The other day, our department had a poetry reading. At the reception afterward, I was keeping an eye on a friend because I needed to talk to her before she left. Every time I glanced across the room at her and three others, including a professor, they were all laughing and smiling so genuinely, having such fun and enjoying each other. And I thought, "That's what it's all about." Our program is so special because it's really a community and everyone puts energy into making that a priority. I take it for granted until I hear about other writing programs where no one sees each other outside of class, everyone is cutthroat-competitive, and they're just not friends. Then I feel very fortunate and blessed. I mean, yesterday I went ice-skating with friends from my program. How many people at Iowa or the other "top" writing programs can say that?