Author: Kelsey Sobel

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Book Club Magic , by Kelsey Sobel

Over the years I’ve been in various book clubs for varying lengths of time. My current club is a group of nine women, and we’re shooting for a twenty-five-year streak, inspired by the real life events of a member’s mom who achieved such impressive longevity. The club originally started with three members and has tripled in size – in fact […]

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The Things They Carried – The Trials of Teaching War in 2024 , by Kelsey Sobel 

Tim O’Brien’s 1990 auto fictional novel based on his time as a young soldier in Vietnam remains a popular choice in high school curriculum across the country. Teaching at a rural school in northern New Hampshire, the average student is removed from the horrors of war and mostly, blessedly, from extreme levels of violence. Although some students do have grandparents […]

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Pledging Allegiance, by Kelsey Sobel

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America; and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” As an educator, I’ve been saying the Pledge of Allegiance more or less every morning, five days a week for many of my thirty-four years of life. This means […]

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Canon V. Choice, by Kelsey Sobel 

As a full time teacher, I spend a lot of time considering the question: what should teenagers be reading in 2023? In modern education speak: canon vs. choice. Increasingly, and dishearteningly, I find today’s youth aren’t reading for pleasure. I’ve noticed many of my students lack the ability to imagine worlds beyond the literal and immediate realities they inhabit. Furthermore, I’ve noticed […]

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On Love & Tyranny: The Life and Politics of Hannah Arendt by Ann Heberlein, Reviewed by Kelsey Sobel

“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind In today’s sharply divided political world, Hannah Arendt’s words, (in reference to the Holocaust) ring true. Arendt’s assertion that people are not inherently evil is an optimistic worldview – the real […]

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Despite Barbie’s Best Efforts, Blondeness Prevails , by Kelsey Sobel

By the time August rolled around and I hadn’t seen Barbie yet I was beginning to feel I was on an island far far away from womankind. Along with the rest of  humanity living in the developed western world, the summer had turned pink. Like many, I had Barbies growing up and cherished looking at mom’s dolls who lived in their original […]

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Suggested Summer Reading – From Murakami to Ferrante, by Kelsey Sobel

The terms “summer reading” “beach reads” or even “guilty pleasures” are frequently tossed around in July and August. These terms conjure different images and ideas – the dreaded mandatory summer reading for reluctant students, the splashy / trashy cover of a romance with sand stuck in the pages or maybe the various media platforms where you can find lists such […]