My Story When I found out I was pregnant on July 1, 2016, I thought it was the beginning of […]
Miscarriage and Memory-Making: An Uneasy Relationship
When the Guardian journalist Hadley Freeman wrote about her miscarriage in early 2017, many readers praised the fact that this […]
Dutch Monuments for Stillborn Children
“He has been dumped.” Mrs. van Melsen tells me these words as we look down at the inscription on the […]
“Shock from Loss”: The Reality of Grief in the First World War
On October 24, 1918, fifty-eight-year-old Elizabeth was admitted to the City of London Mental Hospital by her husband.1 He stated […]
A Historian’s Trip to the Graveyard
bardo, noun (In Tibetan Buddhism) a state of existence between death and rebirth, varying in length according to a person’s […]
Option Whatever: The Corporatization of Grief in Sheryl Sandberg’s Option B
Two years ago, my husband Clayton was murdered. That summer, I wrote a lot in my journal. I felt angry […]
More Than Blood
We awoke to news of the carnage in Orlando. I had slept in — the first long, good night’s sleep […]
Enforcing Death Rituals after Miscarriage is Just Plain Cruel
The Indiana legislature claims it wants to protect unborn children and their parents. Last week Governor Mike Pence gave his […]
We Grow Accustomed to the Dark
Unless we’re toiling away in an English PhD program, most of us don’t pause in our daily lives to read […]
Premature Birth and the Right to Grieve
There are quite a few ways to experience loss of pregnancy. When I was expecting my own daughter, no woman […]
