Jessica Johnson brings some pragmatism to the MFA chatter. –TM
Whenever the debate about MFA programs and the professionalization of creative writing comes up, I start thinking about alternate scenarios in which the current system’s problems are solved by a marriage of art and commerce:
Problem: MFA programs churn out thousands of graduates every year with no clear career path ahead of them. As a member of my MFA class once said, “I went into the program with a career and left the program without one.”
Problem: By tying art to academe, MFA programs isolate the community of writers from “real world” concerns.
Problem: Apprentice writers can be self-absorbed jerks with inflated egos.
Solution: MFA/Bar School
Universities acquire drinking establishments close to campus. MFA students, instead of drinking away their stipends, are required to complete a certain amount of on-the-job training, starting as bar backs and eventually, if they prove worthy, becoming bartenders. Having to clean up bodily fluids and replace urinal cakes might endow those who need it with a little humility, and what better way to come in contact with “the real world” than to pour it a beer? Proceeds from the establishments provide full funding in exchange for a year or two of post-graduate labor. The senior bartenders under whom the students train are made associate professors. The establishments could host readings on slow nights. At the very least, MFA graduates leave the program debt-free and with a portable job skill.
Alternate Solution: MFA/Organic Farm
A more bucolic vision, perhaps better suited to the rural or small town campus. Again, the university operates a small organic farm. In exchange for funding, MFA students spend the first year doing a certain amount of agricultural work, not enough to interfere with workshop, and the second year in a small business-related internship (purchasing, marketing, HR, etc.). After the program, half time labor could be exchanged for rustic room & board (in the form of organic vegetables), and a community of like-minded others.
Disclaimers: My tongue is planted firmly in my cheek here. Also, the “problems” above are culled from things I’ve read (Dana Gioia and John Barr come to mind) and not from my own MFA experience, which was a great time. I did have a hard time with work and finances after I got out, but what I gained was worth the trouble.
New work from Jessica is forthcoming from Prairie Schooner and The Paris Review. Find one of Jessica’s poems here. ???TM