By Alexander Strum on October 29, 2008 11:19 AM
Q: Why did you choose your program?
A: For me, two things separated Emerson from other top tier creative writing programs. The first was the emphasis on integrating the publishing and writing students together to help form bonds that will continue out into the professional world and the second was the ability to teach freshmen writing classes to help gain experience towards possibly being a professor down the road, a course that I will be taking in the Spring.
Q: What does your program mean to you?
A: Well, it means an opportunity to do what I love with my life; a chance to improve my craft while gaining the necessary experience to make a practical living for myself in writing.
Q: What is the allure of the Tam, the popular local dive and hangout for the WPL students?
A: Good question. Trivia is a good time, and you can get Pabst Blue Ribbon and 16 oz Brubakers for cheap. As long as you can get past the fact that the men's bathroom doesn't really have a door, you're in good shape.
Q: What do you hope to do after your program?
A: I'd like to be a novelist, short story writer, college professor, wine connoisseur, international playboy, ninja, father, and moral pillar of the community.
Q: What classes are you taking this semester?
A: I am currently taking a Fiction Workshop and Seminar in the Novel, and next semester i will be taking an Advanced Fiction Workshop and Teaching Freshman Writing
Q: When you go to the Tam, what is that matted dusty residue that's on every single bottle of Brubaker?
A: Don't look at me, I wonder that every time I'm there. More importantly, can we settle the debate as to whether or not Brubaker is just Bud Light repackaged in a bigger bottle? Scholars have feuded over this for years, and personally, I'd like a conclusive answer.
Q: What's been your most exciting reading/project/class meeting this semester?
A: I've been exposed to a number of different authors that I was previously unaware of, or knew little about, including Aimee Bender, Ron Carlson, Isaac Babel, and Ann Beattie. I particularly liked reading Donald Barthelme, and have found his influence in my own work recently since reading his Sixty Stories. I also was a part of an interesting and lively debate in one of my classes about the role of taste in art and how censorship should or should not affect this.
I'm glad I checked out the student blogs. I've been checking out Emerson for a couple years now, and recently (finally) decided to really get serious about my plans and my future. When I tell my friends that I'm planning to go to grad school for creative writing they look at me like I'm wasting my money and ask why I can't just write a book from home. But you summed up concisely the reason you chose this program and it added a little bit of strength to my backbone. I appreciate it.