Tag: Death

Day of the Living Dead

As someone with a profound interest in and curiosity about death culture, I was very excited when visiting family last summer I had the opportunity to visit several…

Bright Sun Before Nightfall

Late this spring, my foster dog Sally unexpectedly died. I should’ve known she had cancer, but I not a veterinarian, and I didn’t think to apply Occam’s razor…

How “Untitled No. 11, 1963” Affected Me

My humanities moment happened at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. The piece that struck me the most during my visit to the museum was…

“It’s Not Nonsense, It’s Shakespeare”

Dr. Michael P. H. Stanley describes an encounter with a terminally ill patient who, in his pain and confusion, demands to leave the hospital ward in the middle…

From Aesthetic Shock to Ethical Awakening: How an Environmental Artist and Activist Found Purpose

Environmental activist, photographer, and teacher Subhankar Banerjee recounts a time, shortly after moving to New Mexico, when he walked out of his house to encounter a small dead…

This Couldn’t Happen to Me

This past year my aunt, my mother’s sister, passed away very young at age 45. Her passing devastated me and my family. The thought that kept entering my…

When Breath Becomes Air

Just as he was completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. When Breath Becomes Air, the memoir…

We All Float On

When I was a senior in high school, one of my friend’s passed away from a tragic accident. My friend and I decided to attend the funeral together…