Naming the Psychological Effects of Climate Change: Solastalgia By Krista Stevens Highlight “The word he came up with was solastalgia, a portmanteau word of the Latin solus, which means ‘abandonment and loneliness,’ and nostalgia.”
Why I Wanted To Finish My Father’s Life’s Work By Karen Brown Feature Karen Brown recalls the pain and joy of fulfilling a deathbed promise.
California Burning By Tessa Love Feature A year after the Camp Fire, Tessa Love contemplates home, California’s undoing, and what it means to belong.
A Woman’s Work: Till Death Do Us Part By Carolita Johnson Feature Carolita Johnson considers the emotional and physical labor required of women as their loved ones die.
Life After Pain By Michelle Weber Highlight One day, Ge Gao’s right hand stopped working. Then the pain started, and it’s never stopped.
Old Dudes On Skateboards By Aaron Gilbreath Feature The death of his life-long skateboarding friend prompts Aaron Gilbreath to get back on his board — at 44, with his toddler daughter in tow.
‘A World Where Mothers Are Seen’ By Vanessa Martir Feature Vanessa Mártir introduces Writing the Mother Wound, a series of essays on mothering presented in collaboration with Writing our Lives and Longreads.
I Will Outlive My Cat: A Reading List on Pet Death By Alison Fishburn Reading List Alison Fishburn shares seven longreads on how humans experience the death of their pets.
How to Predict the Unpredictable By Katie Gutierrez Feature After the death of her dog, Katie Gutierrez grapples with the ripple effects of her decisions — and how to live with uncertainty as a mother.
It Comes in Waves By Lilly Dancyger Feature Years after her cousin was killed, Lilly Dancyger is haunted by images of murdered women in the news.
Conversations with My Loveliest By Melissa Berman Feature Melissa Berman recalls what was said, and not said, between her and her beloved aunt as they approached her final year.
Woodstock: My Queer Love Story By Kate Walter Feature Kate Walter went to Woodstock in 1969 with her boyfriend. She went back in 1994 with her girlfriend. She’s not going back again.
Companion Fair? By Krista Stevens Highlight “That’s what Dad’s AAirpass and ultra-elite flying status yielded for him: lifelong bonds.”
The Burdens We Carry By Amy Scheiner Feature Amy Scheiner reflects on her mother’s sudden death and what it means to be a woman in a world that is set up to bury them.
Two Clocks, Running Down By Colin Dickey Feature In “Time Is a Thing the Body Moves Through,” T Fleischmann resists metaphor, even as they reflect on the metaphor-saturated work of Félix González-Torres.
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.
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.
‘Buried in the Cowboy Way, with His Tail to the Wind’ By Krista Stevens Highlight “There was no chance I was going to ask him to make another winter, but as long as he was hobbling to his golf course and chortling to me each morning, it seemed too early to end his life.”
‘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.
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.
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.”
What Falls to Earth By Susanna Space Feature Grieving the mysterious death of her father, Susanna Space seeks refuge in the study of meteors.
Blackstars By Michael Gonzales Feature Michael Gonzales reflects on the deaths of a dear friend, and a bookworm he idolized: David Bowie.
Partners in Crime: The Life, Loves & Nuyorican Noir of Jerry Rodriguez By Michael Gonzales Feature Michael Gonzales remembers a real friendship and the makings of a brutal crime novel.
The Strongest Woman in the Room By Kitty Sheehan Feature A daughter recounts her family’s worst day, through her mother’s eyes.
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.”
