Blog
Green-Eyed Face(book)
A piece I wrote April 25. Green-Eyed Face(book) By Deborah Stokol I remember when it was new. When no one had heard of it. When no one was “on it.” When some classmate told me to join this cool new site just for college students and to “friend” him too. For some reason, we figured, keeping something... »
Inhabiting a Memory
Memories are self-contained bits of the past we’ve locked away in our minds. You can have them stored away for years without remembering you still have them, and then suddenly, a random thing will trigger some recall that brings to light this forgotten treasure. We’ve got a trove full. Losing them, of course, does not... »
The Class I Wish I Could Take, Then Teach (A Personal Odyssey, etc.)
It would take one school year, perhaps, beginning in September and ending Bloomsday, June 16. It would include but four works, ending with a fifth, composed by the students, for the students. And the reading list would encompass an odyssey–literally–through literature and the various takes authors have had on the Greek story since Homer. The... »
“I love Helvetica”
Ah, but I don’t. I think it has, for some strange, inexplicable reason, achieved a status completely non-commensurate with its beauty or distinguishing characteristics. But sometimes I feel alone in this assessment. I certainly did that Friday. She wore a little yellow button as a pendant and was one of about 10 folks smoking on... »
Stokol’s Writing Tips to her Beloved Students
Some Writing Tips I Hope you Find Useful (Because Isn’t Helping Others Learn from my Mistakes the Reward for Having Made Them?) Ms. Stokol, March 18 2010 As told to me by a Professor: The only way to know what good writing is is by reading; the only way to write well is to keep writing. An... »
What the Caterpillar is Not
A roughly 300 word critique of this (“The Very Grouchy Daddy”) critique of The Hungry Caterpillar: On the whole, I think I’m grateful. I know I’m amused. But mostly, I’m pleased to encounter a piece that bitingly manages to balance the gently controversial with the insightful and fun. Daniel B. Smith’s “The Very Grouchy Daddy”’s indignant... »
A Letter to Students on Why We Read The Odyssey
I’ve been full-time substitute teaching English at Harvard-Westlake, my Alma mater, for six weeks now, lecturing on The Odyssey and covering Creative Writing. A few of my 9th graders have asked my why we read the epic piece, and I thought I’d write them a letter response. Here it is: — 4 March, 2010 To my dear... »
Looking into–or at, rather–the Recent Past
I had never really thought of contacts as anything but as vehicles of sight. But lately, I’ve begun to think of them as tiny, gelatinous states of the personal unions. I use the two-week disposable kind, and I order three months’ worth at a time. That’s the smallest bulk-amount the company will let you buy,... »
Superstition
I’ve got a lot of figurines. Stuff to which I’ve ascribed certain characteristics (but I do that to everything). I bought this beautiful cloisonne owl in an antique shop in Montreal. Pretty cool place–the city and the store. I saw the owl and thought “how awesome. it’s black and red on one side, yellow and white... »
Sympathy
The truth was, she couldn’t really imagine what it would feel like to be them. The truth truth was, she didn’t really want to. In a fit of fleeting empathy, she’d tried, she’d tried to close her eyes, put stoppers in her ears, refrain from what her fourth grade teacher once called “verbalization.” It... »