Traci Macnamara
Meet Traci Macnamara
Name: Traci Macnamara
Age: 31
Marital Status: Single
Current Job Location: Antarctica
Goal: To complete the writing of her first book and have it published
School: Goucher College
Target: M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction, August 2007
With online learning, you literally can go around the world and still obtain a degree. That's why Traci J. Macnamara enjoys distance learning so much. As a world traveler, logging in from afar works perfectly for her.
Macnamara, 31, is currently stationed at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, the largest U.S. base for scientific research. Almost a world away is Goucher College in Baltimore, MD., where she is a student.
Born in Washington state, Traci holds a B.S. from the University of Notre Dame, as a pre-professional in pre-medicine.
"I am able to do my work as a communications operator at McMurdo Station and write on my days off and in the evenings," says Traci, who started working on her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction about two years ago, and expects to finish up by next August.
"I work very, very hard while I am here in Antarctica, juggling both work and writing, but my job allows me to save money so that when my contract is over, I can again focus fully on my writing. I love being able to travel and work wherever in the world I want to work, and without this program, I would not be able to do these things," Macnamara says.
Still, there are some difficult aspects of distance learning. So we talked to Traci about those and the many benefits that make distance learning work for her.
What is most challenging for you about distance learning?
The hardest thing for me about distance education is that I am not great with computers, and I spend a ton of time writing, so at the end of the day, I don't like getting into an online discussion forum.
At first, I did not like the discussion format—it seemed artificial online; I like it better when people can just talk casually and exchange ideas. It's harder to do this online, and it's harder to build a real community. It's much more work to get to know each other online, and it takes longer, more effort, too.
I'm already spending so much time in front of my computer screen writing that it's hard to motivate to participate in online discussions. I just don't feel like an online community is as good or as productive as a live one.
What aspect of distance learning do you like the best?
The easiest thing about it is that I can do the work wherever I am ... on the plane, in a hotel, outdoors ... wherever my computer is, I can be working!
I also like that I have flexibility to do the work within the life that I live. While I have been working on my MFA, I have worked for 11 months in Antarctica at McMurdo Station.
I have also traveled in New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, through the U.S., and lived the summers in Chamonix, France.
Tell us a little bit about what you do now at McMurdo Station.
At McMurdo, I am currently a "communications operator," which means that I talk daily with scientists conducting their research in remote field camps.
I monitor HF and VHF radios, regular telephones, radio telephones, and Iridium (satellite) phones. We coordinate resupply and equipment requests, and we let the scientists know when planes or helicopters are coming their way.
We are also on standby for any type of emergency situation, whether it comes from the scientists we work with or from anyone in distress in the region, whether it be a fishing boat or a tourist vessel or a private expedition.
What has been your favorite course and why?
I am currently doing an online internship...in order to tackle some of my technology fears, I took on an internship working with an author who has a book upcoming in order to help create buzz surrounding her book's launch.
I'm facilitating guest submissions to her website in blog format about the book, and I'm doing some writing for it. She agreed to teach me how to use blog technology and help me enough so that I could start my own blog.
I've gone from having a hard time with my program's blackboard technology to being able to create and maintain a blog called "Down and Out: Adventures in Literature. Landscape. Life."
The blog is about books, place, and life along the way. It has come out of my work with the Goucher College MFA program. I loved how the internship was structured so that I could work with the author, who is in Seattle, and get something really practical out of it that could help my work, too.
Do you plan to pursue any other degrees after this?
No.
Why made you want to go for your master's degree?
I wanted to write my first book, so I am getting a M.F.A. in Creative Non-Fiction because I really wanted mentorship through that process.
I wanted deadlines and guidance, and I also wanted to be around other writers who were also going through that process.
Do you plan to advance your career with it?
Yes ... I am hopeful that my first published book will come out of the work that I have done for the past two years in the program, and with the degree, I could also teach creative writing at a university or do other writing work.
What will your first book be about?
The book will be about the first nine months that I spent at McMurdo Station, Antarctica as a contract laborer. I did grunt-type work through the summer and winter seasons that year.
