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A Memory in a Bottle
A message in a bottle seems like a thing of fantasy, romance. But, people still give it a shot, tuck a note into a bottle, toss it into the waiting waters, and cling to the hope that their message will one day arrive at the shore and be delivered to someone they love. Every once…
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Designer Plays with the Big Questions
The work of designer Sebastian Errazuriz addresses the big issues of life and death, sometimes with a whimsical and charming style, and sometimes with an elegance and simplicity, always posing powerful questions for the observer. Death is the Only Certainty in Life 2009 Errazuriz sent a series of phrases related to awareness of life and…
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An Interview with Annie Leigh
Annie’s diverse artistic background and spirituality ultimately lead her to create Eco-Urns, her UK based biodegradable urn business. Today, Annie creates thoughtful, unique and sustainable urns ranging from simple ceramic to highly personalized designs. Read her responses to all our eco-urn questions, below! Aurora: How and why did you begin making eco-urns? Annie: Several years…
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Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 by David Yates
A film about sacrifice, loss, and the final confrontation between life, death, and legacyWith the last Harry Potter movie released to theaters, it seems that this saga has finally reached its end. For the biggest Potter fans (me included), a feeling of loss surrounds the last film, much like a dear friend has passed away. Having read the books though, we die-hard fans have learned not to recoil…
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Grief, Loss, and the End-of-Life Experience in the Age of the Tweet
“Here it is. I’m dead…” Earlier this year, Derek Miller published to his blog a farewell post—the day after his death. Before this, Miller had been blogging about his fight with metastatic colorectal cancer. SevenPonds recently published a Just Passed story about the death of Amy Winehouse, the news of which many of us caught…
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“Spectacle”
SevenPonds adds memorials born of tragedyThe San Francisco journalist Zahid Sadar and I are at a bar in Glen Park. We’re discussing death when Zahid mentions a book he’s excited about: David Rockwell’s Spectacle. The two ideas come together like a sandwich, and we soon begin discussing spectacles born out of our national tragedies. I serendipitously bring up the fact that…
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Remembered in Ink
Tattoos are not nearly the taboo they once were in our culture. In the past two or three decades, they have grown to become an almost-universally accepted form of artwork and personal expression, and their popularity has grown to cover most age groups and types of people. It is rare, these days, to meet someone…
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What is Green Burial? (Interview)
Trappist Caskets is a unique business, producing simple, elegant, ecologically minded caskets from company headquarters in Peosta, Iowa — which happens to be New Melleray Abbey, home of Catholic monks known as Cistercians. Below, manager Sam Mulgrew discusses the roles sustainability and spirituality play in Trappist business ethic. Aurora: From where is your wood sourced?…
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
A film that explores loss, fear, and the emotional weight of preparing for an uncertain endRecently, a part of my childhood “died”; no, thankfully, not a person, but something important nonetheless. Three weeks ago, the final Harry Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” was released, bringing an end to the magical series I grew up with. The first Harry Potter book came out when I was…
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