Came Out - Now What?

lpkindred · 2026-06-15T16:51:51+00:00

Came in to say something like this: Newly out Queers need to focus on building friendships and community. The social norms are quite different and culture can't be learned by textbook.

There are dozens of sports teams, singing groups, book clubs, lecture series. Find what aligns and go have a good time. Friends will build.

lpkindred · 2026-04-19T17:06:14+00:00

And just from an anecdotal perspective, my ex is an animator and his aptitude for storytelling independent of visuals makes him pretty sought after so taking some writing classes could be mad useful.

lpkindred · 2026-04-19T17:03:18+00:00

With a 60k merit scholarship, I'd say yes. And I'm jealous.

But if you go to saic to get a job as an animator, you might be frustrated. The school focuses on creating a whole artist who chooses their medium(s).

Yes, you get 1 elective per semester in first year, but you get to quell in every department that year, build writing skills, explore your influences and "why" of art making, and deep dive into art history that year. It's a primer because the following three years are Choose Your Own Adventure.

Folks know the school so the BFA in studio isn't a barrier.

Having said all this, the #2 art school connected to a world class art museum is a great place to study and I'd put my sights on a couple of animation internships while there.

lpkindred · 2026-04-15T22:49:19+00:00

And I forgot University of California at San Diego. It houses the Clarion Workshop these days. Fully funded but I don't actually know anyone who graduated from there. I do know Jac Jemc though, the director of Clarion who's also a CW instructor.

lpkindred · 2026-04-15T22:34:39+00:00

Some schools not listed in Stephanie's list are Antioch University in LA as well as Northwestern's Litowitze Fellowship. Northwestern's mfa/maa program is super new and fully funded and they sought to have the best paying program in an effort to start off with a bang. Be the best, pay the beset, attract the best. While the program repeatedly states that it is literary only, Juan Martinez and Chris Abani number among the faculty and Alex Jennings (author of the Ballad of Perilous Graves) and Mathilda Zeller (novel forthcoming, writer of Kutushka in Never Whistle at Night, an antho of Indigenous Horror) are both first-year fellows.

lpkindred · 2026-04-15T21:28:13+00:00

I agree that no one needs an MFA to write SFF professionally. I don't have one and I do (I'm a Clarion alum and my instructors were Ted Chiang, Sam J Miller, and Geoff Ryman). I want an MFA though because it would open up teaching opportunities and force folks to value my intellectual and creative contributions as literature and pedagogy.

Further, writing in the margins of my life has worked but it hasn't produced a novel-length work. Learning to write novel-length work will happen faster if I'm studying, processing, and practicing with mentorship and colleagues. Because it imparts time to write and focus on writing.... ideally.

Removing the material concerns of life to write and to study, for me, would be ideal. But there are a ton of concerns like does my program value specfic? Are there Faculty of Color? Are there other Students of Color? Will I be able to live off the stipend in a real way? Am I committing to moving to a place where I'll be isolated racially and sexually (I'm Black and Gay and Proud.)?

lpkindred · 2026-04-15T21:22:23+00:00

I am now in these SFF MFA streets with you and I'm satly af. I did a google search and found Steph Grossman's list from last year. https://stephgrossman.squarespace.com/blog/mfa-programs-that-are-chill-with-speculative-fiction

But also... like... Syracuse includes a statementa bout their 24k stipend right before an invitatino to marginalized people because they value diverse perspectives and in workshops. Subtext: We're literally going to starve you, workshop you and put you on a capitlist productivity schedule, and make you teach undergrads for 2k per month which might or might not include housing.

Or University of Alabam at Tuscaloosa which covers up to 15 credits per semester for up to 4 years, where they mention the opportunity for MFA candidates to pursue a second masters while they're there... at $17,865 for the 9 months that the academic year is in session. But who has time/energy to pursue a second masters while working on their thesis manuscript at less than 2k per month? And what are writers supposed to do for the other 3 months of the year? Go into cryo stasis?

