A Manifesto for Tonight–and not Just Tonight

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
By Deborah Stokol

I will let my imagination soar, rather than having it sink into an abyss of discontentment. I will no longer live in the past but will incorporate it lovingly into my present and its future. I release myself from stress and anxiety. I purge myself of hate, malice, and intolerance. I liberate myself from... »

On Reading, 1.

Saturday, August 20, 2011
By Deborah Stokol

Perhaps I am a literary coward because I do not enjoy the works of those who describe the Human Condition in too graphic of terms, preferring, rather, the ones who may cloak it in shades of blue and innocence, fleeting wisdom, unshaded contours that are no less deep, occasional irony that sears with greater potency, who tip-toe around it as if it were sly and mercurial, a... »

Rain Man

Friday, August 19, 2011
By Deborah Stokol

My sister  calls me “Rain Man” because I have an uncanny ability to remember people’s birthdays.  It’s been that way for years. And while I was never bad at math, per se, I was never a luminary, either. So it’s not like I have some divine knack with numbers; I don’t (though admit to... »

On All-Consuming, but then Fleeting, Routines

Sunday, August 14, 2011
By Deborah Stokol

On Fleeting Routines …That is what often happens. You go into an experience, live it to its fullest, immerse yourself in it until you’re almost tired of it but at the same time can little imagine any other reality but the one you’re in. You finish it, overwhelmed, exhausted, and satisfied. For awhile, nothing else... »

There comes a time of moderation

Friday, June 17, 2011
By Deborah Stokol

There comes a time when even those with restless souls must rest. When they must lay aside their want to seize a golden quiet I never thought I could so clean give up the fire burning But even warmth can grow too hot if it burns the one who trusts it and the cool, if checked, that calms her down, can soothe the one who loves it. »