April Reading; “Single Serving Grief” (Patreon)

Between a very unsuccessful tax season (that’s Uncle Sam: 13, Yannick: 0 for those keeping score) and a surprise presentation at a small conference of my old Mentor (University folks only, or I’d have invited you all), April has nearly succeeded in running away on me. But! The Reading continues, and there’s still time to join me.

Personal Grief Rituals; Creating Unique Expressions of Loss and Meaningful Acts of Mourning in Clinical or Private Settings

by Paul M. Martin

This book came to me through some quite remarkable serendipity; I was in the Vine Parkway Free Library location (shoutout to Philly Free Library Network), enjoying a good wander with a friend and openly wondering if the book they were reading about Death Doulas might be on the shelves. Instead this book nearly fell into my lap, neatly encapsulating almost everything I was hoping to learn and accomplish in an ongoing work in development.

So for the love of god, support your local libraries, won’t you?

Related Readings

Dr. Paul Martin - How Rituals Illuminate the Intricate Path of Grief and Healing

Youtube Channel: Let's Talk About Grief with Anne

As ever, I like to hear an author talk about their book when doing these power-reads for research. I feel like it helps me do a better job scanning for what will eventually prove my key takeaways, and gives me a chance to more completely absorb context.

Hot take: this is not the most thrilling interview, but it does a fair job covering his basic contentions and approach, and the only other one I could find was quite specifically related to Australian issues (despite him being not at all Australian).

The American Way of Death Revisited

Jessica Mitford

Originally published in 1963, Mitford's scathing and hilarious exposé of the American Funeral Industry was maybe the height of her accomplishments in what she deemed “the gentle art of muckraking.” Reading Paul Martin talk about the strangeness of American Funerary tradition, I couldn’t help but think fondly on the ways this book absolutely rocked my world as a young reader. Imagine my surprise then to learn that, shortly before her death, Mitford released an updated copy in 1996, with even more scandal, shamelessness and sleaze of the way death became business and business became the meaning of the way we handle death in my country. Hugely recommend.