So I got accepted into the Bennington's low-residency MFA program a few months ago (the best low-res MFA program in the country if you ask me, but it is said to be neck-and-neck with Warren Wilson). Bennington is of course famed for its innovative, student-centered curriculum, mostly at the undergraduate level -- besides writing, there are a couple of MFA programs in dance, music and public action at Bennington as far as I am aware -- and its role in pioneering a new era of modern dance thanks to Martha Graham, whom I adore. I applied to the program after my mother died unexpectedly, because I wanted something positive to come out of her passing -- she would have wanted that for me, and she was the only one in my family to fully support my writing. So throughout the residency I kept taking stock of how lucky I was to be sitting in this or that auditorium and meeting so many phenomenally talented writers and I kept silently saying: Thanks for making this possible for me, Mom.
I can do a low-residency program because the residencies fall outside the academic terms at the university where I teach. I was wondering if I had made the right decision right until the moment I showed up on the Bennington campus on the shuttle from Albany Airport, and then it was so obvious I had I thanked my lucky stars and I enjoyed ten days of phenomenal master classes with top instructors and best-selling writers, great readings, and the wonderful cohort of my amazing cohort members. I have met more interesting people in ten days in Vermont (none of them living in Vermont, but still) than I have met in almost seven years in Dallas, Texas. It has been a while since I was surrounded by so many talented creative people and it has already pushed me to achieve a new level of proficiency in my writing. That residency was total bliss (ok, it helped that the weather was very mild for early January in Vermont, going barely below freezing). The 20+ first-termers all lived in the same "house" (dorm), we just had to get up in the morning and get ready and walk to the dining hall, which was about 4 minutes away and had delicious organic food sourced from local farms. The first tremors would recognize each other and we would sit together in the dining hall, in maybe two tables due to the size of the group. Then we would walk to the first class or reading of the day and would just keep going until it was lunch time, where we would repeat the same process as for breakfast. Then there was time to go back to the dorm if needed before going to the mandatory workshops (where our work would be workshopped). Then more classes and readings and then social hour (wine hour at Roz's Cafe!) and then dinner and faculty readings. It was an extraordinary experience. I can't wait for the next residency.
Here are some pictures of residency. (The man at the podium is David Gates, author of the amazing Preston Falls, who teaches at Bennington.)
Sometimes life takes you through a meandering path, and that has certainly been the case for me and the MFA program. If I had been able to, I would have done a MFA years ago, but I had no one to recommend me, a student visa and later a H1B, and even after I got my Green Card, it never occurred to me to quit my job to pursue a full-time MFA. I come from a blue-collar family, so quitting an engineering job I was good at for a MFA just didn't cross my mind. Where I come from, the priority is to make a living. But years ago (close to twenty years ago, I think), a friend of mine who lived in NYC at the time had told me about the Gotham Writers' Workshop, and I took a couple of online classes there, and I hired someone to give me feedback on a story of mine through them. That person was an adjunct at the UCLA Extension School, so about nine or ten years ago I looked into whether they offered online classes, and they sure did. That's how I got started taking online classes at UCLAx, back when I still lived in Pennsylvania, and ended up taking two master classes there and getting a Certificate in Writing (with Distinction :) from them. Through the first master class I met a woman my age who was writing a similar type of fiction, and we stayed in touch over the years. She got a NY agent but when the agent refused to send out her manuscript (perhaps the agent's assistant had been more enthusiastic about the book than the agent herself was), that friend of mine announced she had decided to pursue a MFA at a local low-residency MFA program. This is how I learned low-residency MFA programs existed. I also got my literary agent through the UCLAx program, and she has been excellent. When that friend of mine told me about her MFA program, I researched the top MFA programs in the country (hers is one of them), and applied to the top three. I was accepted into two of the three, and picked Bennington due to the name recognition, the great support for students and alumni especially regarding publications, and the better fit with me as a person (innovative curriculum... Martha Graham... student-centered... groundbreaking...)
Now that residency is over, we have to read about 20 to 25 books each term (approved by our advisor that term), and submit about 25 pages of new writing to our advisor each month. I actually have already read 11 books for the program since the beginning of January (I was having a dry spell in my writing so I decided to read a lot), and now I am working on new pages. My cohort has a Discord channel and we keep in touch through that as well as occasional group Zoom calls. It's been such a joy to meet people as dedicated to their writing as I am and as talented too. For many years I didn't have nearly enough writer friends. We give ourselves book recommendations, celebrate good news, share publication opportunities and cheer each other up as needed.
One thing that is embedded in my mind about residency is that I liked to sit at the back of Tischman Hall for the faculty readings and the master classes, and one day I looked around and noticed how different everyone looked -- everyone with their unique style of clothing and hairstyle and shoes. This is so different from Dallas, where women in particular most often have their hair down with little curls at the bottom and wear some kind of revealing dress with stilettos or other high heels.
I went to some breathtaking graduate readings and I can't wait to see where the recent graduates end up publishing. The Commencement ceremony was also the most enjoyable Commencement ceremony I have ever attended. This is a remarkable program and I am so glad to be part of it. And if you ended up on my page because you consider applying, all I can say is that this program has been incredible for me.
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