Finally, I could do something.
-- Narrator (Thoughts and Prayers)

Importance: When Paola's best friend Rumi's sister is killed in a school shooting in "Thoughts and Prayers," Paola feels powerless. She neither knows how to confront her confusion and sorrow, nor how to comfort her friend. When her mother tells her she will march with the Mothers and the Good Guys, Paola feels relieved. The sense of illusory control Paola feels in joining the march, is the same feeling the adults in the story feel. They cling to religious and political structures to give them a sense of meaning and order. These structures, however, cannot ultimately save them.

I was not a stone, not an anchor. I was not enough.
-- Narrator (The Stones of Sorrow Lake)

Importance: In "The Stones of Sorrow Lake," the narrator experiences her first sorrow when she realizes she cannot make her boyfriend Jackson love her the way he has always and will continue to love his ex, June...