Jason Venner, MFA

Jay just defended his thesis. Go congratulate him!

Updates

The Fall issue of Wicked Alice is up! Go check it out. I think I went to high school with this contributor. Weird, huh? I thought I was the only poet from Cloverleaf. And somehow we both end up in the same issue of the same journal.

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My thesis defense went super well, except for the part where I tried to explain my prose poems and started rambling like a moron. Oh well. Other than that, we talked about revision, my advice for other MFA poets (don't wait for your committee to ask to see your ms, don't start your ms in the first semester b/c you'll hate it by the end, and figure out who gives good comments and ignore all the rest), and whether f**k or screw is the right word to use (in a particular poem). Of course, Mom would say screw, but I think I have to go with the other. The worst part? Trying not to look at Mary because every time I did, I wanted to cry. I can't believe I'm leaving the NEOMFA. Why can't I just stay forever?

Oh, and the ms title. It started out as Hammers and Whiskey, changed to In the Weeds, but we've decided neither is right. What am I gonna call this thing?

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Winter Wheat was also awesome, although more for the company than the actual conference, which seems to get smaller every year. I decided not to bring my camera, though, so you'll have to wait for Mary and Adam to post their pictures of the ghost town that BGSU's student union was yesterday.

There was some interesting conversation in our panel on the nature of the workshop...unfortunately, I don't think we solved anything, but definitely got some ideas. One thing that everyone seemed to think was worthwhile: typing one page worth of analysis/suggestions (which should be turned in to the instructor and the writer) instead of just jotting down annotations on the page.

Mary and I didn't get to dance very much last night, partially because we were totally beat, partially because the dj just wasn't playin' the right stuff. If only he'd played this:



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Time to start grading. Now that my thesis defense is over, I have no more excuses for not being on top of things.

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P.S. Thanks everyone for the good luck and congratualtions!