Marginalia, Graduate Blog

Hall Chat: Oh My, Is this Really Summer? Is it Finally Here?

by Jenn Tatum-Cotamagana

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Hall Chat: Summer Sun has Just Begun

Hall Chat: Summer Sun has Just Begun

I can’t believe that I didn’t wake up and go to class this morning. I didn’t teach. I didn’t work. I didn’t crack open a book or have to write a fourteen-page essay. I haven’t been carrying around a book-bag all day, and I don’t have to prep for tomorrow’s in-class discussion with my students. I don’t have anything that I have to be doing. This is real weird.

Hall Chat: Oh My, Is this Really Summer? Is it Finally Here?

I can’t believe that I didn’t wake up and go to class this morning. I didn’t teach. I didn’t work. I didn’t crack open a book or have to write …

Creative Writing - Nonfiction MFA Jenn Tatum-Cotamagana, nonfiction.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

The Great Summer Begins

by Brian Miles

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My Obsession

My Obsession

The summer between the first and second year of an MFA program feels important. It feels like growth is supposed to happen; you’ve been working to grow so much as an artist in terms of trying new techniques, and then in the summer you really work to get a ton of work down and start to harvest some fruit from the stuff you’ve been trying. Or at least that’s how I’m looking at it. Maybe I’m alone there.

It’s also an adventure in terms of figuring out what to do with yourself. Money, of course, is important, as is job experience, which can help you get employed once the graduate program is over. Sometimes people forget that, but you shouldn’t.

At any rate, the question “what are you doing this summer” has been popping up a lot lately.

The Great Summer Begins

The summer between the first and second year of an MFA program feels important. It feels like growth is supposed to happen; you’ve been working to grow so much as …

Creative Writing - Poetry MFA Brian Miles, poetry.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

Bowtie with Sneakers: Graduation Day

by Mike St. John

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The lights

The lights

Here we are, Prospective Student — the last stage of the graduate experience. The MFA class of 2012 gathered with friends, family, and loved ones to the historic Chicago Theater to receive our hoods, diplomas, and freedom. It was a long three years to get to this spot, but the ceremony rolled on sweet, light, and with plenty of music. 

Bowtie with Sneakers: Graduation Day

Here we are, Prospective Student — the last stage of the graduate experience. The MFA class of 2012 gathered with friends, family, and loved ones to the historic Chicago Theater …

Interdisciplinary Arts & Media MFA Mike St. John, arts.media.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

Completion

by Dan Mollison

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What the Creative Producers get to look forward to! (Photo Credit: psula.org)

What the Creative Producers get to look forward to! (Photo Credit: psula.org)

The end of the spring semester is upon us, and in just a short time, the first ever Creative Producing cohort will have successfully completed the first year of our program.

It’s amazing to consider how far we’ve come since that first day of Boot Camp last August.  Since then, we’ve been dumped head first into the world of producing, and while we still have much to learn, in the past year all of us have grown into producers that have a much keener understanding of storytelling and how to put projects together.

As the Creative Producing MFA is a two-year program, we have now made it halfway through our Columbia experience.  Our classes have been steeping us in knowledge for the past year.  As we continue at Columbia, we have much more to look forward to, including many more opportunities to practice our craft.

Completion

The end of the spring semester is upon us, and in just a short time, the first ever Creative Producing cohort will have successfully completed the first year of our …

Film & Video - Creative Producing MFA Dan Mollison, producing.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

It’s Book Time

by Evan Baden

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The two finished copies

For this week’s installment of what it’s like to be in graduate school, I will be sharing a project that I have been working non-stop on for the past three weeks. While there are a number of graduate courses to take here, every now and then we find ourselves taking an undergrad level class in something that we want to learn more about. There are usually extra projects that the grad students have to do in order for the class to qualify for graduate credits. 

It’s Book Time

For this week’s installment of what it’s like to be in graduate school, I will be sharing a project that I have been working non-stop on for the past three …

Photography MFA Evan Baden, photo.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

In Anticipation of Summer

by Hannah King

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The waiting beach in Two Rivers, WI.

So, I feel a little bad about my posts of late. I usually really want to highlight specific events in addition to the day-to-day stuff. But, honestly, there’s been so much going on that I’ve been having a hard time whittling it down into succinct posts. This one isn’t going to be different. I’m going to talk today about how excited I am about the summer.

