Don Stoll writes for Marketing and is also heavily involved in the application and admission processes for all of Idyllwild Arts Academy’s many international applicants. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Pennsylvania State University, has taught Philosophy at the university level, and has published articles in scholarly journals about Hegel, Kant, Plato, Heidegger, and Derrida.

In the fall of 2018 he began writing short fiction and as of May 2022 had published, or had accepted for upcoming publication, a total of eighty-two stories, including this one, based on a 2018 visit to a Tanzanian church. Though most of his fiction has appeared in deliberately literary magazines such as The Broadkill Review, The Helix, Green Hills Literary Lantern, and Xavier Review, he also takes guilt-free pleasure in writing genre fiction. He has published a handful of noirish crime stories, some sci fi/horror, and even—despite considering himself a rationalist—three stories that feature ghosts.

In 2008, Don and his wife, Idyllwild Arts Academy Director of Educational Programs Marianne Kent-Stoll, founded their nonprofit (karimufoundation.org) to bring new schools, clean water, and clinics emphasizing women’s and children’s health to three contiguous Tanzanian villages. A project completed in the spring of 2019 brought water to eleven thousand villagers and enabled many children to attend school for the first time; previously, they had spent their days walking long distances to fetch water to their homes.

Don and Marianne have four adult children.