MFA Year 1 Wrap Up

Song: 6 Inch (Feat. The Weeknd) x Beyonce

I am really not doing well maintaining this blog at all. But if I can manage a post every two months with my hectic schedule, I feel like that will be just fine.

Year one is done! I somehow have successfully managed to teach an entire semester of first-year writing and fully participate and create in all (well, most) of  my classes. Since it's May, it's been nice to see so many of my friends and so many people I know succeeding and achieving, be it graduation or receiving awards or like me, completing another year of school.

This semester

Arts Criticism: I tested the waters writing in a new nonfiction form, which is that of the criticism kind. I wrote book reviews, conducted interviews/Q&As, and wrote cultural-critical hybrid pieces. This class really pushed my boundaries and even led me to getting a freelancing gig wit NewCity Lit (a Chicago publication), an interview with a Pulitzer Prize winner, an interview and acquaintanceship with a very cool, very smart poet/professor at the school, and challenged me to write short. For a class that I was no excited for in the beginning (not a big fan of book reviews, but they are necessary), it turned out to be my favorite class to attend by far due to the conversations and discussions about the field and genre and the success of my peers.

Workshop: Workshopping with a MacArthur genius is terrifying for the first five weeks, maybe 7 of the total 15. By the last two months though, we had him laughing every class and things weren't as stressful. Working on a single piece the entire class was new and it really taught me a lot about language, editing, and revising and how to perform those skills on my own work as well as I do for others. My essay (which was on breasts) certainly evolved over the course of the semester and ended up in a good place, so hopefully this summer, I'll have an opportunity to work on that and revise it further.

Lit: This class was a struggle. I'm not going to talk about it, in fact, that's how irritating it became. But, I challenged myself to write a paper on how Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart can be read as a womanist text due to the roles women play throughout the novel, which is an argument that was very difficult to make and to believe in, but somehow I did it. It was a rookie move to write a paper on a book I really liked though. Still waiting on that grade.

Recent Publications:

• Mario Walks In on Peach and Bowser - a (flash?) fiction/poem-y thing I wrote in undergrad, which was recently published in the 10th issue of FREEZERAY Poetry.
• Book Review on Mary Kubica's Don't You Cry - another NewCity Lit byline

• ...and several forthcoming pieces that I'll reveal as they're published.

This was a really good semester and a really strong year for me. I got all of the nonfiction courses I wanted, so my work production should be really pumping next year. I really can't believe that I'm 1/3 of the way done with this program. So what are my summer plans...?

• Find a job (necessary, working on it)
• Write an essay a week (which will come out to about 17 essays this summer)
• Hopefully knock out a few more publications
• Take new head shots/photos
• 2 workshops a month (different group of people, still producing work)
• Read all (or at least half) of the books that I have collected and bought over the past year and a half.
• Figure out and possibly fully plot out my thesis ideas and get started on that terrifying task.

Cheers!
 

**Squeeze**

Song: Non-stop x Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton

I've noticed that this has become a pattern. I'm steady blogging at the beginning of a semester and then about week two I am thrown into the chaos of academia and the literary/creative writing communities and I become a hermit from everything including this blog. So, I apologize for anyone who might check or read this, though I don't know who you are.

So I'm going to squeeze in a post as I watch Selma, let my nails dry, and ignore the work that I should be doing, which includes a brand new 10-15 page essay, revisions, reading 3 books, and grading papers. Also, I'm sick...due to exhaustion...from last week. It's spring break, well, the last day of spring break. Anyways, what do I have to say:

Teaching is hard. Something I knew already, but am being reminded of as I teach first-year undergraduate students and try to make writing a paper interesting. For some it's working, for others, it's not.

I've begun this new habit of procrastinating where I write new essays instead of revising the essays that are steadily piling up in my documents/onedrive folders. BUT over this spring break, I have pushed the submit button a few times, so that's something to be proud of because I was certainly slacking in the submission and publication areas ever since I started in graduate school. *hold on, Selma just got very intense* So, I submitted to a few publications that interest me, and I also revised one of my essays from last semester, so I'm working on it. Hopefully during the summer, I'll have more of a mind towards revising my work instead of producing more as a way to ignore it.

