MFA Complete

I know I haven't written for a while. That would mostly be because I was concentrating on the show, the defense, and the culminating document. All of that is completed, now. I finished the remaining requirements and as of December 6th I am officially a Brooks MFA graduate.

The ceremony itself was held on December 21st and my immediate family and some professors were there to celebrate. There was a small snafu with the actual hooding process as Dr. Anderson had trouble getting my hood to open and accusingly uttered "Did you sew it shut?" as he frantically tried to pull the edges apart, but aside from that the ceremony went off without a hitch.

Now the real work begins. I have been applying to jobs and seeking out opportunities since April of last year, but in many senses I have given myself leeway for not having found work because I was still "in school" despite the fact that classes themselves stopped meeting in August. Now, though, I have to find a job to stay alive, to keep our house, to pay my debt. And I'm not sure where art fits into that picture. I'm worried at this point that it can't but at the same time trying to continue supporting myself and building my resume with jobs that have enough flexibility that the art can still exist - writing, freelancing, shooting weddings - even though the impetus for the art seems distant somehow. I am trying to determine how to make all of this work without losing the thing I have sacrificed for these past four years. I'll keep you posted.

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