The Small Bow

The Small Bow

Home
Archive
About

Sober Oldster

Interview with a 51-Year-Old Sober Person: Sharon Silke
“I used to be really funny and entertaining, to a certain point, when I was drinking. That is, until I got messy and repetitive and annoying.”
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
2
We Are Everywhere and We Are Thriving
“I began to notice the parts of life I always rushed through.”
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
Interview with a 59-Year-Old Sober Person: Seth David Branitz
“Monstrous thoughts still form, but I recognize them and move quickly past. I no longer do terrible things to myself or others.”
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
1
Interview with a 52-Year-Old Sober Person: Ana Marie Cox
“I’ve come to think of self-hatred as the addiction I’ve struggled with the most. It's the thing that will take me out.”
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
Interview with a 64-Year-Old Sober Person: Nick Flynn
"For a little while it felt like I had figured it out, how to be both sober and to be fucked up. "
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
Interview with a 54-Year-Old Sober Person: Kristi Coulter
"I don’t think being in recovery is hard. I think life is hard, and there is real horror in understanding that drinking cannot actually alter reality."
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
1
Interview with a 65-Year-Old Sober Person: Kathy Valentine
"I had to learn how to be a grown-up—it didn’t help that I’d been a successful musician in a successful band throughout most of those years, which can…
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
Interview with a 60-Year-Old Sober Person: Chris Wells
"I am less of a child than I used to be. I rely less on other people to make a place for me in the world."
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
Interview with a 66-Year-Old Sober Person: Anne Gregory
"The best things are not feeling ashamed, not having a hangover and not thinking about suicide."
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
Interviews with Older Sober People
One year of the Sober Oldster questionnaire.
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
Interview with a 57-Year-Old Sober Person: Claire Dederer
"I had no idea, in my conscious mind, that I had a drinking problem. My shame was so profound that I was hiding reality even from myself—especially from…
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
2
Interview with a 70-Year-Old Sober Person: Jerry Stahl
"I have come to realize that everybody on the planet is recovering from something. And deserves our compassion. It’s pretty much the human condition…
 • 
The Small Bow
 and 
Oldster Magazine
© 2025 The Small Bow, Inc.
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture