writer” without being able to show you got paid for it, but why make it seem like such an exclusive club?