What is so remarkable about writing
is that it

reminds you of what it means to be human.

And I don't think we should lose that.

The MFA program at USF

takes a writer at any stage
and helps them get

far beyond
where they think they can be as a writer.

I think the faculty represents

so many different realms of writing
and so many different lived experiences.

And so there's just a lot of versatility
in terms of understanding

what writing can look like

coming from our faculty,
which I really enjoyed.

This university in general

is ranked number one
in the entire United States for diversity.

This program really exposes you
to a lot of different kinds of writing,

a lot of different kinds
of experimentation,

a lot of different kinds
of success and failure.

So that when you get the words
on the page, they're yours.

The easiest way
for me to define a scene in my own

writing would be like present tense,
like a dialog and a dialog is an action.

And a dialog is an action...

You know, it's like people talking.

It's one thing that you do
and then like detail and description.

A person who does this

program leaves in a different spot
than they started out.

You not only grow as a writer
in your own creative practice,

you learn from other people.

You become invested in their work.

San Francisco enriches the,

the MFA experience, just from the variety
of writers, the variety of experiences.

There's a huge literary community
in the Bay area.

The underbelly of the city is the arts.

In San Francisco,
there's not just permission

to be creative, it's expected of you.

If you are not fulfilled creatively,

it becomes very hard to fulfill
any other aspect of your life.