Hey guys! First of all, hello! I've enjoyed reading everyone's summer entries. It's cool to see what your interests are and lives are outside of the MFA world.
I've been having a lot of "non-MFA" stuff happen lately-- I got engaged, and I'm getting married in August. I've been writing music reviews and interviews for my college hometown's paper, the Evansville Courier & Press, and some of that has translated to my other blog-- I got to talk to Art Alexakis from Everclear (a favorite band from my teenage years-- I still think Songs from an American Movie is my favorite narrative album of all time), and more recently, Mary Gauthier.
Mary's latest album is autobiographical-- The Foundling is about her own adoption, her search for (and later, rejection by) her birth mother, and processing all of that. It's really good, and if you listen to any kind of folk or indie music, you ought to get a copy. I've got one for free up at my website right now (which is the reason I mention any of this)-- if you want to win, just go to Katie Darby Recommends.
I've also been in contact with a lot of my favorite writers, which is partially because: I've decided to defer from the MFA program for a year. Right now, I need to get things settled in my personal life: I want to focus on building the strongest marriage I can and on figuring out what I want out of writing (since lately, I seem to be doing almost all music writing). I'm still technically enrolled at SIU, and I'll actually be teaching a comp and lit class at a local university in Indiana in the fall. I'm still part of the MFA community, but now I'm the fringe guy.
This summer has already been the most exciting one of my life, though. I wish the same to all of you. Hope your lives are going well!
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Congrats on your engagement!
ReplyDeleteI've heard several people talk about deferring, but you're the first one I know of who's actually done it. And I completely understand why. I hear at least once a week "I can't believe you're juggling school AND wedding planning stuff". It's a lot to have all going on at once.
I'm curious logistically as to how it all works. Did your deferral affect your assistantship? Do you have any "requirements" during your time off? Do you have a timeline in mind for resuming your studies--does the university require that you resume your studies at any particular time?
congrats on getting engaged! and that's great that you could defer your acceptance and focus on starting your marriage out strong. which college in IN are you teaching at next yr?
ReplyDeleteCongrats on getting engaged, and married!
ReplyDeleteOh man, Art Alexakis! I think he was the first love of my life.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your engagement and goof luck with everything.
Wow, I totally suck. I just realized I didn't have these comments emailed to me, so I'm responding WAY late.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of the congratulations!!! We're really excited.
@Rachel M. -- yeah, it's wayyyy a lot to balance. We've taken care of that by speeding everything up a lot-- I'll be married in... 28 days, now, haha. I have no requirements except that I let them know in March if I'm going back this year or next. (Or if I somehow got a job at the Rolling Stone or something, and I am writing, haha.) It shouldn't affect my assistantship, but in this economy, I won't begrudge them if it does.
@Ashley Brooke: Umm, yeah, I had a ridiculous crush on Art Alexakis. Big time. It made it awkward to talk about being engaged with him... haha, but it was awesome. He was really cool, so I got lucky. I still think Everclear's one of the best pure rock bands of the 90s.
@Joshua Gottlieb-Miller: Thanks, man. :) The latter is certainly the more exciting one.
@Bethany: Thanks so much! We're excited. I'm just adjuncting in an intro class at my alma mater, the University of Evansville. The trick is I've completely the amount of classes that would be required for an MA-- my guess is deferral is different if you do it right out of the gate, but since I'd already been there for a year, they knew I was good for it, I guess. I hope. :) Thanks so much!!
Wow, guys, thanks for the good wishes. It means a lot to me!