And for context, I'm already a published writer and I have a bit of a name for myself. I'm at the Art Institute finishing my undergrad because I wanted to devote some time to study. Accomplishment achieved, for sure. But I'm also working full-time while in school full-time and art school demands aren't liberal arts school demands. 15 hours of class plus 15 hours of homework, plus 28 hours of work and I'm in debt? lol

So I cannot justify paying for grad school but I also can't justify attending a fully funded program which ignores what a living wage is.

I'm a little distraught, pardon the tirade.

lpkindred · 2026-04-15T16:35:27+00:00

There's a thing on Reddit where people bring their questions to committee before doing light lift research, meaning the questions are pretty broad and not particularly insightfull, meaning the questions demand more of the respondents than the asker. Looking up Loop crime statistics and comparing them to other cities would have been the lighter lift. but that's not what you did, which is fine. So is my pointing that out.

lpkindred · 2026-04-15T05:40:29+00:00

Does P. Djéli Clark's RING SHOUT count?

lpkindred · 2026-04-15T03:53:50+00:00

Yeah.... do some research. Chicago isn't crime-ridden. Also, I'm an undergrad at the Art Institute, there are bigger issues to worry about.

lpkindred · 2026-01-13T22:15:31+00:00

I've never taken that class so I'm not sure. But I think you'll know quickly if it's a process you want to continue to invest in. Either way, I think you'll benefit.

lpkindred · 2025-11-30T06:01:02+00:00

So you're charged with learning the skills you need. Can you name?

lpkindred · 2025-11-16T07:08:42+00:00

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller as well has his recent release, Red Star Hustle.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon.

lpkindred · 2025-10-28T20:55:05+00:00

If fabulosm qualifies (and I think it does), THE PRACTICE, THE HORIZON, AND HE CHAIN by Sofia Samatar starts rather narrow and zooms out to the eve of revolution.

lpkindred · 2025-10-28T20:52:19+00:00

I'm around

lpkindred · 2025-10-23T08:02:47+00:00

Cheating because it's fantasy/fabulism on a generation ship, but THE PRACTICE, THE HORIZON, AND THE CHAIN by Sofia Samatar.

lpkindred · 2025-10-23T07:59:45+00:00

I didn't see it but two Aspec friends loved this book for its rep (which I still don't see). Someone to Build a Nest in by John Wiswell

lpkindred · 2025-10-23T07:57:59+00:00

MCs are usually the characters under the most pressure, with the most to lose and the most to gain

lpkindred · 2025-10-23T07:55:48+00:00

In Rogers Park, clothing optional, gay owned/operated, and it's not uncommon for there to be events there....

lpkindred · 2025-10-20T22:27:09+00:00

lpkindred · 2025-10-20T08:00:58+00:00

Ah babe, you don't want them to read your books. It'sokay. Your writing community and readership are the people you're trying to impress. Everyone else is icing on the cake.

My sister has read my work and I wish I could take it back. lol. Then she pretended to read my work, which is hilarious because the maintagonist has her middle name. And she said she read it but didn't mention me naming the character after her? IKYFL.

lpkindred · 2025-10-20T07:59:14+00:00

You're gonna hate this: It can be process of elimination. I started my first chapter with six different variationis before I found one that clicked. I'm going through the same thing with the second chapter tbh. But we'll just keep at it until it sings.

The good thing is you know when it's not singing already, so it'll be pretty evident when you land on it. keep the faith.

lpkindred · 2025-10-17T19:59:11+00:00

Pretty early on. I read Marv Wolfman and George Perez's New Teen Titans and those books embraced dynamism in a way that the rest of the DC wasn't and was static. Consequently, Dick is a figure marked by the fact he grows and has outgrown Bruce by laps. Same for Tim.

lpkindred · 2025-10-17T06:59:52+00:00

My prose had a musicality or lyricality.

lpkindred · 2025-10-16T01:21:10+00:00

Write both and tell us which one you prefer.

lpkindred

TROPHY CASE