{"id":113801,"date":"2025-08-02T19:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T19:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/113801\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T19:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T19:56:09","slug":"california-teacher-gets-personal-in-new-book-marin-independent-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/113801\/","title":{"rendered":"California teacher gets personal in new book \u2013 Marin Independent Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim Culbertson\u2019s \u201cOther People\u2019s Kids,\u201d<\/a> out Tuesday, is a big-hearted novel that celebrates the imperfect beauty of human relationships and the courage to face life\u2019s uncertainties. Set in the small town of Imperial Flats and told in rotating points of view, the story follows Chelsea, Evan, Nora and Denny as they navigate personal and professional crossroads. Chelsea, a high school English teacher, returns to her hometown after a traumatic incident, while Evan, a band teacher, struggles with fatherhood and his past. Nora, the school principal, faces burnout, and Denny, a rock star, disrupts their lives in unexpected ways. It captures the demanding reality of raising and teaching kids in today\u2019s world while subtly reminding us that teachers are humans with complex emotional lives beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n

The novel is an ovation to educators, capturing the emotional toll and impact of teaching, including the chasm between public and private school settings. Culbertson\u2019s characters are flawed and achingly human. Through their vulnerability, her characters achieve self-awareness and growth, resulting in relatable and inspiring journeys. The author balances humor and heartbreak, offering moments that feel both intimate and universal. \u200bThis novel is a must-read for educators, parents and anyone navigating middle age, reminding us of the power of connection and the importance of growth and grace.<\/p>\n

I connected with Culbertson, who attended the Dominican University of California in San Rafael, where she obtained her teaching credential, to discuss her novel rooted in her 25-year-plus\u00a0experience as a high school teacher. We explored how she navigated the line between her journey and the fictional narratives, illuminating the full humanity of teachers, including their joys, frustrations and private moments of despair and triumph.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a teacher brings with it the joy and complexity of the job. It\u2019s an important job with responsibilities, but we are also human beings, and the world is a lot for us in the same way it\u2019s a lot for other people. I\u2019ll just say that the old adage of \u2018writing what you know\u2019 came in handy in this book,\u201d said Culbertson, who is a fiction mentor for the Dominican University MFA in creative writing.<\/p>\n

The story opens with an assault on a teacher by a disgruntled parent. I asked Culbertson about the decision to begin the story with this shocking confrontation, and she shared that she has observed a concerning shift in parental behavior over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing so much more reactivity and bizarre requests and complaints that don\u2019t truly serve the student in question. This isn\u2019t true for most parents, of course, but the rise in the aggressive behavior I\u2019ve been seeing is alarming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

It \u201ccauses stress for educators and feels attacking instead of collaborative.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the back of the book, Culbertson writes that teaching is a job that makes her \u201ccry at least once a week.\u201d I wondered how she channeled her \u201cteacher heart\u201d into a book that resonates with the broader experience of navigating middle age and the passage of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is immersive and involves so much emotional management \u2014 my own, but also my students, their parents, my colleagues, etc. And it is work I love. I was so interested in what keeps these three educators \u2014 one at the beginning of his career, one in the middle of hers and one on the way out, but all in their 40s and 50s \u2014 getting out of bed in the morning, both in their work lives and their personal lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The novel\u2019s vivid portrayal of Chelsea\u2019s complex mother-daughter dynamic \u2014 where she both longs for unconditional love and actively, perhaps unconsciously, sabotages it \u2014 resonates deeply within a community often characterized by overachievement. I was interested in how Culbertson sees this specific kind of relational \u201closs,\u201d this feeling of having \u201cmisplaced something special\u201d with a mother.<\/p>\n

Culbertson, who identifies as a \u201crecovering people pleaser,\u201d recounts a lunch with her first publisher when she found herself \u201coverexplaining and making excuses\u201d for not wanting to do something \u2014 an experience that undoubtedly will resonate with some readers.<\/p>\n

