Life is for the Living

Marco and I wrap up the season, tell stories about people we have lost, and share some news about the podcast. 

In the very last episode of the season, and just in time for Christmas, our guests tell us stories of grief: the deaths that hit them the hardest, how they remember their dead, and what a good death looks like. 

Marco and I talk about death and dying. Again. :D 

I ask our guests the big questions: Are you afraid of dying, what would be a good death, and what do you think happens after death. 

Marco and I dive into what we have learned about the death care system, and what we would want to change about it. 

Although our guests have different perspectives on the way death is talked about and regulated, one thing they all agree on is that it things aren't great they way they are. In this episode, we talk about what needs to change to make people's lives easier when they are facing the death of a loved one. 

In this episode, we chat about our biggest take-aways from our interview with Dr. Jennifer Blanks, what we look for in our favorite cemeteries and what we want written on our epitaphs.  

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Jennifer Blanks, also known on Instagram as The Cemetery Sista , about her work locating and documenting African American cemeteries in Texas and Louisiana, how race affects the experience of death, and how New Orleans does death right. Dr Blank's Website: The Cemetery Sista LLC

Producer Marco and I discuss funerals we have attended, how we memorialize our dead, and what we want for our own funerals. 

In this episode, Rebecca Lynn-Scott, death positive activist and practicing Hellenic pagan, talks with me about ritual and it's place in our processing of death. Rebecca suggests rituals that non-believers can use, describes her perfect burial rite, and explains what wailing is.  

When you die, what do you want to happen to you body? Producer Marco and I rank body disposition methods and how we want our bodies disposed of, give helpful tips on how to to get the cheapest funeral, and dive into the ins and outs of coffin making. 

Hold on to your hats for this episode, because it is a great one. Guest and co-owner of the Natural Funeral Seth Viddal walks us through all the different types of body disposition methods, including earth cremation, water cremation and funeral pyre. 

In this epitaph, Producer Marco quizzes me on the signs of active dying (which I totally cheat on, don't tell him) and we talk about the deaths we have seen, and what how we envision our death beds. 

What does dying look like? In this episode, with the help of Death Doula Kathy and Hospice Volunteer Brooks we talk about what to expect when someone is close to death. Reference: Gone From My Sight by Barbara Karnes, RN You can also catch us on Youtube

Flipping the script, Producer Marco interviews me about my experience with my mom's dementia. I talk about having to face a complete uncertainty of how it will all pan out, coming to peace with my mom's eventual death, and how my dad is coping with the loss. 

In this episode, I talk with Mara and with Kathy about the experience in between getting a terminal diagnosis and the actual death. This is a time that can be fraught with a lot of unknowns, and will force you to face the fact that you have very little control over what is happening. You can't plan, or even be emotionally prepared, and you may not even know if you are in a sprint towards the...

Producer Marco and I dive into Medical Aid in Dying, and whether or not we would want it for ourselves, and if we could assist a loved one who wanted to die. This episode does contain conversations about suicide. 

Once you get a terminal diagnosis (and being alive is a terminal diagnosis), not only will you be struggling to adapt to your new reality, you also need to make series of really tough decisions, sometimes with very limited information. Do you take the treatment that might extend your life but has some nasty side effects? What live saving measures to you want, and which ones don't you want? If...

In this week's epitaph producer Marco and I get into what diagnosis we fear the most, how we would want to handle it, and how we probably would handle it. Watch the video on Youtube

What do you do when you get the worst news of your life? How do you cope? Who do you tell? And how do you move forward? In this episode, guest Mara walks us through the journey to her husband's Pat diagnosis of ALS and the months after the diagnosis and they learned what their new normal was.  To learn more about ALS: https://www.iamals.org/ Pat's Website: https://farmstrong.info/ Mara a...

In this epitaph, I grill producer Marco about why and how he became more comfortable with talking about death, and what was stopping him about having the conversations beforehand. 

In this episode, our guests talk about why it is important to talk about death (hint: everyone is going to die), why we tend to avoid it, and how to start the conversation. We also have a Youtube channel where we upload all the podcasts and epitaphs: https://www.youtube.com/@LifeisfortheLivingPodcast

We are trying something new this season: mini episodes where producer Marco and I talking about the episode and our reactions to it. In this Epitaph, we talk about why we chose death as our topic and what we are looking forward to. 

In this season of Life is for the Living, we are talking death! In this intro episode we learn about about our guests this season--a death doula, a funeral director, a hospice volunteer and more--all to learn what to expect from the end of life, and how best to prepare. Check us out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LifeisfortheLivingPodcast

Producer Marco and I sit down to have a chat about this season, what is coming next season, why we are big in Germany, and, of course, Marco finds a new way to torment me.