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by Gene Bans (Author), Anze Ban Virant (Cover Design by)
Because of her positivity, charisma, and love for education, Tara Almquest, veteran teacher, is chosen to enter a global spotlight at a pivotal moment in a future timeline. As one of the first celebrity teachers, Tara is given student data and a production team to improve student learning. Can she "up her game" to navigate an intersection of corporate and governmental power and greed, while still trying to live a healthy, happy life? Will her young, but overworked assistant, Emory, be the next celebrity teacher or leave her career behind after finding her man? How would you feel if teachers earned millions?
Sips of Hemlock is a fictional tale centered around strong female leads tossed into a changing world of education, government, and business. It's currently one of Amazon's "Top New Releases in Federal Education Legislation."
In 2025 Idaho state legislature voted to give private school families $5000 per child in tax credits, while the federal government started cutting funding for the US Department of Education. The scenarios explored in Sips of Hemlock aren't far from possible.
For anyone interested in the public school versus private school funding debate, Sips of Hemlock explores a fictional future where privatization becomes the norm. In this era, smaller companies are being bought out by bigger corporations. Schools are tech-controlled, satellite classrooms taught by celebrity teachers but maintained by minimum wage workers. Students are bio-monitored to improve learning (and grab data) and parents, while allowed to attend school with their kids, lose the ability to influence curricular policy choices. Future educational corporations share who the loud ones are and ban them (like airlines sharing no-fly lists).
Are classrooms safer? Do students learn more? Are parents satisfied? Are teachers happier earning millions? Sips of Hemlock explores the future of education and its fictional relationships.