**OH. BY THE WAY. IN THAT KANYE POST, THAT IS NOT FUTURE ON HIGHLIGHTS.

What else? Oh, the class list for next semester is mouthwatering. Hopefully I get all of the nonfiction classes that I want, if so, my work production (I assume) will sky rocket in the fall, just in time to apply for grants and scholarships.

I've been trying to work on my personal brand. I intend on creating a website that will have access to my portfolio, resume, and published works, as well as blog posts. What do people think about Tumblr as a platform for a professional portfolio? The circulation and audience options are great, but I feel like a lot of people look down on Tumblr due to the community (which is great, but not too professional) that it represents... Also business cards? I'm working on a design, but since I'm not the best drawer (is that a word?) I'm not sure I can really design a business card for myself. *How come no one told me how good Selma was, like I knew, but still...it is so good! I would have been a wreck if I saw this in theaters (which I was supposed to, but that's a bitter story I won't get into).*

I'm "looking" for a job because I can't continue to be unemployed over the summer, I will be bored out of my mind. I need need need need need need a job.

Got my first byline! Newcity lit, check it out here: http://lit.newcity.com/2016/03/18/cave-canem-fellow-puts-poetry-first-always/

Also (I know I'm late, but): obsessed with the Hamilton soundtrack. Lin-Manuel Miranda has done no wrong since he entered my life with the In The Heights soundtrack. So that's what I've been doing with my free-time, learning all the words and jamming out to Hamilton.

I don't know what else to tell you about my "adult" life. My writing professor questions quotation marks and also sentence fragments, but he's a genius, so I ask no questions. My friends are doing big things: graduating, law school, teaching, graduate school, parenting, etc. We're making it. Glad I could squeeze in this post.

Raw Thoughts on the Album Fomerly Known as "SWISH"

Song: Ultra Light Beam x Kanye West

At 2:53pm CST, I popped myself a bag of kettle corn and waited for the TIDAL livestream of YEEZY SEASON 3 to begin. As I wait for for the YeezyS3 livesteam to stop buffering and begin, I can only think of the negativity and ridiculousness that has surrounded my beloved Kanye as he's been working to promote his long-awaited, post-YEEZYS album. And so, I shall refer to this album: Life of Pablo as The Album Formerly Known as SWISH**. **(Formery known as SWISH and then formerly known as WAVES.)

Until about 3:30pm, it was just a live feed of people walking into Madison Square Garden, some fog and spotlights, and covered platforms billowing.

3:23pm: The covered platforms seem to be moving as if by a strong breeze within the stadium. The whole thing seems to be an ominous overproduction right now.

3:35pm: Applause - a lot of applause. Half of my popcorn is already gone, but I still cheer from my living room couch at the arrival of North West and Kim Kardashian West and the rest of the Kardashian/Jenner family into the arena. Kanye enters in a red shirt and black baseball cap with Lamar Odom.

3:39pm: Kanye speaks. And I love this man's voice because it's so nerdy, so opposite his ego. He begins with Ultra Light Beam. A slow, soulful Kanye begins to sing. At one point: "pray for Paris, pray for parents". A CHOIR. ALL I CAN SAY TO THIS IS YAS AND S/O TO THE SOLOIST. Secondly, Kanye hit some high notes and I honestly loved it. Thirdly, CHANCE THE RAPPER. FIRE. THIS ENTIRE TRACK IS FIRE.

(until this moment, I had feelings that this album would not be fantastic, that this album would not be the GOAT, and that he would even delay the album after three-title changes, and several track list changes, ultimately ending in a track list that did not seem to be 100% set.)

Track 2: Future? Autotune. Yes it is Future. My screen was frozen and now I realize that the models have arrived or possibly been uncovered and are standing upon the previously covered platforms. The models are wonderfully diverse, I can't actually believe it but I love it and they are all beautiful. They are all also very tall, skinny, and leggy. The YEEZY fashion color scheme has changed and the nude color scheme now includes oranges and maroons. A shot of the crowd/Kanye's entourage: they're all getting it to the beat, intense head bobbing and toe-bouncing.

