Summer 2016 in Morgantown is one that only comes around every 17 years. As droves of loud, loquacious, loveable students packed up their bags and departed, a different sort of loud, loquacious, perhaps less-loveable crowd moved into town. Cicadas crowded sidewalks like undergrads at Fall Fest, left shells along the rail trail that crunched like autumn leaves, and sounded mating calls that could drown out the fireworks at a WVU football game. In other words, they filled the void that is normally left in a college town such as Morgantown while students are away.

The cicadas also kept those MFA students who elected to spend their summer in town company. Many of our students teach summer composition courses, a fast-paced 6-week version of the regular classes they teach during the school year. MFAs also took literature classes over the summer, such as Program Director Mary Ann Samyn’s free verse poetry course, while others continued to work other jobs around town. Students also found time to take trips into Pittsburgh to visit Kennywood, the local amusement park, do day hikes at Cooper’s Rock, and attend events around town, such as a steel drum band show at the Brew Pub. Some MFA students left town to pursue adventures elsewhere, including internships at magazines, summer camp positions, and old stand-by money-making gigs like retail and food service.

Reading and writing is of course another priority for us during these months. Megan Fahey, a third-year fiction student, found a new favorite in Your House is on Fire Your Children All Gone by Stefan Kiesbye. Third-year fiction student Kelsey Englert enjoyed Ellen Foster, a novel by Kaye Gibbons. Other students kept up with their writing by setting a daily summer schedule and word count goals. Many third-year students are taking advantage of the time to get a jump start on their looming thesis.

As for now, the cicadas have dissipated, leaving an almost eerie quiet that will soon be filled as students arrive in August for another school year. But for now, we can bask in the peaceful end-of-summer glow that Morgantown offers, letting drops slide down our beer glasses as we sit on patios watching the sun tuck itself away behind the mountains, and eventually move inside to get a few words in (read or written) before another day of summer slips away.