So my friend Tia is heading back for her 3rd visit to the MacDowell Colony in January, my own number 1 residency of choice. What's so great about MacDowell? You hit the ground running there with your work and your every need is anticipated. Picnic lunches on your doorstep, regular runs to downtown Peterborough, an incredible library of books, film, and musical scores, a diverse range of artists and writers, lots of firewood for your cottage, solitude, quiet, the woods, and a fellowship in the largest sense of the word possible.

I've been back in Dallas for 2 months and have been reflective of the difference between this particular residency and the others I have been a part of. There have been many many logistical challenges, but I think the big difference is that this is a working artist's residency vs. a retreat. Most if not all of the artists here work and don't spend every moment creating new work. There is however amazing and wonderful support and a wide network for new opportunities at local universities and many resources so long as you investigate them and negotiate your own waters. We're in a very urban/industriial area on the edge of some gentrification waiting to happen. Drive the wrong direction on Lamar and you're in the hood. Across the street from us is police headquarters where you can fill out an application to do an "overnite" - i.e. accompany a squad car on its nightly rounds. Spanish speakers encouraged to apply. The "artist's quarters" is pimped out regularly for high profile parties which can mean revelers outside your door many nights out of the week which is not terribly conducive to work or rest or home. And I of course start my days by faxing collection agencies my police reports for the mail and identity theft which occurred here. Not griping, so much as reflecting. It's a young program, a work in progress, like my old MFA program, you make it what you want it to be and contribute what you can along the way to improve and refine the experience for the next generation.