Many prestigious residencies req references, which means an applicant must have a mentor/editor/professor. Unspoken is that the reference shld be published, can't be a friend, a workshop mate. This is a barrier for many writers, particularly underrepresented.

I am not in an underrepresented group but I chose not to apply to MacDowell because I didn't have it in me to hit up the handful of writers I am in touch with who are also published/professors. The person most familiar w/my current work is my critique partner. Unpublished.

Not that big of a deal, but it got me thinking about what a barrier this can be for writers--even "established writers," which is MD's metric, who are out of college, out of touch w/profs or colleagues, working solitary, or working with another "less-established" writer.

Anyway, the point of this thread is that if I'm giving up on opportunities with all my privilege, all my whiteness--I cannot begin to imagine the barriers faced by talented underrepresented writers. This is part of the problem.