Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Intro: Katie Bell, University of New Hampshire (Class of 2013)


Hello! My name is Katie Bell and I will be attending the University of New Hampshire's fiction MFA in the fall. I will receive my BA from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville over the summer, and I am very excited to start the MFA program.

A little bit about me: I am 21 years old, married (to a great guy whose support I cherish), finishing up my bachelor's degree and working pretty much full time at an Auntie Anne's Pretzels in a local mall. When I have free time, I work on my writing, and I have about seven different story ideas bouncing around in my head right now.

I will be in the same boat in New Hampshire, because I am willingly attending a program without funding. Why? Am I crazy? (Maybe, but that's beside the point). After antagonizing over a decision, I chose to attend the University of New Hampshire without funding because I think that the program is worth it. I have received countless emails from professors and current students extolling the virtues of the program and I feel like the University of New Hampshire will be able to give me the advice I need to improve my writing without feeling as though I'm only attending a school for the money. I am looking forward to attending classes with students who are attending UNH because they are passionate about their writing as much as I am about mine. I want to be surrounded by a group of hardworking writers, which professors and current students have assured me is what I will find at the University of New Hampshire.

Sure, I will have to work two jobs and take three classes in the fall to make ends meet financially, but I would rather work hard now to make my future the best it can be.

And I leave you with something unique about me: There's this pair of pants that I've had since I was seventeen years old. They're frayed, full of holes, and stained to the point where I no longer think of them as an acceptable pair of pants. But I still wear them because I like to think of them as a symbol of me: over-worn and torn apart, but still functional. So I am a pair of pants, still hugging the ass of life.


6 comments:

  1. Ha! I love that..."still hugging the ass of life". Even with funding, life in general can add extra challenges to the MFA/writer's life. I like your attitude about it and can relate. Welcome to the blog!

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  2. Welcome to the blog.

    I also like your attitude.

    And if you can afford your classes by working, all the power to you.

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  3. i worked full time in a non-funded program and i'm enjoying the tax write off at least :)

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  4. Katie, love the pants analogy! Welcome, welcome.

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  5. Welcome, Katie, and best of luck in NH. You said you're in Tennessee now - has there been flooding where you live? I've seen the pictures from Nashville, and they just look terrible.

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  6. Hi, thanks for your comments guys! I am glad to be a part of the blog!

    Emily- Three fourths of Tennessee is underwater right now, which is really dangerous and unfortunate. I live in Knoxville, which is the one-fourth of the state that did not get flooded. What happened was (as my coworker explained) that the storm came off of the low-lying parts of Tennessee and hit the mountains. The mountains acted like a skateboard ramp, and pushed the storm north. We got a little bit of rain for one day, but it's bright and sunny out here now.

    Fortunately, there are a lot of people from East Tennessee who are heading west to help Nashville, Memphis and the rest of Tennessee get un-flooded.

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