Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Adam Nunez Joins the MFA Blog


Hello there from Albuquerque!

First of all, thank you so much to Tom for giving me the chance to contribute to the discussion. I look forward to the cool conversations this blog offers, and like my fellow bloggers, I'm happy to help with anything!

I was on MFA Blog last year looking for advice and a community when I applied to 14 programs. It was an expensive and exhausting process, but in the end, totally life-changing. Currently, I'm in the MFA program at the University of New Mexico, and I'm loving every second! Teaching undergraduate English and writing lots and lots of poetry keeps me busy, but Abq offers a lot to do. Much of my time I spend seeing the sights.

In August, my longtime girlfriend Emily moved with me from Boise, Idaho to the Land of Enchantment. We miss the Northwest, but Abq reminds us so much of Boise--the mountains to the east, the high desert, the ease of fitting in, and the warmth of the community.

Though I look forward to giving any advice I can, I might relate most to younger MFA applicants. I graduated in June from a small liberal arts college outside of Boise, and spent fall of my senior year applying to programs while still handling a full-time course load. I say if you want to do it now, do it now. I knew I wanted to go straight into an MFA program. I couldn't see myself doing anything else, and at this point, I'm completely happy.

Lastly, my poems have appeared in LUMINA, Scribendi, and last year a poem of mine placed second in The Atlantic magazine's Student Writing Contest. I'm an editor at Blue Mesa Review and we're always looking for new submissions in all genres.

Thanks for having me. I'll be posting!

12 comments:

Sheila Lamb said...

Hi Adam - welcome!

AbqPoet said...

Hi Sheila! Thank you for the welcome. I look forward to posting with you!

WanderingTree (Sequoia N.) said...

Look forward to blogging w/ you, Adam.

AbqPoet said...

And I you!

Adam Atkinson said...

Yeah, Adams takin over, yeah!

Unknown said...

How did you land teaching undergrad English right off the bat? Is that typical or did you have special qualifications? I'm 23 with a BFA in Dramatic Writing, and a minor in English, taking a first look into this MFA world.

AbqPoet said...

Adam-- Yes!

Michael--I'd done three years of tutoring at my school, and a couple of my profs let me teach a class or two a couple of times. Though this latter experience was small, it gave me enormous insight into teaching and preparing for class. For UNM's application, I had to write a separate essay on my teaching philosophy and style. I'd also had a lot of work and internship experience.

I'd suggest any work experience or volunteering having to do with education. :)

Others should comment on this. I'm not sure if age matters. I would say it's experience that matters most. The average age of the TAs in my cohort here I think is around 28 and each had some prior educational experience with jobs or while still in school.

Unknown said...

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red winged jacks bird said...

hey there I'm in Albuquerque right now, visiting some friends, and was planning to stop by UNM tomorrow to try to find out more about the MFA program here. I've been drawn to New Mexico for a long time, and am very interested in teaching - not just writing - so the program here has a lot of appeal. When I was hunting the internet for more info, I eventually stumbled across your post. I was excited to see that you are loving it, and teaching already. I would love to ask you some questions about the program here if it's ok (or even take you out to coffee if you're around!). Oh, and if you wanna know any more about who the hell I am, I'm a poet and artist named Jacks, you can see some of my stuff online at http://redwingedjacksbird.net and http://inbetweenlandpages.blogspot.com/

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