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CARITA GARDINER

What to Read When You're Avoiding School Work

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Author: caritagardiner

317. Why Manage Stress

Posted on January 22, 2025January 21, 2025 by caritagardiner

Today’s post is the third in my five-part series in response to Dr. Laurie Santos’ podcast episode “The Happiness Lab: How Talking to a Friend Helps,” which you can listen to by clicking on the photo above. Today’s topic is managing stress. I loved the way the podcast framed this topic in terms that reminded…

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316. Why Merge Your Selves

Posted on January 15, 2025January 14, 2025 by caritagardiner

Today’s post is the second in a five-part series inspired by “The Happiness Lab” with Dr. Laurie Santos. In the episode linked to the photo above (I recommend taking the time to listen to the whole thing, but you don’t need to do that before reading my post.), Santos discusses five happiness stumbling blocks. The…

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315. Why Pay Attention to What Other People Think

Posted on January 8, 2025January 9, 2025 by caritagardiner

This week, and for the next four weeks, I’m going to write about the five lessons explained in the “How Talking to a Friend Helps” episode of one of my favorite podcasts, The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos. The first topic she and her guest, fellow Yale professor Dr. Tamar Gendler, discuss is perfectionism….

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314. Why I’ve Moved Earlier

Posted on January 1, 2025January 2, 2025 by caritagardiner

I have a lot of thoughts about what I want to write in this post, but I should probably start by telling you that I’m writing it on January 1, 2024, a full year before I have it set to go live. I am wondering what 2024 will bring and thinking it’s cool that when…

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313. Why Celebrate Broadly

Posted on December 25, 2024December 24, 2024 by caritagardiner

If you’re Christian, Merry Christmas. Also, if you’re not Christian, Merry Christmas. I’m not Christian, but I’m a big fan of celebrating Christmas’s non-religious aspects — I love giving gifts, uniting with family and friends, and cooking and eating wonderful foods. As you can see from the photos above, I also love knitting Christmas stockings…

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NetGalley Review of Better than Revenge

Posted on December 24, 2024November 16, 2024 by caritagardiner

title: Better than Revenge author: Kasie West publisher: Delacorte Romance publication date: December 31, 2024 pages: 320 peppers: 1 (on this scale) warnings: none summary: When Finley’s boyfriend thoughtlessly auditions for and gets the podcast spot Finley has wanted for a long time, she enlists the help of her now ex-boyfriend’s nemesis to teach her how to…

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312. Why “Site Specific” is Pernicious

Posted on December 18, 2024December 16, 2024 by caritagardiner

I took the photo above one morning when I was out jogging around the school’s campus, and as you can see, I live in a beautiful place. It’s so lovely, in fact, that lots of people who have a lot more money and resources than I do also choose to reside in the area. So…

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311. Why Recharge

Posted on December 11, 2024December 12, 2024 by caritagardiner

Last summer, I took this photo of one of my most relaxing places. Being on that deck in Maine, I can recharge my battery. I like to think that the bird in the photo saw that pile of rocks and thought, “If I sit there for a while, I’ll have more energy to fly higher…

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310. Why I Love Marketplace

Posted on December 4, 2024December 3, 2024 by caritagardiner

Say what you will about the evils of social media–you’re probably right with most of the ire you send in its direction–but Facebook Marketplace brings me great joy. For the past year or so, I’ve been trying to shed unneeded possessions. I’m not going full-on minimalist by any stretch, but when I view the accumulation…

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309. Why Say It

Posted on November 27, 2024November 26, 2024 by caritagardiner

I took the photo above one morning last summer just before I started a Peloton yoga practice. Though it was a beautiful morning, you might be able to see that the pond in the distance had no water in it. All summer, I was continually disappointed about the temporary draining of the pond due to…

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WHAT I DO

I serve as a class dean and teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while deaning, teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU

Teach                    Tutor

Revise                   Edit

Entertain             Enlighten

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Contact Me

  • cgardine@hotchkiss.org

Read my recent “Why” Wednesday Blog Posts

  • 391. Why Change the Font
  • 390. Why a Weighted Vest
  • 389. Why Soft isn’t Weak
  • NetGalley Review of The Great Outdoors
  • NetGalley Review of Villa Coco
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