fuck an mfa

on tár and the ethics of teaching art to artists

I got an MFA over ten years ago and I’m still fucking pissed off about it.

Simply stated, my MFA program was abusive and cruel. It was damaging to the people who attended it. There was no oversight and if students complained to the administration, they were dismissed. This was a top ten MFA program in the country. I want to make a podcast that digs into what went down there and includes the voices of my cohort, but for now, I’ll tell you about my first workshop.

The story up for consideration was by a second year who I’d been told was the professor’s favorite. The story was impressive. Sure, we had notes—that was the work of workshop, notes. But the story was accomplished and would go on to be published by the New Yorker. Our professor opened the discussion. I was twenty-eight years old and filled with big dreams about what kind of …