Her publisher told her, \u201cYou don\u2019t owe anyone an explanation for your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Culbertson says she wanted Chelsea to learn this, too, especially with her mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a tricky thing,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause she craves a close relationship with her mother, but her mother\u2019s criticism and fatphobia have hurt Chelsea throughout her life. We put so much pressure on certain relationships in our culture, but we\u2019re all just people, messy people. It\u2019s definitely one of my favorite things to read and write about \u2014 the various ways families hurt and love each other, fail and support each other. It\u2019s rich material, being human in a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashleigh, an intriguing teenager, is bold and perhaps a controversial character. I asked Culbertson about crafting her storyline and how she views her as a character.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have taught young women like Ashleigh, and she has her own agency in this book as a person. It\u2019s the adults in her life who have let her down, and I wanted to explore how, as adults, we often want to blame teenagers for behavior that we\u2019ve been a huge part of causing. Ashleigh is young, but teenagers are fierce and wide-eyed and certain at this age. (I\u2019ve been teaching them for so, so long, and I see this kind of certainty in them so often.) She believes she knows things that she doesn\u2019t have the life experience to truly know yet. And, ultimately, she sees an out to her situation and takes it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Evan\u2019s chapters are a compelling portrayal of a single music teacher navigating the complexities of fatherhood, confronting a complicated past with his former bandmate, Denny, and exploring an evolving relationship with Chelsea. I asked the author how she approached crafting Evan\u2019s unique blend of obstacles and vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI adore Evan so much \u2014 so many moving parts with Evan,\u201d Culbertson said. \u201cThis is very much a book about second chances in midlife and taking risks when it feels scary, and Evan gets a workout with these themes. I\u2019m so proud of him for realizing that life isn\u2019t always about the success we wanted when we were 17.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nora\u2019s perspective on education stayed with me: She finds inspiration in this generation\u2019s empathy and open dialogue about mental health, yet laments the systemic changes that have reduced teaching to a \u201cprocedural act.\u201d In a community that often places immense pressure on academic success and \u201caccountability,\u201d I couldn\u2019t help but wonder how Culbertson sees this shift in the educational landscape affecting the mental well-being of both students and educators, and what might be the long-term implications for fostering true \u201cgrit\u201d and \u201ctransparency\u201d when data-driven mandates are overshadowing the art of teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, a short answer to this question could make up an entire interview,\u201d Culbertson said. \u201cWhat I will say is that I got quite the response to reading this section at an event recently \u2014 people definitely came up afterwards and wanted to talk about it, and that makes my heart full because we need to be talking about this much, much more than we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The novel highlights stirring messiness as a path to growth. By confronting conflict avoidance, Chelsea embraces deeper connections while Evan learns openness. Nora explores a new direction by acknowledging her limits, and even Denny\u2019s flaws are tempered by surprising vulnerability. Emotional honesty empowers us to confront our fears, fostering connection, accountability and ultimately, healing.<\/p>\n

In the end, Culbertson left me with this: \u201cWe are all other people\u2019s kids. We all belong to someone and come from somewhere. This is what I lead with as a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Details:<\/strong> Culbertson and Marin resident Mary Alice Stephens discuss their new books, \u201cOther People\u2019s Kids\u201d and \u201cUncorked,\u201d respectively, at 6 p.m. Sept. 17 at Sausalito Books by the Bay. More information at sibyllinepress.com\/events<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mill Valley resident Britta Stromeyer, an award-winning children\u2019s author, is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her writing appears in the Common, Tupelo Quarterly, Beyond Words Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, Bending Genres Journal, Necessary Fiction, On the Seawall and other publications.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kim Culbertson\u2019s \u201cOther People\u2019s Kids,\u201d out Tuesday, is a big-hearted novel that celebrates the imperfect beauty of human…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":113802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[2122,13709,1022,276,171,1165,1583,2295,1072,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-113801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","9":"tag-authors","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-lifestyle","14":"tag-marin-county","15":"tag-newsletter","16":"tag-things-to-do","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114960936805898957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}