tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post3444611947178860744..comments2024-03-27T07:14:36.800-04:00Comments on <b>Dawn Potter</b>: Writing and Success: A RantDawn Potterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07500960150846895633noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-44329930994783159862015-09-22T12:21:55.553-04:002015-09-22T12:21:55.553-04:00I agree with you about the corporatization, Thomas...I agree with you about the corporatization, Thomas; yet as soon as I say so, I'm liable to hear from someone in an MFA program who believes that I am dissing her choice and their joy. I don't know how to say this any more clearly: I love teachers and I love students and I love literature. Some people find that joy in a formal program; others do not. The wonderful thing is that there are multiple ways to find joy. The terrible thing is the marketing of success.Dawn Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07500960150846895633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-62183094517827450572015-09-21T10:36:52.636-04:002015-09-21T10:36:52.636-04:00The problem results from the increasing corporatiz...The problem results from the increasing corporatization of universities and colleges, which in their struggle to compete with one another need to tout their success. MFAs are a perfect example of this: they are money-making operations for universities and have spread all over. How to attract the dollars of these students? Show them the "successful" track record. It's a vicious cycle that has nothing to do with actual merit. The dark side of being independent of that three ring circus is that it is all to easy to let the static from the hum of the "poetry biz" infect your own sense of merit and worth. It simply isn't so. It's no accident, Dawn, that you are constantly drawn to the poets of the past: they are the ones who have stood the test of time not because of their credentials but because of their worth to the readers who have come after them. That's your lineage; those are whom you stand amongst.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00728833912774550205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540771071400993487.post-65088552475902980002015-09-20T14:44:38.523-04:002015-09-20T14:44:38.523-04:00Alice Munro has no graduate degrees of any kind (t...Alice Munro has no graduate degrees of any kind (that I'm aware of, anyway, unless they're honorary), and yet earned a Nobel. (And even the Nobel has plenty of winners almost no one knows or has heard of again.) You are right--it/they are not the point. "Ne desesperez pas."David (n of 49)noreply@blogger.com