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A Grief Observed From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin, the power and pain of Black mourning. BY MYCHAL DENZEL SMITH June 22, 2017 Mamie Till-Mobley wrote her memoir, Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America, in 2003, the same year she died of heart failure, and 47 years after the lynching of her son, […]
A Bronzeville Mother Loiters In Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon – Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks The murder of Emmett Till in 1955, and the subsequent acquittal of his murderers and public viewings of Till’s mutilated body, stirred the American consciousness and provoked outrage across the country. In 1960, Gwendolyn Brooks published her own […]
When Great Souls Die [Editor: this is an excerpt from a poem entitled “When Great Trees Fall” BTW, Maya Angelou as of January 10, 2022 is featured on the U.S. quarter.] When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our […]
[Editor’s Note: I was going to write the perfect post for Valentine’s day when my colleague Lisa alerted me to this post from the remarkable website WhatsYourGrief.com entitled “Dear Love: Healing through Writing Letters.” It could not be said any better. Thank you Eleanor for giving us permission to reprint it here.] Dear Love: Healing Through […]
Larry: My first wife, Vanessa, and I married young and were unable to have children so throughout our 24 years together it was just us. We never missed going out for a special Valentine’s Day dinner together. I took care in selecting a Valentine’s Day card that best expressed to Vanessa how much I […]
What Martin Luther King’s Daughter Has to Say About Grief by Lynda Cheldelin Fell She was just 5-years-old when her famous daddy, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. Thanks in part to the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the young Bernice King on her mother’s lap, most are familiar with that story. Yet a recent New York Times article about […]
Q&A with Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D., director of the Center for Loss & Life Transition, death educator, grief counselor, author After a significant loss, it’s common for a person to feel like they’re going crazy. The sudden absence of a loved one is not only devastating but also disorienting. Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D., a leading death educator […]
Taking the vow “until death do us part” ushers in a life filled with love and joy. But when it comes time to part, losing a spouse or partner is among the most painful life experiences one can go through. The weight of a loss can disrupt your life emotionally and financially. Recent findings from Ohio […]
… What to Expect in the Long-Term Journey Grief stays with us throughout our lives but changes as time passes. The first stage can feel completely overwhelming, but as days pass, many people find that grief becomes a natural and more controllable part of their everyday world. Grief doesn’t stick to a schedule or […]
There are several suggested New Year’s resolutions for the grieving. This one is from Hospice of the Red River Valley: I resolve to not place time limits on my grief; it will take as long as it takes. I resolve to acknowledge my grief as my own—that it is as individual as I am—and will take shape […]
