Burnout chronicles the experience of a new Teach for America corps member placed in one of New Orleans' toughest neighborhoods. As an elementary school teacher, Kennedy discovers how his students (and himself) process the full range of inner-city problems. Kennedy tackles the obstacles head-on, but his no-excuses mentality eventually reaches a boiling point and snaps. He is then forced to reevaluate his own limits as a teacher and reconcile the mistakes that he made while operating under an unsustainable mindset.

It was during a late July night in Southern Finland as our Helsinki - Leningrad Express rumbled towards the Russian border when Misha somberly warned us: "We are about to enter the land of the enemy." Misha's expression turned stern and foreboding as Lee, Bernie, Betty and I sat dumfounded in our compartment, wondering what to expect next. We were on an organized professional railway tour of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe during the height of the "cold war" and Misha was our guide/interpreter, leading us to this forbidden land. But that was my second trip to the USSR, the first was a...