god bless all of you graduate students. I did mine at night while working full time which was great because it was free* but was awful because i was…working full time while going to school at night. don’t recommend!! except the free part that was sick
specifically her face in the "I'M NOT STARING AT YOU --- I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU'RE ALIVE" which is just a perfect series of words to me... I got that tattoo on a whim after a particularly bad day at work and I loved the cadence and rage of "I don't even know you're alive" which is so pointed and not like, "I wish you were dead" but like, "the news of your existence hasn't reached me" felt so perfect. and her little angry face always makes me laugh but also fills me with such <3
my ideas for topics turn out to be other-comments-adjacent! as a person of current grad school experience, but not of the MFA variety, I too had been curious about your grad school experience (I guess the people with Ja[consonant]e names are of one mind!). And I'd be interested to learn more of your thoughts on the experience/process of creative writing in general.
I'm also nosy about your tattoos--in general, but specifically the Frances the Badger (<3) one fleetingly mentioned in your eras tour issue.
Good luck with the colliding deadlines! I look forward to reading the things when they come out!
What is your grad school experience! How are you liking it? Maybe I should write a little longer about school... I had such a positive time with it overall; I love to joke about it being a pain in the ass but I'd go back in a heartbeat.
Maybe a tattoo inventory is necessary.... I think I have well over 20 at this point, the Frances is a favorite though!!!!!
Oh, thanks for asking! A phd in obscure ancient literature, and I think the best way of describing my relationship with it would be to say that I am devoted to it, in that I love it and also in that grad school, and worrying about and around it, takes up far too much of my time, energy, thoughts, world, etc. Speaking of seeing representations of grad school everywhere, recently on a supposed afternoon away from work at the art institute I came across this painting that encapsulated some aspects of it: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/250762/melancholia
Is your tattoo of Frances eating bread and jam? Singing skeptically to her egg? Just being her iconic self?
omg love this painting and the dog... not sure I've ever seen this at the art institute! she's amazing!
& yes, bread and jam for Frances all the way... I always knew it was going to be a food one and that just felt like the best choice. you'd be surprised maybe that many people will sometimes think it's Bucky the UW mascot...
I'm watching Glee at my wife's behest...having a fun time despite my general distaste for show choirs. Gwenyth Paltrow is really charming on here! Any recollections from the heyday of Glee? Were you...a Gleek? *L forehead motion*
I would not go so far as to call myself an active Gleek but I definitely watched the first two seasons and I love bragging about the tenuous PHS connection in the years since it aired. It was kind of undeniable at the time of its initial airing and not like any other television programming... so it felt both risky and completely insane.... though I do mainly blame Glee and PHS show choir kids as my main reason for hating karaoke as an adult. I loved Gwyneth on there <3 I think I completely wore out my Glee Season 1 CD just listening to Lea Michele do Rain on my Parade over and over again. When I was studying abroad later in college, one of the girls I was s taying with was still watching the show (prob 2-3 seasons after I quit) and I made her catch me up... that thing REALLY went off the rails
Can we please get some sort of illustrative anecdote to connect to the ongoing bit about grad school? Like, you don’t have go too traumatic and I don’t want you to use up all the good material for the memoir you’ll write about it one day, but as a longtime fan of your work (and a deeply ambivalent holder of an MFA in Creative Writing) my curiosity has long been piqued. What happened?
omg I love this comment....... I promise I have no traumas from grad school! Really I had the time of my life there... met great people, did good writing, etc. It helped not to be at a hyper competitive program or a "push to publish" program which gave us all room to write and develop ideas. There were certainly minor dramas but nothing that left much lingering discomfort ...
The ongoing bit mostly comes down to the fact that prior to my going to grad school, I knew two people in my life who had gone for MFAs (both in poetry) and post-grad school, I have my set of grad school friends, but very few people in my life (1) have gone on to get an MFA. So for the time being I am the only one in my circle with this particular experience, and any time I see something that has anything do with higher ed or pursuing knowledge in a way that causes harm or any kind of intra-field competitiveness I immediately say "this is so grad school" because that culture of prevalent even if I wasn't taking part in it myself.
