The New School

Hi everyone!

First, apologies: I've been AWOL since break. The good news is that I've spent that time writing, reading, and revising. (Also playing with my son). Read Push, Wide Sargasso Sea, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao all recently. Amazing books in my opinion, though I find it hard to "recommend" Push just because of how painful the imagery can be.

I got a comment on my blog today from Winston, asking about The New School. That reminded me of two things:
1) It's March and people are getting accepted to MFA programs (yeah!) and
2) Seth Abramson's blog is no more.

For anyone thinking about The New School, I want to say this:

I love it. This is the perfect program for me, and that's really the most important factor. Full disclosure here: I didn't apply anywhere else because The New School's schedule was exactly what I needed and the only way I could do something full-time, full-residency.

That said, if my experience here ended up sucking I would tell you. But it's been fantastic. I'm quite sure it all depends on classes and teachers, and I've had great ones in this first year. Even more important than that is probably peers, and again, even though that all depends, I've found great, great, great ones. Great peers is one thing, but I'm also making great friends. I love the atmosphere, the program, the overall philosophy and the people I'm working with. Do I hear people with complaints about this class or this workload or what have you? Of course. Have I ever regretted choosing The New School? No.

Something else to really think about: The way we're structured is that we have 3 semesters (Fall, Spring, Fall) of courses, one workshop and one lit seminar per semester. The fourth and final semester is your thesis semester where, if I understand it correctly (and I'm pretty sure I do), we focus on on creative and critical theses and meet with a peer group and our adviser. (We don't have classes).

I forgot to mention readings: each semester you're required to go to eight readings, and I've been to some really, really good ones.

As you know, your choice depends on a lot of things. What can you afford to do? What can you not afford not to do? You will read and write (and, unless you get a full ride, work another job) a lot, but that's the same anywhere. The New School only meets at night (from 8-10:30, with readings often at 6:30) so it makes a day job doable.

My gut says to go with the school that you think fits you best. Ask LOTS of questions. Ask students, ask professors in the department. Read the work of people on the respective faculties of the places you're looking. All of that. I know you know all of this by intuition, but I think it's good to say.

hit my blog if you want to connect about The New School in more specific depth. Reply to this post with your email and specific questions and I will do my best, amidst writing and fathering and paying bills, to be thorough and prompt. I'll also try to remember to check back here as often as I can for comments.

Thanks, Winston, for asking for my thoughts! Thanks, as always, to Jonterri for this venue.

Spring Classes

by Christopher Cocca

Found out today what my spring classes will be and thought I would share.

Workshop: Jeffrey Renard Allen
Lit Seminar: Robert Antoni (a close look at writing in vernaculars).

Looking forward to it. We had so many good courses to choose from, and I'm very pleased with these.

Victor LaValle Fiction Forum

by Christopher Cocca


Victor LaValle was at The New School last night. He read from The Big Machine and answered questions about his work, influences, and life. This was one of the best sessions I've been to so far. LaValle was engaging, funny, candid, insightful, and incredibly open in the kind of way I find extremely helpful for an audience of writers and thinkers, not in a self-important or creepy way. This was a fun reading and forum that made you think. These aims, speaking with insight about serious things and doing it with humor, are at the heart of LaValle's goals for The Big Machine. I ordered a copy, along with his short story collection (Slapboxing With Jesus) today.

Victor LaValle teaches in the Columbia MFA program.

Workshop

by Christopher Cocca

I had my first fiction workshop (Ann Hood’s) at The New School last night. We read, ahead of time, stories from three students and discussed them at length after taking care of first-meeting administrative details. I handed in a story, a new revision of The Shadow Line, to be workshopped next week.

Obviously, the idea here is for us to become better writers through the process of having our stories discussed and being told what’s confusing, what’s overdone, what’s clear, controlled, effective, what bad grammar we’re able to see in the work of others but are blinded to in our own, how what others think we’ve done differs from what we think we’ve done or are trying to do. As helpful as this will be, I think this is also about becoming a better reader. The more imperfect work we read (alongside the renowned work from our prose lit classes), the more practice we get at understanding, in very general terms, the kinds of things we might be doing in our own (and certainly imperfect) work without knowing it.

Some notes I took during class:

Revision is literally seeing your work again (via Joseph Conrad)
It can always be fixed (via Ann Hood)
Anybody can write stories but only writers can revise them (via Ann Hood)
For short fiction, everyone important should be introduced by the end of the first page.I think that’s a good general rule, especially for beginners.
Rather than frame a story, think in terms of containing it (that is, temporally: a weekend, a year, an event, etc). This will help keep things tight and moving.
Avoid present participles. (This reminds me of my adverb ban).

I really enjoyed this class and I am looking foward to the rest of the semester.

First Impressions

by Christopher Cocca


Hello fellow MFAers and MFA hopefuls!

My name is Christopher Cocca and I'm starting my MFA in fiction at The New School as of today. This evening was our orientation sessions, and I wanted to share my first impressions as I get ready to hop a bus back home:

Waiting for the session start and sitting with 70 or so other first-year students, I thought:

I wonder who else is scared.

I wonder who else assumes everyone else in the room has their shit more together.

I wonder who these new peers are, and which of them will be friends. I wonder where the ones I know from blogging and facebook are sitting.

I wonder who else is a spouse or parent.

I wonder what we'll do here.

A few minutes later, Bob Kerry greeted us with what I thought was a frank (in a good way) and encouraging welcome. Among other things, he talked about his life as a reader and congratulated us on taking this step.

Linda Dunn spoke next and welcomed us as part of The New School's long tradition of believing in the power of literature, words and education. She talked about the kinds of things the program looks for in applicants, and stressed the importance of taking a broad view of literature and in finding writers who reflect that value in diverse ways.

Robert Polito shared a poem from Jason Shinder's "Stupid Hope" and, later, "Lament For the Makers" by Frank Bidart:

Not bird not badger not beaver not bee

Many creatures must
make, but only one must seek

within itself what to make

My father's ring was a B with a dart
through it, in diamonds against polished black stone.

I have it. What parents leave you
is their lives.

Until my mother died she struggled to make
a house that she did not loathe; paintings; poems; me.

Many creatures must

make, but only one must seek
within itself what to make

Not bird not badger not beaver not bee

*

Teach me, masters who by making were
remade, your art.

Fitting, and for me as a parent making sense of taking time for art (even making art in the first place), a bit of serendipity. Writing well and making something worth having spent this time on is, in fact, a way of loving my son in a way that no one else can.

Robert stressed our program as community, and finished by thanking us, welcoming us, and telling us to enjoy. As my first night in the city ends, I feel thankful for this opportunity and excited about what we will do here.