I Drove to Chicago.

There is no doubt that i am completely and utterly in love with Sufjan Stevens.

I don't know what the attraction is..okay i do know what the attraction is: He's talented, older, kind of sensitive, mysterious, and has the physical characteristics that i am a sucker for(cool colored eyes, disheveled hair thing going on). But most importantly he is fantastic writer, lyrically anyway.

His lyrics, though they make references to god a lot, are amazing, and he researches things like crazy. I pretty much admire his writing abilities, and the painstaking research he does in preparation for his material.

I heard, via an interview he did with WNYC radio, that he spent hours researching material for his Illinoise album. Locked up in his room, he discovered things about the magical state of Illinoise,and he cranked out by far his most popular song "Chicago" due to his research and own experience living near Chicago.

Beside wanting to be his babies mama(Maury style) i greatly appreciate the man, and his craft...and would also love to make sweet sweet...music with him.

But me and Sufjan do not share the same familiarity with the Midwest. I have and always will be an East Coast girl. And though now lives in Brooklyn, he may hold a certain love for his home state, and major city, that i do not quite have.

I bring this up because on Monday or Sunday i talked to Marie. It was the first time she had heard my plans to become a writer instead of doctor. Marie is totally science driven, she has known what she wanted to do since she was a born, but she totally didn't put down my new career venture even giving me some names of schools in which have great MFA programs.

On her list was Northwestern. I have heard of Northwestern before, but never had an interest in it. I'm totally big on traveling, and visiting a million places, but i always planned that my education and where i live would be rooted somewhere in the East Coast.

I love the East Coast. I love the North East. I have accent and the scars to prove that this is my humble home. It's pretty much where i plan to live when i get older, and way down the line where i plan to raise my family. I plan on working in the Big City, Summers at the Shore or in Boston, Trips to Florida and maybe Savannah. The East Coast is amazing, and not just because i have been on this side my whole life, but because it simply is the place to be. It's lovely.

I daydream a lot. Of escaping to magical places, with men like Sufjan Stevens, but at the end of that daydream i always return to my lovely imgained castle on the East Coast.

But after Marie mentioned Northwestern i was curious to see what there MFA program offered. And to my great disappointment, it is FLIPPING AMAZING, their writing program is the most exciting thing i have ever seen in my whole entire life. Zach Braff went to school here, it's only a year long program(i believe) and it seems to be everything i am looking for. I'm relatively new at this and the seem to want students who are willing to grow and develop in their program. NO GRE is required, and all i need is recommendations, writing sample, a mission statement of sorts, and that's about it.

But it's in Chicago. CHICAGO?!

I have no problem with Chicago, but it's the not the East Coast. I don't know how i feel about being so far away from the comforts of home. Away from accents, and Nathans, and a NEW YORK state of mind. Sure i can take being 4 hours away or even more on the coast, but i don't know how i would feel being that far away.

But then again it is only a year. I could learn a lot in a year. Plus Oprah is in Chicago. That's got to be a plus somewhere.

I have some thinking to do. I mean it's not a done deal or anything. But it's something to think about.