Author Description

The essays published here were originally chosen as part of a guest post series on SmallStack, an emerging online community. In their original form, each essay was a web post and a newsletter to our community. Supporters and friends filled the comments with messages of understanding and kinship. "All we have is small," by Jamie Wallace, chips away at the barriers we construct around perfection and how long it takes to achieve our own impressions of success. Alexa Spiegel's "Is Substack better than therapy," and Amanda Gibson's "A new diagnosis" each tackle how we heal through our connections with others, even-especially-when that healing challenges our identity. "Small is where the best connections are made," by Sarah Teresa Cook, "Enough to be happy," by Kate Brennan, and "Beyond questions big and small" by Sarah Sadie use introspection and delightful imagery in embracing small as its own choice in the face of growth metrics. They help us view the world through the lens of laughter, wonder, and gratitude. Would any book about small stories be complete without a bakery and a moment spent in wonder at how monkeys and humans form friendship through communication? Rachel Shenk's "The stay small recipe," and Dr. Sanjida O'Connell's "What monkeys can tell us about community" show us that hunger and curiosity brighten our journey of discovery toward understanding small. Eight of our guest post authors join us here, each having crafted uniquely touching pieces about love, acceptance, grief, joy, creativity, and community. Our call to the community to create something new, sincere, and insightful about being small brought many carefully crafted essays into our hands. This book is a celebration of that work.