Track 3: Oh shit, what an intro! The name "Pablo" has finally surfaced. Kanye and his entourage continue to get it to his own album, something that Sia once referred to as "masturbatory listening," I notice that the models have no body fat whatsoever. I definitely mess with this song because it's great, it's wonderful, it's glorious in all it's Kanye-ness. More models in black show up, they actually walk around the platform - one model looks familiar, I find out afterwards that this was indeed Naomi Campbell. Of course it is. Kanye refers to himself as Oprah and says, "You get a fur, you get a fur, you get a fur!" The entire Kardashian/Jenner family is covered in furs, so it must be true?

Track 4: RIHANNA BISH WHET? Yes, the voice of Rihanna peals in my ears just like if I were still listening to ANTI but instead it's on the album formerly known as SWISH and I reminisce to All of the Lights and that Kanye/Rihanna collaboration. In this reverie, Kanye says: "me and taylor might still have sex...i made her famous." W H A T. I note to the side, should Kanye be allowed to make another experimental album?

Track 5: These beats are fire and this album is very religiously driven. Things Kanye says: "I bet me and ray J would be friends if we didn't love the same b****" and "we [the Kardashian/Jenner/Kardashian West/West famliy] the new Jacksons" and "blac chyna f*****g rob helped him with the weight." I am left to think: who does this man think he is?

Track 6: Haunting beat, it makes me think that Drake is going to show up, but of course he isn't. I don't even want to discuss this song because it is essentially an I'm In It (circa YEEZUS) part 2. Instead, I wonder if the models like the music as they stand there.

(What I think is) Track 7: A Kanye freestyle! Yes! "I love you like Kanye loves Kanye"

(What I think is) Track 8: A thoughtful song - intuitive. "Revealing the layers to my soul" and the beat picks up and I am in love with the hook and need to know who is singing it. Yes, it's Abel aka The Weeknd and he croons, "wish I would go ahead and f*** my life up" and I'm enamored. I notice some of the models are now sitting.

(What I think is) Track 9: Real Friends. We all already know that this song is great. It only leads me to question why Kanye removed No More Parties in LA/Kendrick Lamar from his album. Why? Who does that?

Track 10: WOLVES. This is why I'm watching, this is what I've been waiting for because I haven't heard Wolves since Kanye performed the song during SNL while lying down underneath a low white platform with wild looking contacts in his eyes. IT'S STILL GOOD.

Afterthoughts: Yes, this album is very good and very different. No, it is not College Dropout or MBDTF. But it is also not YEEZUS. Lol at Kanye's "nerd in the back of the classroom" voice. Kanye plays his Jumpman (Remix) to get the already hype crowd even more hype. He refers to Kim constantly as "my wife." He asks the family to stand, to show off their outfits which were custom-made 2 weeks ago. The crowd begins screaming "f*** Michael Jordan!" and Kanye stops them and tells them to respect Michael Jordan. Clearly, Kanye is trying to make good with Michael Jordan after he declined his invitation to YEEZY Season 3. This makes me wonder if Kanye will also redact his offensive, Bill Cosby statement... There is an encore (he plays FADE). But still, no No More Parties... A miniature freak out a little North West judging "Aunt Koko" for dancing. Young Thug previews a new song. One model is shown nodding his head to the new Young Thug. Seems like no one knows how to use the aux cord as they begin passing it around to different artists to play songs on their phones. Kanye states that "this is a gospel album." Kanye says that he can just keep playing music and they can make it a party until curfew. He also previews a video game that he created based on his mother (RIP) traveling through the gates of heaven. The graphics are fantastic. The game is called Only One: The Game. It's beautiful.

My livestream freezes.

I'll have to listen to it again of course, but on first tastes, I definitely love most of this album already.

(these links all lead to Kanye's infamous twitter account)

Two Weeks Down

Song: Ten Thousand Hours x Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

It's official. We're two weeks in and this semester is going to prove to me that grad school is not the breeze that last semester let me think it was. For starters: teaching while also taking three classes is no joke. I have to make sure I have 80 minutes worth of material for my students to discuss, while also making sure that I've completed all of my work for my classes. AND for funsies, I teach at 10:30am on T/TH which is 11.5-12 hours after I've finally gotten home from class the night before.

