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  • Grief Raves Are Helping People Process Loss Through Communal DanceGrief has always been a deeply personal experience

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    Caitlin Manner

    Grief Raves Are Helping People Process Loss Through Communal Dance
    Grief has always been a deeply personal experience

  • Where Reasons EndA novel in which a mother confronts grief and life’s sorrows in a conversation with her dead son

    Where Reasons End
    A novel in which a mother confronts grief and life’s sorrows in a conversation with her dead son

    I firmly believe you are supposed to consume “Where Reasons End” in the late (or early) hours engrossed in the dialogue Yiyun Li spins out of thin air, where the quiet, liminal space allows for the narrator’s circumstance to become your own. I don’t recommend you consume a bottle of red wine along with the…

    Daniel Yarnall

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  • Our Monthly Tip: Spell Your Loved One’s Name with Floral LettersHandmade floral letters can bring color and beauty to your memorial event

    Our Monthly Tip: Spell Your Loved One’s Name with Floral Letters
    Handmade floral letters can bring color and beauty to your memorial event

    Our Tip of the Month Floral letters can provide beautiful decorations for a memorial that spells out the name of your loved one who has died. While this project does take a little time to assemble, it can be a rewarding and meditative pastime, especially for those who enjoy crafts and gardening. You may choose…

    Betsy Arant

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  • As Life Expectancy Increases, More Seniors Find the Idea of “Rational Suicide” ComfortingAn aging population brings the conversation of intentional exits from the shadows to the limelight

    As Life Expectancy Increases, More Seniors Find the Idea of “Rational Suicide” Comforting
    An aging population brings the conversation of intentional exits from the shadows to the limelight

      “I know someone who has done it with the gas. She had a peaceful death with a son on each side holding her hands. I like that — no prescription necessary! You go to the party store and maybe you have a party.” Aunt Kate, the lively 82-year-old on the other end of the…

    Colleen Ferguson

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  • DIY Body Transport by Vehicle: What You Can (and Can’t) Do (Interview)Jim Bates of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of North Texas explains the ins and outs — and occasional mishaps — that come with moving dead bodies

    DIY Body Transport by Vehicle: What You Can (and Can’t) Do (Interview)
    Jim Bates of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of North Texas explains the ins and outs — and occasional mishaps — that come with moving dead bodies

      Six years ago, Jim Bates and his brother drove their father’s body 355 miles from Arlington, Texas, to Tulia, Texas, where he was from, to bury him alongside his wife. As director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of North Texas, Bates has since coached about six people doing body transports — to Houston, Mexico…

    Rachel Jones

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  • “Long Way Down”A young adult novel about street violence that explores whether revenge can ease the pain of loss

    “Long Way Down”
    A young adult novel about street violence that explores whether revenge can ease the pain of loss

    I SWEAR SOMETIMES it feels like God be flashing photos of his children, awkward, amazing, tucked in his wallet for the world to see. But the world don’t wanna see no kids, and God ain’t no pushy parent so he just folds and snaps us shut. “Long Way Down,” the 2017 YA novel in free…

    Celeste Willis

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  • Colorado Makes Human Composting LegalFollowing Washington, Colorado has become the second U.S. state to permit composting of human remains

    Colorado Makes Human Composting Legal
    Following Washington, Colorado has become the second U.S. state to permit composting of human remains

    In May, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill that will allow people to compost their loved ones’ remains rather than burying or cremating them. The law will take effect in the coming months, while funeral homes will likely need considerably more time to make necessary adaptations before offering the process.

    Rachel Jones

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  • “Diana and the Gorgon”Oregon poet laureate explores how a friend's suicide impacted his experience of life

    “Diana and the Gorgon”
    Oregon poet laureate explores how a friend’s suicide impacted his experience of life

    I have been neck deep inside the creature’s speckled and curving belly how wet my pupils were – even after I sucked from the bite marks to taste the ways I had once been touched I do not deal in metaphor I only write what is\ if the poet says the knife is a snake…

    Betsy Arant

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  • FDA Approves New Alzheimer’s Drug Amid Expert SkepticismAducanumab becomes the first approved treatment for Alzheimer’s since 2003

    FDA Approves New Alzheimer’s Drug Amid Expert Skepticism
    Aducanumab becomes the first approved treatment for Alzheimer’s since 2003

    One of the most confounding and debilitating diseases in medical science has a new treatment. The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday, June 7, that aducanumab  would be the first new medication for Alzheimer’s disease in 18 years. The decision comes as a beacon of hope for patients and caregivers but saddled with skepticism from…

    Daniel Yarnall

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  • “What About Heaven”The 24-year-old poet releases an intimate, anxious lament on the death of a friend

    “What About Heaven”
    The 24-year-old poet releases an intimate, anxious lament on the death of a friend

    The 2021 album “When Smoke Rises,” from 24-year-old poet and singer/songwriter Mustafa, is a collection of songs memorializing friends and community members lost to violence. Mustafa’s mourning moves in ripples through his music, from the pain of losing a close friend to the weight of witnessing larger patterns of loss. The song “What About Heaven”…

    Betsy Arant

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