And to the West, Mountains
In Fort Collins, the mountains usually mean west. As I walk to campus, I walk north, west, then north again. True north is usually Eddy Hall – home of the English department. I suppose I will not yet stop having […]
When You Know, You Know
“The biggest mistake you can make is going before you’re ready.” I remember feeling absolutely crushed when someone who I looked up to, someone who I admired, said those words to me. We were on the phone, I was asking […]
The Cold Shock
I received an email in March of 2021 from Andrew Altschul announcing that I had been accepted to the MFA program in Fort Collins, CO. I was more shocked than happy, and I’ll explain why. A month prior to that […]
In Response To a Letter From My High School Self
In August of 2020, I received a letter from my high school self. As an assignment for the first creative writing class I ever took in my senior year, our teacher had us write a letter addressed to the post-college […]
My Pandemic Performance
It’s been a long past 18-months, and a fast last three weeks. I spent the last year and a half living with my parents (although I don’t lead with that). And I’ve come to realize that, even in the middle […]
Thoughts and Opinions Flourish in This Intelligent and Welcoming Community
As a college education becomes more and more expensive and careers become grounded in traditional educations I continually come up against the question: why apply to and pursue an MFA in writing? Why not rely on self-education and self-advocacy to […]
All that is being done
As our country moves clunkily, inequitably—how else?—toward an approximate end to this acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, our work will by all accounts just be getting started. While our whole society confronts the lasting physical and psychological effects of […]
Connected, but Closer.
Friday, March 13, 2020, I got on a plane from Madrid, Spain to Washington, D.C. This was somewhat coincidental. A month earlier, I’d spent Valentine’s Day in Florence with a friend from high school, a costume designer who’d just finished […]
The Right Choice
Starting my MFA as a 44-year-old mother and teacher during a global pandemic has been a trip. Is there ever a right time to do anything? Or a wrong time? I suppose you never really know until you throw […]
A Little Encouraging Reminder to Myself
I’m currently struggling with a story. It’s the same problem that every writer has…eventually. How to make this story work? How to reshape the character/s? How to finish the story when you’ve already invested hours into its creation? You’re presented […]