I Swear on My Mother’s Grave

Today’s guest is Xander Krohn. He is a writer, teacher, and lover of a good suit. In this episode, we talk about how he attended a good old-fashioned Texas summer camp for over 10 years during his childhood, how you can miss your mom’s southern idioms even if she is still living, and that being a “highly functioning trans person with a bank account, a life, and a schedule” is the best kind of self...

Today’s guest is Ann James. Ann is a brilliant actor, teaching artist, and Shakespeare expert…who once played my mom on stage—a complicated mom, for sure. In this episode, we will talk about Bob Barker (the dog!), singing outside Ann’s mom’s memory care facility during a pandemic, how the phrase “below the frost line” relates to dementia and Alzheimer's, and what it’s like to experience a motherin...

Today’s guest is Caitlin Costello. She is a hilarious actor and comedian, who also works in the world of recruiting. Caitlin’s mother was a lifelong caretaker and nurse, who loved her family, friends and New York City. In this episode, we are going to talk about suicide. But suicide is only part of this story, it isn’t the whole story...and trust me, you are going to want to hear all of Caitlin’s...

Today’s guest is Lane Flores. He is a playwright and actor living in Chicago but originally from Dallas, Texas. Lane lost his mother when he was 12, just as she was telling him to go “find his tribe and his people” in the arts, ultimately giving him his first real sense of community and belonging. In this episode, we learn that sometimes your mom can leave you and your sister alone in the graveyar...

Today’s guest is Leah Hart. She is a teacher and writer from Brooklyn, New York, a city where her mother lived for most of her life and where she got to be a capital D “Dancer.” Leah tells me her mother always knew how lucky she was to get to dance, and to use her body in a radical way. In this episode, we learn that sometimes you get to have a good mom, and that when she gets sick, all you can do...

Today’s guest is Deanna Myers. They are an incredible artist, writer, social justice advocate and aerial circus performer. They grew up in the Midwest as the only adopted child in a family of 3 older brothers. In this episode, we talk about how Deanna’s mother didn’t have any instructions on how to raise a child that didn’t look like her, how people need to be vulnerable and honest with others whi...

Welcome to the first episode of this podcast! Today’s guest is Rusty Schwimmer. She is a highly successful and well-known TV and film actor, and one of my good friends. We chatted 3 days after what would have been her mother’s 85th birthday about Sidney Poitier, her mother’s self-taught love of painting, and how sometimes saying “My perfect children” doesn’t always help the child.  Thanks for bein...

Welcome to I Swear on My Mother’s Grave. My name is Dana Black and I lost my mom in 2016, at the age of 67. I didn’t want to talk about my mom’s addiction and depression for many years during her lifetime. It was painful to watch, and confusing, and embarrassing, and I didn’t want to talk about it. But now… I do. I want to talk with other people who have also lost their moms—and I don’t just mean...