In Memoriam ~ Aura Estrada

Walt Whitman wrote here.

Herman Melville wrote here.

Mary McCarthy wrote here. Allen Ginsberg, Joseph Brodsky, Edith Wharton, Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison - the list of writers who have lived and worked in New York City could make a thick bound volume of its own.

New York's attractions are obvious enough. Writers come to be with writers, to deal with great publishers, to meet with the best agents, to be part of that jostling argumentative environment that is the center of the literary universe. Of course, as all the backseat drivers will tell you, New York may be a writer's town like no other, but it isn't cheap. There are tales, for instance, of poets and short story writers emerging from MFA programs $60,000 in debt. Can that be smart? For a writer? Even the truly great writers are meant to end, not to begin, their lives in poverty.

So, perhaps in considering the writing programs available at the center of the universe, you should acquaint yourself with the English Department at Hunter College, where you will find all of the advantages of New York City, as well as distinguished professors with international reputations, talented students, connections, and a continual flow of great writers who will visit your classroom.

Here you will find a two-year Fiction MFA, Poetry MFA or Nonfiction MFA for approximately $7,000 per year ($11,700 out-of-state) - too much for Walt Whitman, almost certainly, but then it seems he did not need our help.

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