I think the most illustrative example I can give of the culture that I'm referring to is when one of my professors announced she was ending class early that day in order to commute into NYC to speak on a panel and I raised my hand and said "what are you speaking on?" and she said "excuse me?" and I said "what are you gonna be talking about on the panel?" and she blinked and said "I don't have to tell you that."
unrelated, but great job at the Q and A for Rap World!! I can’t believe they cut your scene though…
omg thank you for coming out!!!!! and being sympathetic to my failed shot at stardom…
god bless all of you graduate students. I did mine at night while working full time which was great because it was free* but was awful because i was…working full time while going to school at night. don’t recommend!! except the free part that was sick
softball question to get the chat going: favorite Nancy gag?
my all time favorite which is the one in my tattoo is this one: https://x.com/JohnnyCallicutt/status/1527393691614183426
specifically her face in the "I'M NOT STARING AT YOU --- I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU'RE ALIVE" which is just a perfect series of words to me... I got that tattoo on a whim after a particularly bad day at work and I loved the cadence and rage of "I don't even know you're alive" which is so pointed and not like, "I wish you were dead" but like, "the news of your existence hasn't reached me" felt so perfect. and her little angry face always makes me laugh but also fills me with such <3
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/52cAAOSw0H9jKP-R/s-l1200.jpg
I've also never seen this one!! thank you
omg never seen this one...... I love it
my ideas for topics turn out to be other-comments-adjacent! as a person of current grad school experience, but not of the MFA variety, I too had been curious about your grad school experience (I guess the people with Ja[consonant]e names are of one mind!). And I'd be interested to learn more of your thoughts on the experience/process of creative writing in general.
I'm also nosy about your tattoos--in general, but specifically the Frances the Badger (<3) one fleetingly mentioned in your eras tour issue.
Good luck with the colliding deadlines! I look forward to reading the things when they come out!
What is your grad school experience! How are you liking it? Maybe I should write a little longer about school... I had such a positive time with it overall; I love to joke about it being a pain in the ass but I'd go back in a heartbeat.
Maybe a tattoo inventory is necessary.... I think I have well over 20 at this point, the Frances is a favorite though!!!!!
Oh, thanks for asking! A phd in obscure ancient literature, and I think the best way of describing my relationship with it would be to say that I am devoted to it, in that I love it and also in that grad school, and worrying about and around it, takes up far too much of my time, energy, thoughts, world, etc. Speaking of seeing representations of grad school everywhere, recently on a supposed afternoon away from work at the art institute I came across this painting that encapsulated some aspects of it: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/250762/melancholia
Is your tattoo of Frances eating bread and jam? Singing skeptically to her egg? Just being her iconic self?
omg love this painting and the dog... not sure I've ever seen this at the art institute! she's amazing!
& yes, bread and jam for Frances all the way... I always knew it was going to be a food one and that just felt like the best choice. you'd be surprised maybe that many people will sometimes think it's Bucky the UW mascot...
failing fran magazine
I'm sleepy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm watching Glee at my wife's behest...having a fun time despite my general distaste for show choirs. Gwenyth Paltrow is really charming on here! Any recollections from the heyday of Glee? Were you...a Gleek? *L forehead motion*
I would not go so far as to call myself an active Gleek but I definitely watched the first two seasons and I love bragging about the tenuous PHS connection in the years since it aired. It was kind of undeniable at the time of its initial airing and not like any other television programming... so it felt both risky and completely insane.... though I do mainly blame Glee and PHS show choir kids as my main reason for hating karaoke as an adult. I loved Gwyneth on there <3 I think I completely wore out my Glee Season 1 CD just listening to Lea Michele do Rain on my Parade over and over again. When I was studying abroad later in college, one of the girls I was s taying with was still watching the show (prob 2-3 seasons after I quit) and I made her catch me up... that thing REALLY went off the rails
Can we please get some sort of illustrative anecdote to connect to the ongoing bit about grad school? Like, you don’t have go too traumatic and I don’t want you to use up all the good material for the memoir you’ll write about it one day, but as a longtime fan of your work (and a deeply ambivalent holder of an MFA in Creative Writing) my curiosity has long been piqued. What happened?
omg I love this comment....... I promise I have no traumas from grad school! Really I had the time of my life there... met great people, did good writing, etc. It helped not to be at a hyper competitive program or a "push to publish" program which gave us all room to write and develop ideas. There were certainly minor dramas but nothing that left much lingering discomfort ...
The ongoing bit mostly comes down to the fact that prior to my going to grad school, I knew two people in my life who had gone for MFAs (both in poetry) and post-grad school, I have my set of grad school friends, but very few people in my life (1) have gone on to get an MFA. So for the time being I am the only one in my circle with this particular experience, and any time I see something that has anything do with higher ed or pursuing knowledge in a way that causes harm or any kind of intra-field competitiveness I immediately say "this is so grad school" because that culture of prevalent even if I wasn't taking part in it myself.
I think the most illustrative example I can give of the culture that I'm referring to is when one of my professors announced she was ending class early that day in order to commute into NYC to speak on a panel and I raised my hand and said "what are you speaking on?" and she said "excuse me?" and I said "what are you gonna be talking about on the panel?" and she blinked and said "I don't have to tell you that."
Marvelous story and thank you for the comprehensive answer to a question that has puzzled me for so long.
fran do u have a link to gormenghast and titus alone to purchase that benefits you