He’s Not So Hot For Teacher

What if you met a former teacher and found out he was a total jerk? John Carroll (C’05, 34th Street Magazine section editor, Kelly Writers House writing advisor) examines this concept for us in a short story of his that recently got published.

John went to Penn hoping to write for the Daily Pennsylvanian and become a journalist, but left as primarily an author of fiction.  Thanks to the mentorship of Max Apple and the nurturing community of the Kelly Writers House, John just finished three years of work as their Assistant Director of Development and has now left to pursue his MFA in Creative Writing at American University.

John has written a story called “Baby Blue” which is included in a new short story collection of Philadelphia-based fiction by Philadelphia authors called Philly Fiction 2: A Second Collection of Short Stories Highlighting Philadelphia as a City of Literary Inspiration . 

His story is about a guy who meets up with a former high school teacher several years after graduation.  And it turns out his teacher isn’t the great guy he remembered him to be.   Per John,

“The story centers on our narrator, who is working through becoming an adult via this renewed relationship with a former teacher. They meet by chance and wind up making plans to see a Phillies game, and our narrator winds up seeing an odd side of his former teacher.”

Check out an excerpt from it below: +/-

More Penn authors!