Thoughts from the Blog

Celebrate Death as we do Birth
While I personally ended 2020 in a funk, fueled by the negativity of the world news, personal loss, and burnout from producing twenty new shows in 11 months(!), I embrace the new

The Neglected Grief of Stillbirth
Stillbirth is a traumatic event for all concerned – the mother, the father, the siblings, the immediate and extended families and friends. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

The Time to Discuss End-of-Life Decisions is Now
Life as Drama, Drama as Life When Shakespeare wrote “All’s well that ends well” about 400 years ago, he was referring to the end of a play, not the end of

The Lighter Side of Trauma
Most of us regard grief as an emotion exclusive to mourning loved ones who have passed away. But survivors of child sexual abuse also experience a range of significant losses from

Hope is Everything
1 year and 7 days since I went to the store and bought English muffins for my mom, because she just had to have one for breakfast. 1 year and 6

I Am Home, And I Am An Artist
I am an artist. Believe it or not, it only took me 34 years to be able to say these words out loud, without crying, and still maintain eye contact. I know, pretty incredible, right?

Funerals and COVID
My friend passed away last year. Nobody saw it coming. He was just hitting the midpoint of his life. It was an unfinished story with loose ends that will never be

E-mail from The Grief Train
Dear Russ, In our writing workshop just now, you commented on our friend Jamie’s essay, in which she explores her pain at the loss of her young daughter. “Get off the

To Catch a Butterfly
June 9, 2020 2:00 PM Leaning my back on the chair, I stared at the assignments I ought to do for my volunteering. A heavy sigh escaped through my cracked lips.