You know the rest. Well, if you listen to Run the Jewels you know the rest. And if you don’t listen to Run the Jewels, why not? Killer Mike scare you? You need some culture in your life, brah. Anywhatsit, it’s Monday. And I can’t for the life of me figure out my school schedule. I think I have only two days of classes left this semester, then finals next week. But since there are no finals in grad school, it just means I have to turn in about 489 pages of typed, double-spaced, original thoughts and that’s just as scary as a final.

This semester has been good, thanks for asking. In fact, when I first applied to a low-residency program I was a little nervous, though it fit best with my life right now, I was concerned about how this might work. Now that most colleges are sorta virtual now, it’s been nice to be at a school that has been doing this for years and they didn’t even bat an eye. Of course I didn’t get to actually go to Columbus, Mississippi this semester, which was a bummer especially because I have friends I wanted to finally meet in person, but there’s always next year, and probably knowing my grad school track record, there’s always the year after that too…

We did have a residency, which was actually the virtual Eudora Welty Symposium, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but trust, it was a lot. A lot of reading (four novels, one memoir, and several books of poetry) in preparation. Then there was the class which was great, albeit on Zoom, then there was three days of the Symposium, also on Zoom, while talking to people who have done the real thing (and it sounded so fun) and well, it was a bit depressing. But the thing is, I felt even more connected to those people when we were done. I told Jerimiah it was like going through boot camp and making it out the other side. You feel good about yourself, you have this group of people who know what you went through, and more importantly you are much more physically fit. That last part is a lie, obviously.

Aside from residency this has been a good semester. I worked on the staff of Ponder Review, which is our lit magazine (it goes to print next week!) and I learned a ton there. I took a Southern Fiction class that gave me nightmares, and I took both a workshop and a form class for creative nonfiction, and so far I have had one piece published from my workshop. I’m also judging a competition with CLMP over the holidays which will allow me to gain even more experience and, you know, add to my CV. So I think the semester went well, provided I can get this Flannery O’Connor research paper out on time. Flannery, I swear to God, you are getting on my last working nerve…

So sure, there are a couple of days left and I’m possibly hanging on by a loose thread, but as you can see it is a successful thread. I think. Right? Sure.

Be safe, y’all! Get those term paper in on time!

M.