Clarion East Moving to San Diego = Not Something To Happy Dance About

Tossing this here so I can find it easily when Big Mouth returns.

And I second the Sarah G. rocks kudos.

Bummer.

Returned many hours later to drop a bit of clarifying rambles.

It is no secret that for a long time UCSD has wanted to build an MFA writing program stout enough to go against the high profile MFA writing programs located in those counties north of them which produce  high profile, award winning, media attention-landing marvels. If the MFA writing program dreams of UCSD were a secret, that's news to me and I'm not immersed in academic circles.

What I did see on the post linked above was a board member talking about how the move means the students will be able to stay in air conditioned rooms, will be close to the beach and entertainment and will have good public transportation to take them to the beach and entertainment.

I had no idea those were priorities for Clarion. Wish I had known that before last year's auction.

Oh, and cross country flights are cheap! "For most students it wouldn't be a problem." Wow. Either Walter Jon Williams has forgotten what it's like to be in a position where you're not sure where payment for the light bill is coming from this month, let alone covering rent/housenote and such while away for six weeks, or this is another example of the real-world socioeconomic myopia that is rather present within the ranks of the genre folks. There's a reason at least one person I know of drove from Florida to Michigan because there was quite simply no money available to fly.

What I did not see in the press release is any indication of what will happen after the five years are up. I see a few points to be deeply concerned about, knowing UCSD's desire to build a killer MFA writing program. I'd like to take the release at its word that during those five years UCSD the workshop will be left alone. But the "scholarships will be competitive" raises a flag. Is UCSD helping to supplement those scholarships during this hands-off period, shifting funds in-demand for use within the university to support an outside program? If so, that means the university has made an investment that doesn't *quite* conform to the definition of "hands off".  Another flag, UCSD will house and preserve the Clarion archives. So there's another investment UCSD is making on top of workshop infrastructure costs (administrative, student housing, perhaps use of an intern or two hijacked from the English department, all that air conditioning, and so forth). There's nothing in the release to indicate if UCSD will release those archives when the five year sunset hits, should Clarion decide to move elsewhere.

Thing is, there's no such thing as a free ride.

Hand Clarion to USCD. Let it provide the infrastructure . Give it the archives. Let it  (possibly) provide financial support to Clarion students. Let it spend its money and in-kind resources on this autonomous program. Give it the Clarion name/cachet, whatever that's worth. All the while, UCSD has the reputation and history of a nifty quirky scifi writing workshop thing to point to while it's building its MFA writing program.

And then the five years are up. does Clarion walk? If it does, does UCSD, in this era where all California institutions of learning are struggling for funds, smile and wave goodbye without a single concern for recouping all it has invested? What if, come year six, Clarion looks around at its nice, cushy setup and decide that the academic life ain't such a bad one?  At that point, does UCSD drop the other shoe and explain that staying means formally joining with the MFA program in some way? Or does it say -- after all that investment -- done using you, now, you can go?

Didn't MSU pretty much kick the workshop to the curb because at the core officials there felt it wasn't recouping the cost to keep it? With California's budget in crisis and every single public education outlet scrambling for funds, you think UCSD Which Really Wants An MFA Writing Program is going to give and give and give without a care for getting back? Even the Godfather always "asked" for a favor, and he might wait years before telling you what that favor entailed.

Aside from that, here's why this move bothers this Clarion graduate. MFA programs tend not to accept are walk ons. MFA programs are for people who want MFAs, people who are of the academic life (which ain't easy on the pocketbook, emotions or life balance stuff, by the way), people who have made a massive life and financial commitment to get that piece of paper which they hope down the road will be their magic ticket to grants and appointments and think tanks and whatever other stuff they can't get to without that degree.

I wonder how many people wouldn't even *think* of going to Clarion if it were sucked into an MFA machine? Line Clarion up with an MFA/academia life and you've immediately eliminated a lot of potential participants. There's a huge difference between figuring out a way to pull off six weeks and having the desire, let alone the resources, to pull off a years-long MFA.

What the board has decided to do is take an independent program with a fairly democratic admissions process, move it across the country a few states below an existing Clarion, and hand it over to a university known to be on the hunt to create a program that can bring it the pretty glitter just like the ones a few counties to the north. Meanwhile, so sorry for all of you people in the midwest and east. Thank god flights are cheap these days, huh?

For the record, there are tons of writers whose careers have proven that one doesn't need a Clarion-type program to learn the basics, discover confidence and set out in pursuit of a career meeting whatever definition of success that writer has in mind.

There are also quite a few genre writers who are naked in their envy of how fewer hoops a non-genre writer has to jump through to get academic respect. They find ways to "cover" their identity and work as being of genre, they swap information on which of MFA academic writing programs are "genre friendly." Frankly, I think those people need to find something else to write. This type of writer would *love* for Clarion to turn MFA.

The idea that Clarion could possibly be morphed into an academic bubble  makes me ill. Goodbye blue collar walk-ons with a loan or two to cover the workshop and the bills back home, an unpaid leave of absence from work, their own or a borrowed laptop (or yes, this happens, a TYPEWRITER), and a vague mass of ideas lacking plot stuffed their heads. Hello MFA academia, where potentially talented walk-ons are not allowed.

None of what I'm rambling about might happen, but you have to be far less cynical than I to not see the groundwork already being laid. I can actually visualize the post-UCSD MFA Program !!!Now With More Clarion !!! press release announcing this Exciting New Opportunity.

I guess there's nothing to do but wait and see what happens come year six.