BUT it's not all bad. My book lists for all my classes are awesome, for one. They are so good that reading two to three books every week might actually be manageable because I'm enjoying it. I just finished (re)reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and that book is still the bomb, even more so as an adult, I think because, of course, there are a lot of things I didn't catch as a fifteen-year-old. Sunday night, I'll be beginning Notes on No Man's Land by Eula Biss. I'll update you on that once I finish (so by Wednesday).

What am I taking? (1) Postcolonial Writing and the Nation - a literature course. (2) Nonfiction Workshop - of course. (3) Arts Criticism - a form and theory class focusing on critiquing all forms of art through writing. Thirteen books, countless supplementary readings, one paper, one essay, one book review, one Q&A, one personal-critical hybrid essay, and a final project in arts criticism. It'll be fine. With the exception that the topic of my essay is Breasts and I have too much material and things to discuss to fit within my restrictions (20 pages, 4,500 words), so now I have to figure out how to fix all of that, write a beautiful essay and revise it twice by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I've been off my submission game, so I need to revise everything I wrote last semester and send it out to places for potential publication by May because most submission periods end around then. Also because I'm trying to set up a cycle of revising old pieces and some things just can't be revised anymore and it hurts. Where to submit, where to submit? The best part of this problem is that my creativity has replenished and I have more ideas than I can get down on paper because the semester began and the increase in stress makes me more creative.

I'm sure I can handle all of this...now, if only I could learn how to read unbothered on the train like a real Chicagoan...

PSA: "I'm Going to Give Them the Dirty Truth"

OH! I also did an interview over break for my friend, Rukmini, on truth, nonfiction, and poetry, which are big topics in the world of creative writing nonfiction, so you should check it out! She's an amazing writer and I was so glad she asked me for an interview.

CLICK THIS: http://www.floodmarkpoetry.com/2016/01/interview-with-negesti-kaudo.html

Enjoy!

New Semester, Who Dis?

Song: Losers x The Weeknd (Feat. Labrinth)

The stack of books on my storage bench was not successfully read nor did it get smaller of winter break/January term. I'm not so sad - I've been doing things, but also, I'll have all summer to just read and write, so I can look forward to that.

Anyways, I've been MIA. I was in Ohio...working. And after shortly extending my stay in Ohio, I returned to Chicago and didn't leave my house for 5 days. It was a full-on hermit move and I hadn't even realized. The only reason I left was for Writer's Bootcamp and the 6 hours of forced writing jump started all of my creative juices again. I revised  some of the smaller pieces I've been working on for submissions and sent those pieces out to my wonderful writing friends from undergrad (shout-out to you guys for wanting to read my work!).

Since then, I've just been prepping for the upcoming semester. Nonfiction Workshop (really, that's what I'm most excited for, of course), Post-Colonial lit (YAS), and Arts Criticism (this could be fun...?) are the courses I'm taking as a venture into this second semester of grad school. Alongside these three courses, I'll also be teaching undergraduate writing! Not so terrifying, but more exhausting in that I've been making a Moodle page for two days, working on a syllabus for months, assignment guidelines for months/weeks, and I won't be finished with all of this until the semester is over. But I love to teach, so how bad could it be (a lot of people have said it's BAD)? Honestly, I feel like I've set my students up for a semester that is...just right. And hopefully, the first day, I can establish the classroom environment that is strong, but flexible and we can all have a good semester. They want to pass and I'd like to teach again, you know?

Moving on...I have old work (my workshop pieces) that desperately need to be revised for submissions and I think it's been long enough since I last looked at and thought about them, so it's almost time. When the semester starts, I'll dust them off and begin revising them. Nothing better than an unhealthy level of stress to motivate me! Maybe I'll get a coloring book too, just for when I push myself too close to the edge.

I've been working on writing the letter-essay and it's difficult AF because how does one write a letter to someone that can be fully and correctly interpreted by the reader? Also the micro-essay because writing short is a skill that I want to learn just so I can twist it into my own contraption. There are a lot of projects I'd like to begin working on this semester and a lot of pieces I'd like to complete. Here's to it all going well.