Elizabeth Strout

Because he has taught the Civil War for years and years and he has his own way of teaching it.

He assigns every student to be a Massachusetts, you know, they live in Massachusetts.

He assigns them all to be a Massachusetts soldier or a nurse and has them look up their letters.

And he's always enjoyed that.

And then the principal calls him in and says the school board is asking him to start to teach Confederate soldiers.

And that's the first sign that the reader gets.

even if they don't take it in at that moment, that the outside world is coming in.

Well, there really are school boards that are changing curriculum.

So that's not me.

That was actually really happening.

Well, I'm writing about his time in history.

So it was right there.

Just as there were, my husband and I were noticing in newspapers and different things that there's a fight at the soccer game.

And there were more fights that happened at games then.

in the last year that had happened previously.

So there is a lot of anger there, and I was just trying to get that recorded, yeah.

It's just the saddest thing.

I mean, that's my response to what's happening in America is just deep, deep sadness and disbelief as well.

But every day, it's, you know, the disbelief.

It becomes a little less because it's actually really happening.