Grief Ritual

It’s okay to not be in the right frame of mind. When it comes to grief, there is no one way of dealing. There is no time frame in which one should complete their grieving and put it aside. Judaism gives a person an entire year to be counted as...

A friend asked me recently to describe grief. I didn’t have a clear answer for them at the time, and I still don’t have a clear description of it, as it muddles over the years experiencing it. Grief, to me, is many things. It is not being able to fall...

A new VPR series explores Black grief and joy, through the lens of Vermont musicians of color. Plus, walk-in vaccine clinics, drought conditions and state college scholarships. Want the web version of one of the stories you heard? Scroll down!. Want to get The Frequency in your favorite podcast app?...

On the latest Radio Book Club, hosts Jessie Magleby, Sam Van Wetter, and Shari Zollinger discuss some big themes in their chosen books – like dealing with grief and loss as well as the experience of love and rejuvenation. They talk indie bestsellers, literary events, and give thoughtful reviews of the books they just couldn’t put down this month. Join KZMU’s most well-read show for their monthly book banter!

Holding Nicholas in my arms was the turning point for my grief; pure, unadulterated joy after being so unhappy, so heavy and dark with grief. It was one year and three days after my daughter Natasha had been taken from us, and having Nicholas gave me back my life. His arrival helped me regain my sanity and gave me my career. He changed my life.

Over the course of the last year, many of us cultivated rituals that helped us feel a little more sane. But how do you keep up those habits as the world around us begins to shift yet again? Ahead, we reached out to 10 of our most trusted fashion and beauty friends to hear how they're planning on staying grounded and content this summer.

Nothing is perfect, not even bed and breakfasts. Sometimes pain is tucked beneath the lovely decor and spotless floors. I was reminded of that when I drove two weeks ago to my 45th Indianapolis 500. As I parked in front of this handsome, sprawling Victorian, I heard a voice: “You’re...

Releasing an album like Ritual Squalor on Halloween is a no-brainer if ever there was one. The debut full-length from SLC-based death industrial act Treason Angel crams nearly every one of its 58 minutes with dense, eerie ambience, grimy and blown-out percussion and a heaping helping of seriously disturbing samples. It all adds up to an ideal soundtrack for a chilly autumn night full of frights, and even though we’re now on summer’s doorstep, the grim, misanthropic vibe of Ritual Squalor manages to prove itself chilling nonetheless.

When I was in my sophomore year of college, something happened in my life that I haven’t talked about very much. About seven years after my dad died suddenly and six months before my brother passed away, a good friend whom I’d met in college and had worked with in the intramural referee department there was murdered. He was only nineteen years old, and he was on the dean’s list, studying to become an accountant. He was tall, handsome, charismatic, and loved by everyone.

Coping with grief and dealing with the loss of a parent is difficult, especially as a child. Elementary school aged children lack the foresight as to what lies ahead and instead focus on the moment. Time may heal all wounds, but as a child, time takes forever to pass, and the wisdom to process that proverb has not been attained.

However, people have also died from non c19 related causes. It seems like this ‘ordinary death’ has been overlooked, made less important, pushed to the background. For in the UK culture, we do not talk easily about death and dying. I have lost people, friends, relatives, parents over the many...

Every day, something happens that we do not want to happen, and every day, something doesn’t happen that we really want to happen. That means every day we have a grievance — some kind of loss we have to mourn, or an unpleasant interaction or unmet expectation we need to forgive.

The Staves (Atlantic Records UK, 2021) The opening track of The Staves’ 2021 album Good Woman is so strong, I’ve had it playing on repeat for the last few weeks. In fact, “Good Woman”—as the track is also titled—is so good, so beautifully melodic, that it seems hard to top. But The Staves do. The English folk-rock band—comprising sisters Camilla, Jessica, and Emily Staveley-Taylor—bring their ethereal harmonies to an album that shows their maturing sound—a sound they’ve been honing for quite a few years. Before releasing their debut album, Dead & Born & Grown, in 2012, the sisters sang backup for Welsh legend Tom Jones. They’ve also performed with Wisconsin recording artist Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver), who produced their second album, 2015’s If I Was.

Embarrassment, shame, and relief are all valid emotions at the end of a narcissistic relationship. Narcissistic relationships are by no means normal, healthy, or positive. Moving on is always difficult but always worth it; self-forgiveness is key. Shame and embarrassment are emotions that an individual may find themselves experiencing after...

Dr. Lois Tonkin, in her 1996 article Growing Around Grief: another way of looking at grief and recovery, tells the story of being in a workshop with a mother whose child died years before. The woman made a sketch to express to the group how she expected her grief to progress contrasted with how it actually unfolded. In the article, Tonkins shows three figures based on the sketch. The first two show how she expected grief to unfold.

“I thank my God every time I remember you.” They were the words Paul wrote to his friends in the ancient city of Phillippi. A friend shared with me that it was an intriguing email which she had to open. The identifying line was, “You are a blessing.” As she read the email, the author told her about a daily ritual she followed each morning. Saving her Christmas cards and photos, she placed them in a “blessing bowl.” As she began her day, she opened one of the cards and prayed for a friend who had sent it.

Death and loss are often associated with different intensities of grief, especially if it’s of a family member or friend or even a beloved pet. Grief can be overwhelming, and it can bring with it different emotions—regret, guilt, self-blame, and sorrow for being left behind. When coping with grief, remember...

I remember the first time I learned about grief. It was in a high school Introduction to Psychology class and the focus was on Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s work on death and dying. Her book, “On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss” was mandatory reading. Much later, I was introduced to another book on grief by David Kessler, who added a sixth stage in his book “Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief”.

Reigniting one of sludge’s most extreme and vicious legacies is no minor ask, but Come to Grief — born from the cleaved skull of New England brutalizers Grief — have done precisely this thing. Their 2020 EP, Pray for the End, is enough to make your skin crawl, and it follows four years-plus of the band lurking and lurching around the Eastern Seaboard and beyond, honing their disgusting craft.