Father’s Little Helper By Scott Korb Feature While under the influence of Valium, Scott Korb reflects on all the fathers he could have been and the father he has become.
Shovel, Knife, Story, Ax By Erika Howsare Feature When you live with animals, you collect killing stories.
The Fraught Culture of Online Mourning By Rachel Vorona Cote Feature Nowadays, we live online, and so we grieve here too. But there are limits to the comfort digital mourning can provide.
‘Little Grandpa’ and The List By Abigail Rasminsky Feature When her grandfather died, Abigail Rasminsky learned about a part of his life she’d known nothing about.
A Mountain and a Range of Memories By Krista Stevens Highlight “After Lathrop died, I could not bring myself to delete his phone number.”
To Grieve Is to Carry Another Time By Matthew Salesses Feature Matthew Salesses considers the impact of his wife’s passing, and other factors, on his experience as a human passing through the fourth dimension.
‘There Are Things You See With Your Body’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “Stepping away, I feel something evaporate, a quantum of my soul, perhaps, burning up on contact.”
The Leaves, They Never Stop Falling By Colin Dickey Feature Colin Dickey remembers a departed friend and a tree that won’t die.
Uncertain Ground By Grace Loh Prasad Feature Grace Loh Prasad realizes that mourning is complicated when home and homeland aren’t the same place.
The Pain of Loss, Through Centuries and Books By Michelle Weber Highlight “My father is dead, I said to myself, my father is dead. Again and again I said it, and still I failed to grasp what it meant.”
A New Low: Stealing From the Dead By Krista Stevens Highlight “Thieves and forgers are taking houses from the deceased in ‘hot’ (Philadelphia) neighborhoods — as the city stands by.”
What Falls to Earth By Susanna Space Feature Grieving the mysterious death of her father, Susanna Space seeks refuge in the study of meteors.
The Haväng Dolmen By Longreads Feature A trip to a Swedish stone-age burial site gives an archaeologist too close a look at death.
Blackstars By Michael Gonzales Feature Michael Gonzales reflects on the deaths of a dear friend, and a bookworm he idolized: David Bowie.
Jack, Jacqueline — Dad By Yvonne Conza Feature Yvonne Conza wrestles with the complexities of estrangement from her dying — complicated — dad.
‘I Don’t Know What Else to Do. So I Run.’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “You see that you can never go back. And with this knowledge a peculiar grief descends.”
“I know I believe in the power of lining up little hopes” By Krista Stevens Highlight At Oxford American, Michael Graff remembers his dad, Carl.
After World War I, Horror Movies Were Invaded By an Army of Reanimated Corpses By Longreads Feature Were early horror films, with their long, angry processions of the undead, repeating the mass trauma of the First World War, or foreshadowing the coming of the Second?
The Hospital Where By Longreads Feature When accompanying his father to the emergency room, a writer reflects on how he developed his talent — and why that’s a story he can never tell his father.
The Strongest Woman in the Room By Kitty Sheehan Feature A daughter recounts her family’s worst day, through her mother’s eyes.
A Place to Stay, Untouched by Death By Jane Ratcliffe Feature After her mother’s passing, Jane Ratcliffe considers the role everyday objects play in a good death.
Disney World: A Surprisingly Good Place to Grieve By Krista Stevens Highlight “To my surprise, Disney World was not a difficult place to be while in mourning. To me it didn’t feel like an escape from grief, so much as a continued break from unendurable real life.”
Giving Up the Ghost By Emily Urquhart Feature After his death, Emily Urquhart ‘sees’ her brother with regularity. Nearly 20 years later, stories and science help to explain why.
Sliding Toward Disaster By Michelle Weber Highlight Water parks — competing to have the tallest, fastest, scariest slides — invent their own attractions and monitor their own safety, creating a deadly conflict of interest.
The Daughter as Detective By Alice Bolin Feature A bibliophile tries to understand her father through his favorite Swedish mystery books.
Remembrance of Folks Past: A Reading List of the Stories We Tell By Sara Benincasa Reading List “Who lives? Who dies? Who tells your story?”
Sign O’ The Times: Paisley Park Offers A Public Tour By Krista Stevens Highlight At Paisley Park, the most palpable feeling isn’t of Prince, it’s of loneliness.
A Woman’s Work: Home Economics* (*I Took Woodworking Instead) By Carolita Johnson Feature Carolita Johnson tallies the costs and benefits of love and cohabitation as a woman artist living in a patriarchy.
