Which are better, your live classes or your online classes?

I’m not a fan of the ‘compare and contrast’. And it’s not because I came up in the Montessori culture where no one is any better than anyone else., because I didn’t. And it’s not because I’m a Libra with a typical October-baby allergy to making decisions, even though I am.

It’s because you can’t compare Fujis with mandarins.

Or rather Fujis with a pie made from Fujis.

One is built from the other, but they serve different needs and tastes.

The in-person classes are classic. Classes like you remember them from grade school. You show up, same time, same place, every week, with other like-minded people and a (stellar) instructor, and you take class. You get the lectures, the discussion, the in-class exercises, and the critique of developing work in real-time, and you bond, mano-a-mano, right there in the room.

The online classes are made of the same fine stuff: lecture, discussion, writing exercises, critique. But they don’t meet at a specific time. You log in when it’s convenient, as many times during each week as you want, and your class unfolds flexibly, a bit at a time, instead.

And because you’re not sitting at your computer participating at the same time as everyone else, students get a chance to take class with folks from all over the country, maybe all over the globe, which is interesting and fun.

The teachers have the same credentials, whether they’re teaching online or in NY, and the goals are the same, too: a strong grounding in craft, feedback on your work, a safe stimulating place to bring your story to life.

So if you’re in or near NYC, you get the immediacy of the in-person experience. If you’re not, or you have one of those jobs where you can’t necessarily leave work on time every Monday or Thursday or whatever, you get the chance to take class with us on your time, and be a part of a global classroom.

It just depends if you feel like a great piece of fruit or an equally great piece of pie.