In Anticipation of Summer

So, I feel a little bad about my posts of late. I usually really want to highlight specific events in addition to the day-to-day stuff. But, honestly, there’s been so …

Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts MFA Hannah King, book.paper.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

Hall Chat: MFA Student Spotlight: Maddison Hamil

by Jenn Tatum-Cotamagana

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Hall Chat: MFA Candidate Maddison Hamil

Hall Chat: MFA Candidate Maddison Hamil

Maddison Hamil is a first-year MFA candidate in the Nonfiction program at Columbia. I have had the opportunity to work with Maddison curating the 33 Reading Series, the English Department’s student-run Poetry and Nonfiction series. I haven’t had the chance to have a class with Maddison yet, but she observed my Writing & Rhetoric I class last spring, and she and I have had several conversations throughout the semester about our teaching styles, assignments, and about workshop. I’ve enjoyed getting to know her and think she is an amazing example of an MFA student who does it all. Maddison took four classes this spring, has a part-time job, is a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) and, as I said before helps curate the 33 Reading Series. On top of that, she’s an amazingly creative cook, enjoys decorating, and manages to find time to keep a blog, one that is visually stunning and one that I find myself procrastinating on school work in order to read each week. For more information about Maddison and to see her blog, visit Waiting for Sunday. I asked Maddison a few questions to see how her first year has been shaping up and to get to know a little bit more about her:

Hall Chat: MFA Student Spotlight: Maddison Hamil

Maddison Hamil is a first-year MFA candidate in the Nonfiction program at Columbia. I have had the opportunity to work with Maddison curating the 33 Reading Series, the English Department’s …

Creative Writing - Nonfiction MFA Jenn Tatum-Cotamagana, nonfiction.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

Sam McPheeters Reads at Columbia College Chicago

by Chris Terry

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YouTube Preview Image

On April 12, I was glad to bring Sam McPheeters in to Columbia College Chicago Multicultural Affairs to read from his debut novel, The Loom of Ruin.

Sam McPheeters Reads at Columbia College Chicago

On April 12, I was glad to bring Sam McPheeters in to Columbia College Chicago Multicultural Affairs to read from his debut novel, The Loom of Ruin.

Creative Writing - Fiction MFA Chris Terry, fiction.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

Flip Flops in the Windy City: Recording @ Hinge Studios

by Mason Kaye

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We recently had the opportunity to record at Hinge Studios.  It went very, very well.  I have both audio and video to share, and some cool stories…

I-Hung Hsu, Cooper Rich, Chris Beckstrom, Jon Bennan (photo credit Jeremy Dop)

Flip Flops in the Windy City: Recording @ Hinge Studios

We recently had the opportunity to record at Hinge Studios.  It went very, very well.  I have both audio and video to share, and some cool stories…

Music Composition for the Screen MFA Mason Kaye, music.comp.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

The Torch Has Been Passed

by Brian Miles

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Hurrah

Hurrah

I feel like a second year now. I mean, pretty much. As I write this, I am in the last week of classes, having just watched the second years do a farewell reading at The Beauty Bar in Noble Square. They each read four poems, and now that that is done, it’s pretty much just Manifest, graduation, and the rest of their lives.

Once the thesis was in, though, it seemed that most of them were pretty much ready to have their MFA and get on with it, even if “it” is still fairly uncertain (which is OK and true for most of the graduates I believe). Between that and my limited interactions with some of the incoming class (about whom I am very excited!) it just feels like I’ve stepped up to the senior class already. I’m already an editor for Columbia Poetry Review!

The Torch Has Been Passed

I feel like a second year now. I mean, pretty much. As I write this, I am in the last week of classes, having just watched the second years do …

Creative Writing - Poetry MFA Brian Miles, poetry.mfa@colum.edu
600 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605

The Graduate Experience

Michelle Graves (Photo Credit: Ahmad Hamad)
Michelle Graves (Photo Credit: Ahmad Hamad)
Infinite Reps (Photo Credit: Ahmad Hamad)
Infinite Reps (Photo Credit: Ahmad Hamad)
The Crowd. The Art. Everything. (Photo Credit: Ahmad Hamad)
The Crowd. The Art. Everything. (Photo Credit: Ahmad Hamad)
Art Education MAT, Sarah McHugh
Art Education MAT, Sarah McHugh
Painted buildings.
Painted buildings.
Honeycombs
Honeycombs