To Grieve is a podcast that builds on the essay of the same name, which seeks to help people open to grief in order to live life more fully and purposefully. Our episodes feature thoughtful meditations on our world and conversations about the intersections between living, grieving, healing, art, and perseverance. Our podcast helps us to explore the many forms that a creative grief practice can take. Thanks for listening!
**If you have an Idea for a Future Episode of To Grieve, please contact us with your suggestion. Thank you!
Quick Links to the Episodes
Episode 1: Introducing Inviting Abundance
Episode 2: Adam Weiner, Rock ‘N Roll, and Grief
Episode 3: Herbs and Grief
Episode 4: Andrew May Photography and “The 5 Stages of Grief”
Episode 5: Kara Jones: Creative Grief Practice
Episode 6: Fevered Sleep and “This Grief Thing”
Episode 7: Faith’s Lodge — Where Hope Grows
Episode 8: Ceremonial Grief Concert
Episode 9: Judaism and Grief, with Rabbi Batsheva Meiri
Episode 10: Bereavement Artists
Episode 1: Introducing Inviting Abundance.
Hear our story of becoming grieving parents following the inexplicable stillborn death of our son Finlay and then how we came to grief work. The podcast shares with our listeners how we plan to spread the word about the importance of grieving openly, actively, and purposefully.
Episode 2: Adam Weiner, Rock 'N Roll, and Grief.
Listen to Will and long-time friend Adam Weiner, front man for the band Low Cut Connie, talk about the history of rock 'n roll, grief in the United States, and the power of music. Musical interludes punctuate their compelling conversation, including a live acoustic performance by Adam at the end of the interview.
Episode 3: Herbs and Grief.
Joanne offers a wealth of information about how plant allies can assist in the grieving process. Conversing with fellow grieving mom, Emily Farlow, who doubles in this episode as taste-tester, Joanne offers recipes for tinctures and teas while explaining how herbs can collaborate in the grieving and healing process if we invite them in.
Episode 4: Andrew May Photography and "The 5 Stages of Grief."
Photographer Andrew May talks about the striking visual suite of images contained in his recent project, "5 Stages of Grief," as well as the impetus for the project — his mother’s gradual health decline. Joanne and Andrew discuss his work with his model, fellow griever Jessica Cook Nicholson, the stories behind the pictures, and the work required to interrogate our journey through grief. To find out more about this project, click here. To learn more about Andrew's work as a wedding, engagement, and elopement photographer, click here.
Episode 5: Kara Jones: Creative Grief Practice.
Kara Jones of the Creative Grief Studio and GriefAndCreativity.com shares her knowledge from 20+ years of experience as an artful and heARTful griever. This episode is ideal for hospice nurses, death doulas, social workers, and other medical professionals who are seeking resources for cultivating an inclusive grief environment. Kara and Will discuss the intersection of grief and social justice, the triumphs and failures of language in grief work, and their own experiences as grieving parents.
Episode 6: Fevered Sleep and "This Grief Thing."
Sam Butler and David Harradine—the artistic directors of Fevered Sleep—talk about their current art and life project, "This Grief Thing." "This Grief Thing" is part pop-up grief center, part philanthropic outreach, and part artistic experiment. This conversation between Will, Sam, and David will surely interest performance makers, cultural theorists, fans of socially-engaged art, and grievers from all walks of life. Click HERE for more on Fevered Sleep's transformative art projects that appear in theatrical and everyday venues across the UK and beyond.
Episode 7: Faith’s Lodge — Where Hope Grows.
This podcast features Faith's Lodge, a grief retreat center in Danbury, Wisconsin, that hosts grieving parents and families as well families with a child who has a medically-complex condition. Joanne speaks to several of the facilitators and administrators who support the healing grief work that takes place at the Lodge: Kelly McDyre (Executive Director), Jenna Rogers (Director of Advancement), Tammy Breault (Counsellor), John McMahon (Counsellor), and Arlene Rauchbauer (Massage Therapist). Come learn about this special place where hope grows.
Episode 8: Ceremonial Grief Concert.
This episode brings us to the Raga Room, nestled in the highly charged environment of Black Mountain, North Carolina, where Will interviews Aditi Sethi-Brown, JoJo Silverman, and Greg Lathrop. And we also hear some of their music. Once each season, these musicians host a Ceremonial Grief Concert that harnesses the powers of collective grieving and music to hold space for the work of spiritual transformation in the wake of grief. After listening to the episode, please check out the following links for more information.
JoJo Silverman: Devotional Music Foundation, musicasprayer.org and drcacaos.com
Aditi Sethi-Brown: aditimusic.com and Center for Conscious Living & Dying
Greg Lathrop: thirdmessenger.com
Three other participants in the ceremony were unavailable for recording, but please check our their work, too: Musicians Jay Brown (jaybrownmusic.com) and Jason Hebal, and Sheridan Hill (griefcircle.net) who functions as a grief doula in the space.
You can also find each of the musicians on Facebook, so look them up if you feel called to the Raga Room!
Episode 9: Judaism and Grief, with Rabbi Batsheva Meiri.
In this episode, Will sits down with Rabbi Batsheva Meiri of Congregation Beth Ha Tephila in Asheville, North Carolina, to talk about Judaism and grief. The conversation moves from a specific look at the year of rituals that commences after the death of a loved one to a general discussion of the grief work performed by a Rabbi. This latter topic opens the dialogue to the realm of trans-generational grief in the Jewish community and leads to the contemplation of the spiritual resistance cultivated by Jews and members of other faiths throughout the ages.
Episode 10: Bereavement Artists.
This episode features 4 of the nearly 40 artists who can be found on bereavementartists.com. The website acts as a free directory to these artists working across media to create unique, heartful, creative artworks to honor a loved one who has died. Joanne spoke to 2 of the 3 co-founders of the website, Gina Klawitter and Teresa Dunwell, as well as current administrator Nancy Gershman and fellow artist Sybil Sage. As each artist shares her journey to making art pieces for the bereaved, we hear some incredibly powerful stories of loss and healing through art.
About the Music featured in each podcast epsiode:
Will Daddario composed the Interlude music.
Howie Kenty composed the music we use for the podcast introduction. We use his music with permission. Thanks Howie!
Howie Kenty is a Brooklyn-based composer and sound designer, occasionally known by his musical alter-ego, Hwarg. His music, called “remarkable” with “astonishing poetic power” by the International Compendium Prix Ars Electronica, is stylistically diverse, encompassing ideas from contemporary classical, electronic, rock, sound art, theatre, and everything in between, occasionally with visual and theatrical elements. Throughout all of his creations runs the idea that the experience of a piece is more than listening to the music; there is a wholeness of vision and an awareness of environment that attempts to fully draw the audience into his works. He is currently a Graduate Council Fellow PhD student at Stony Brook University, studying with Matthew Barnson, Margaret Schedel, and Sheila Silver. Check out his work here.