Intro: Chrissy Friedlander, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (class of 2013)

Hi folks. My name is Chrissy, I’m twenty-three, and I am thrilled to say that I will be attending the University of Minnesota’s MFA program in poetry this fall. Although I have to admit that I was more an MFA Chronicle Lurker than an MFA Chronicle Participant during this application season, I did find that just reading the posts of the current class affirmed my decision to pursue MFA work in the first place. Simply stated, seeing cool kids write about their cool adventures in their respective MFA programs made me want to drop everything and just live a writerly life, too. Whether I end up cool or not is still to be determined.

I guess a little about me: my real name is Christine, but I usually go by Chrissy because I hate Stephen King. Actually, I don’t hate him, per say; I just don’t appreciate sharing a name with his Christine, a Christine who just so happens a vengeful car that gruesomely murders a slew of people in Pennsylvania. Speaking of PA, I graduated from Bucknell University in 2009 with a BA in English-Creative Writing, and am still suffering from Stadler Center for Poetry and West Branch Intern withdrawal. I’m also an alumnus of the 2007 Bucknell June Seminar for Younger Poets (what up, other Junies on this blog!), the SUISS Creative Writing Program (‘08), and the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute (‘09). Since graduating, I’ve worked primarily as a writing consultant, computer literacy tutor, and web designer at home in New Jersey, but I’ve also made time to cross some things off of my to-do list. Currently, I am training for a half-marathon in May and learning how to play the harmonica. So far, I can play parts of “Danny Boy.” Well, kind of.

Although I have certainly enjoyed post-graduate life thus far, I am pumped to start my next adventure in academia at the University of Minnesota. Minneapolis is such a sweet city (can’t wait to start exploring more of it!), and after visiting the campus and program this past March for recruitment events, I am convinced that U of M is the right place for me. As much as I am looking forward to taking a break from the Dirty Jerz, however, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about moving westward. This whole apartment-search-thing, for one, is a bit nerve-wracking, since I’ve never actually searched for an apartment before. Any advice?

Well, I guess that’s all for now. I’m so excited to be a part of this awesome online community, and I can’t wait to hear more about our joint ventures in the MFA world. Keep it real.