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“Thanatopsis”
This classic poem is often a teen’s introduction to deeply thinking about deathThe 19th century poet William Cullen Bryant could not recall when he wrote “Thanatopsis.” Similarly, I long ago lost count of how many of my high school students had not thought much about their mortality before we turned to the poem in our American Literature anthology. It caught their attention that he was their age — 17 — when he penned it…
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A Bold, Playful Take on the Traditional Funerary Urn
Two Mexico City-based designers are redefining what an urn should beEarly last year, Carrie Fisher’s brother, Todd, surprised her fans by showing up to her mom Debbie Reynolds’ funeral with Fisher’s ashes in an urn shaped like a giant Prozac pill. Fisher had owned the pill for many years, and it was one of her favorite things, Todd said. What better way to store the…
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What Is The Grief Dialogues? (Interview)
An interview with Elizabeth Coplan about the non-profit artistic movement she created, Part TwoThis month, I had the pleasure of speaking with Elizabeth Coplan, the brain behind The Grief Dialogues, a non-profit artistic movement dedicated to creating new dialogue about death, dying and grief. The Grief Dialogues started as a live theater event that included an on stage follow-up discussion moderated by a grief counselor, to give people the chance…
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Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease Rarely Use Hospice
A recent study shows that Medicare’s policy of precluding “curative” care in hospice is largely to blameEnd-stage renal disease is a life-limiting illness in which the kidneys are no longer functioning, or are functioning so poorly that they can no longer do their job. In the absence of a kidney transplant, people with this condition require hemodialysis — a treatment during which a machine “cleanses” excess fluid and toxins from the…
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“The Tenth Good Thing About Barney”
A child learns about death after the loss of a pet in this children’s picture book“The Tenth Good Thing About Barney,” written by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Erik Blegvad, teaches children about death by discussing the death of a pet cat. The story is told from the point of view of a male narrator who is about 6 or 7 years old. The book starts out with a quick,…
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Ñatitas Offer Bolivians Blessings and Hope
The ñatita skulls originated with the native Aymara peopleOur own practices regarding death in the West are so familiar to us that other cultures’ activities related to the dead may seem grotesque or bizarre. But in discussing death, we must be open to different beliefs and ideas. In Bolivia, a different kind of relationship forged between the living and the dead takes the…
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Intergenerational Learning Brings Together the Young and Old
Combining a nursing home and preschool benefits the elderly and the kiddies tooA few years ago a preschool in Seattle, Washington, distinguished itself in newscasts across the nation because it operated within Providence Mount St. Vincent, a senior care center in West Seattle, Washington. At “the Mount” the children and residents come together five days a week in a variety of planned activities such as music, dancing, art,…
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The Dangerous Myth of a Good Death
Placing expectations on the dying can cause real harmAs a pediatric oncology nurse, I saw more than my fair share of death. My dying patients were children — some infants, some toddlers, some teens — all leaving this world far before what logic would dictate was “their time.” All of them were, in terms of experience, “innocents.” They were far too young to…
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