Alive and Mortal

Welcome inside Alive and Mortal… A podcast about the places of impermanence in your life. It’s a listener supported conversation where we explore the very human experiences of death, grief and culture.

When What They Say Shuts You Down 03/29/2019

When What They Say Shuts You Down I've surveyed a lot of what is out there online in terms of handholds and support for grieving people when they're encountering family, friends, acquaintances, ministers even, who are saying insensitive cliches to them. And there is some decent material out there - but so far to this moment - I have not seen anything that's going to actually handle this kind of conversation. So that's why I feel like it's worth my time to document this for you. /episode/index/show/aliveandmortal/id/9186371

Death Is All Around - No Need To Fake It 03/13/2019

Death Is All Around - No Need To Fake It The question I ask you - how many deaths do you recall from your childhood? From your young adulthood? How many people within your larger social circles may have passed away within your community? Because we do not always notice that death is all around, it is happening all the time. We are often face-blind and tone-deaf to death. But it is happening all the time, everywhere. /episode/index/show/aliveandmortal/id/8993516

Rainer Maria Rilke on the Need of Praise in Grief 03/08/2019

Rainer Maria Rilke on the Need of Praise in Grief This podcast episode is one in the series I am calling Conversations With Wisdom. This series is where I pay a fictional visit to various sages and wise ancestors. I imagine a sit down conversation between myself and a poet, artist, writer, great thinker - and I focus on death, grief and impermanence. I use their writings or work as an anchor for this imaginative conversation. /episode/index/show/aliveandmortal/id/8924633

My First Three Encounters With Death 03/04/2019

My First Three Encounters With Death In Season 1 Episode 2, Kim shares the first three experiences she had with death, all before the age of 10. This is part of the “getting to know me” series so you know us well. /episode/index/show/aliveandmortal/id/8860244

Locked Out 03/03/2019

Locked Out Kim shares an experience one evening durning the first winter after her life partner died and she lost visitation rights to her three children. This is part of the “getting to know me” series so you know us well. /episode/index/show/aliveandmortal/id/8858093

Where Culture Fails the Dying and The Grieving, it Fails Us All 02/18/2019

Where Culture Fails the Dying and The Grieving, it Fails Us All Those of us that discuss death and grief frequently - we observe that the dominant western culture is often treacherous when death and grief occurs. After thousands of conversations with terminal and grieving people, I see the patterns and wish to gently but persistently call them out here. To me, this is a matter of social justice for the health of humankind. /episode/index/show/aliveandmortal/id/8681525

The Widows Gates, Part Two 02/16/2019

The Widows Gates, Part Two The term “widow” and “widower” is code. It stands for the level of personal disruption and hardship a death creates, as well as the measure of the bond and heartache. Yet there are those who have made commitments to one another without any state endorsed ceremony and license. Here, I explore the later forms of the word "widowed" and explore how most of our beliefs around the words are fairly recent developments and I make a case for expanding our vocabulary. /episode/index/show/aliveandmortal/id/8667956

The Widows Gates, Part One 02/16/2019

The Widows Gates, Part One Committed couples without a state endorsed ceremony and license may experience the terms "widow" and "widower" are off limits - a gated community, walled by two pieces of paper – a wedding license and a death certificate. Here, I explore the earliest forms of the word "widowed" and how most of our beliefs around these words are recent developments, making a case for expanding our vocabulary. /episode/index/show/aliveandmortal/id/8667686

Memorial Homily 03/04/2016

Memorial Homily This is one of my recorded homilies during a memorial service for a young man who died, leaving a 9 year-old daughter behind. So, I address her, in the audience, as well as the adults. /episode/index/show/aliveandmortal/id/4196367

Alive and Mortal

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