CANDICE KELSEY
I’d Love to Hear Your Thoughts
writes the principal of the upper school in an email to her faculty / Fwd: [New Post] Four Messages Your Freshmen Need to Hear This Year / because she thought it had some good insight / which began by comparing this generation of adolescents to past generations / who have endured Great Depressions, pandemics, and World Wars / these four messages will help students change their internal narrative / from the author who runs a for-profit leadership company / his website lists his speaking fees / promises higher grades / catchy phrases include empathy for effort / attitude not aptitude / agile rather than fragile / flourish over flounder //
A veteran teacher notices / this article ignores the fact that these teens developed in the midst of national trauma / post Great Depression teens saw hope for a future / post WWII teens saw potential for prosperity / this teacher’s students see climate change / war / more school loans / more pandemic grief / toxic Capitalism / anxiety / this teacher sees adolescents forced to attend school in person in the midst of the most contagious strain / safety measures blocked by state governments / endless changes / how can students be expected to suck it up and be positive this teacher wonders / how can empathy be transactional / when will adults admit we are fragile //
Candice Kelsey is in her 24th year of teaching and currently lives in Georgia. She serves as a creative writing mentor with PEN America’s Prison & Justice Writing Program; her poetry appears in Poets Reading the News and Poet Lore among other journals. Candice’s first collection, Still I am Pushing, explores mother-daughter relationships as well as toxic body messages. She won the Two Sisters Writing Contest, was chosen as a finalist in Cutthroat’s Joy Harjo Prize, and has been nominated for a Best of the Net and two Pushcarts. Find her at @candicekelsey1 and www.candicemkelseypoet.com