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LaurelLit.com

LaurelLit.com

Writer, Reader, English Teacher

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Laurel's Lists

Things That Inspired Me Lately

Laurel Osterkamp · April 11, 2025

#1 Source of Inspiration: John Proctor Is The Villain

I just got back from a family trip to NYC, where we took in a Broadway show. John Proctor is the Villain stars Sadie Sink from Stranger Things, and she was great. But what's with the title? John Proctor is the protagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, a play I taught multiple times to eleventh graders. It takes place during the Salem Witch Trials, and Miller wrote it as an …

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LAUREL’S LIST #2: PLACES I WISH I COULD SPEND THE NIGHT (BUT ONLY FOR ONE NIGHT!)

Laurel Osterkamp · March 21, 2025

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to spend just one night at the most iconic and mysterious locations around the world? I have. Naturally, I've made a list.

1. Underneath a Pyramid.

You read that right. Dark and narrow tunnels, walls adorned with hieroglyphs and artifacts, stories of a civilization long gone...At the burial chamber, I'd lay down on my makeshift bed, surrounded by the secrets and mysteries of the pyramid, imagining what life …

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Laurel’s List #1: Alternative Lives

Laurel Osterkamp · February 26, 2025

Lately, everyone I talk to, whether they’re friends, family, or strangers at the grocery store, feels overwhelmed. Like current events have hijacked their brain space. Plus, we all have our own personal stuff going on.

How do we balance it all? How do we make sense of anything?

I can only speak for myself, but writing is my go-to method for sorting through confusion and angst. Using both reflection and forward-thinking helps me figure things out. That’s why, today, I’m introducing …

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Laurel’s Lists

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

--Eleanor Roosevelt

Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.”

--Natalie Goldberg

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