This is me. This is me after presenting, after defending, after walking. I'm wearing a hood. I officially have a Master's degree.
It's nice. I feel refreshed (sometimes you really do need to set things aside for a month before you know how to fix them) and have a renewed sense of purpose. My work feels interesting again, and even important. That's why residency is great--people you admire give you hugs (literally and metaphorically) and tell you that they believe in you, and then you realize that you don't suck as much as you think you do.
I stocked up on books while I was in the states. These are the books, in case you (like me) get a vicarious thrill from stalking the bookshelves of people with good taste. I only wish there had been more time for me to buy comics. I read the first Lumberjanes on ComiXology, but I want m o r e.
In case you are wondering, Chandler's "The Simple Art of Murder" essay is awesome, and I am stoked to finally own it in print (with four "novelettes"--seriously, that's the word they use on the back cover-- to boot).
So, yep, I have an MFA now. I learned that residency is an impossible time to try to get people to podcast with you, but! I DID manage to convince Maisha--who was visiting during that time--to hang out with me for 20 minutes and chat in the presence of a microphone. She out-cools me by like 10 million degrees, so I am pretty excited to put that up on the apiary/audiodidact tumblr later this week.
Ok, back to writing. I'm doing some major revisions while I still feel fresh and inspired. Hopefully I can find a residency-esque way to keep my confidence up when it does, eventually, ebb. If I could carry my advisors around in my sweater pocket to cheer me on and give me hugs, I would. Nobody hugs like Pacific faculty.