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How to Care for a Loved One’s Remains When ‘Conventional Death Care Feels Like Another Form of Forced Assimilation’

How to Care for a Loved One’s Remains When ‘Conventional Death Care Feels Like Another Form of Forced Assimilation’

By Nora Biette-Timons In November 2021, Viennia Lopes Booth went to visit her dad for the first time in a couple of months. When he opened the door, she was “shocked,” she shared during a death care conference in September. “I hadn't seen him in two months, and he...

Who Owns Our Stories?

Who Owns Our Stories?

Who Owns Our Stories? The Fever Pitch and the Harm of True Crime   By Nora Biette-Timmons  There doesn’t appear to be one singular moment when America went true-crime crazy. In the 1990s and early 2000s, tabloids and popular magazines published what they...

PAUSE: Producing Safe, Culturally-Specific, Expert-Informed Grief and End-of-Life Resources Across America

PAUSE: Producing Safe, Culturally-Specific, Expert-Informed Grief and End-of-Life Resources Across America

PAUSE: Producing Safe, Culturally-Specific, Expert-Informed Grief and End-of-Life Resources Across America How three Black-led grief organizations are building resources for communities of color through education and conversations. By Nora Biette-Timmons[ In the...

Advocating for Change: How One Man Secured Bereavement Leave for Hundreds of Thousands of Johnson & Johnson Employees Globally

Advocating for Change: How One Man Secured Bereavement Leave for Hundreds of Thousands of Johnson & Johnson Employees Globally

A Grieving Parent Turns Pain into a Purpose Following the death of his teenaged son, Blake, Tom Barklage fought to secure bereavement leave for Johnson & Johnson employees around the world   By Maddie Cohen After his son Blake died, Tom Barklage took time...

Five Books on Grief and Loss

Five Books on Grief and Loss

By Terri Schexnayder Five new releases have landed in bookstores and audible programs recently. Each one delivers the topics of grief and loss through unflinching honesty with the author’s personal story—some even include moments of humor. We encourage you to read...

Renowned Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Honors the Nuances of Grief In Her Poem, “I Want to Listen to Your Absence”

Renowned Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Honors the Nuances of Grief In Her Poem, “I Want to Listen to Your Absence”

Before my son Finn died, I already had a daily writing practice in place. The day he died was the first night I hadn’t written a poem in over thirteen years. And then I didn’t write at all for the first seven weeks after his death. I suppose on the surface then it...

National Poetry Slam Champion Regie Gibson Pens a Letter of Grief to His Father, “Letter to My Father”

National Poetry Slam Champion Regie Gibson Pens a Letter of Grief to His Father, “Letter to My Father”

Losing anyone in your life affects EVERYTHING in your life.  Your perspectives shift. You question your own mortality.  Losing someone close to you makes you feel like a raw nerve in a world of razor-wire. Everything hurts. Losing my dad just before becoming a...

Oklahoma Poet Laureate Nathan Brown Says Less Is More When Talking About Grief In His Poem “Nevertheless, It Moves”

Oklahoma Poet Laureate Nathan Brown Says Less Is More When Talking About Grief In His Poem “Nevertheless, It Moves”

I lost a best friend, fellow vagabond, and gifted poet to a long battle with cancer. We traveled and performed together for years. We joked over homemade-hotel-room drinks about how the $31 we raked in from the donations for the night’s house concert, or whatever...

Notable Poet Brady Peterson Speaks About the Acceptance of Grief In His Poem, “He Checks His Luggage”

Notable Poet Brady Peterson Speaks About the Acceptance of Grief In His Poem, “He Checks His Luggage”

First, I have lived long enough to have outlived most of the people who were important to me when I was young. My parents died years ago. My younger brother died three years ago. All but one of my aunts and uncles have died. Cousins have died. Many close friends...

Acclaimed Troubadour and Poet Beth Wood Writes About the Vulnerability of Grief In Her Poem, “LESS HEAVY THINGS”

Acclaimed Troubadour and Poet Beth Wood Writes About the Vulnerability of Grief In Her Poem, “LESS HEAVY THINGS”

My own loss and the deep grief that accompanies it brought about profound change in the way I experience creativity. Deep loss breaks you down in a way that also cracks you open. There is loss of control and surrender. Tears and sorrow pour out, but light also...

In Black Communities, Homegoing Rituals Honor the Dead and the Living Through a Blend of African and Christian Traditions

In Black Communities, Homegoing Rituals Honor the Dead and the Living Through a Blend of African and Christian Traditions

By Brittiny Moore Whether at a small church, or one that seats thousands, Black funerals – or homegoing celebrations – are expressions of mourning that honor Black life, love, and community. Homegoing celebrations are a fixture in Black communities, and elaborate...

Should You Go to a Medium?

Should You Go to a Medium?

In one study grieving parents ranked support groups and psychics as the most helpful in coping with their grief. Photo courtesy of Yeshi Kangrang. An expert on grief says bereaved parents shouldn’t discount the benefits One of the most difficult aspects of dealing...

Bea’s Law: Two Bereaved Parents Fight for (and Win!) Bereavement Leave for Seattle City Workers

Bea’s Law: Two Bereaved Parents Fight for (and Win!) Bereavement Leave for Seattle City Workers

Bea’s parents — Rachel and Erin Alder say they are “extraordinarily pleased” by Seattle City Council’s unanimous vote for paid bereavement leave and were thankful for the support they received throughout the process. City employees no longer face impossible choice:...

“He Wants Me to Salute Him Back: Bereaved Parents Create Network to Support Those Who’ve a Lost Child in Military Service

“He Wants Me to Salute Him Back: Bereaved Parents Create Network to Support Those Who’ve a Lost Child in Military Service

Bryan Burgess was killed in action during a 2011 deployment to Afghanistan just 16 days before he was scheduled to return home — a few weeks shy of his 30th birthday. Telling and re-telling the story of his son’s life and sacrifice pulled Terry Burgess from deep...