NEWS
By Mary Carole McCauley | August 13, 2008
One of the worst things about any big trouble is the way it isolates us at the precise moment we're most in need of comfort. It matters not one whit if the people sharing our dinner table or office cubicle are going through the identical crisis, because no two traumas are exactly the same. Every loss, every grief is as individual and specifically coded as a set of fingerprints. That's one of the main insights to be gleaned from David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole, which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
NEWS
By Jennifer McMenamin | April 25, 2008
Sitting at the February funeral service for the four members of the Browning family, Garland Williams was overcome by the sheer number of people grieving the couple, their two youngest sons and the arrest of their eldest boy on murder charges in the deaths. "Nobody knew how to be. People were just being there because their hearts were wounded with this grief," he recalled. "I thought then, `There's got to be a place, going forward, to sit and reminisce.' This grief will never go away completely, but we can, perhaps, change the direction of that grief."
NEWS
By Borzou Daragahi | March 8, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Grief engulfed this city's most prosperous and lively enclave yesterday as residents struck by a suicide bomb attack a night earlier mourned their lost loved ones. Authorities said the death count had increased to 68 people and that 120 others were injured in the Thursday evening attack, which targeted the Karada shopping and residential district. Fatalities rose steadily overnight as patients suffering severe burns and shrapnel wounds died. The carefully planned attack was one of the most devastating in Baghdad in months.
NEWS
By Susan Reimer | September 23, 2007
Perhaps it is a hydrangea chosen because it was Grandma's favorite flower. Or a rose bush rescued from Mother's garden before the old homestead is sold. It may be as simple as a potted plant retrieved from the funeral home or as elaborate as a meditation garden with a reflecting pool. Grief often finds its expression in nature. The simple act of planting a tree or creating a quiet spot outdoors to sit and remember - or the therapeutic exertion of working in a garden - is a mysterious source of comfort for the bereft.
NEWS
By Kim Murphy | September 1, 2007
LONDON -- There were the familiar clusters of wilting flowers propped in the fence, the poems, the sniffles, yet another replaying of Elton John's "Goodbye, England's Rose." But in the end, a nation still fractured by 10 years of grief and accusations over a dead princess showed signs yesterday of moving on. There were two memorial tributes to commemorate the fiery end of Princess Diana in a car crash a decade ago. One, at the Guards Chapel near Buckingham Palace, was for the upper-crust: the royals, the prime ministers, the rock stars and film directors, and the various lords and baronesses - women in intimidating hats.
NEWS
August 8, 2007
Hospice to present talks on grief, loss Laurel Burnett, a bereavement counselor from Hospice of the Chesapeake, will present "Growing Strength in the Seasons of Life: The Journey of Grief," from 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. at the Pascal Senior Center, 125 Dorsey Road, Glen Burnie, on the following dates: Today: Recognizing and Honoring Loss in Our Daily Lives. Aug. 15: Cumulative Loss. Aug. 22: The Power of Reminiscing. Take a bag lunch or get a meal at the center. Registration. 410-222-6680.
NEWS
By Rashod D. Ollison | May 10, 2007
The lilting, jazz-kissed melody, dedicated to the survivors of the massacre at Virginia Tech, has been downloaded more than 380,000 times in the past three weeks - a frequency typically generated by a Top 10 hit single. The song was not written by a polished performer but by a British amateur artist named Kojo Best. He wrote the tune, then played it on an electric piano and posted his performance on YouTube. Even as professional artists such as platinum-selling Texas rapper Lil' Flip and R&B-pop star R. Kelly release their versions of songs dedicated to the survivors of the Virginia Tech killings, homemade musical tributes such as Best's have been mushrooming in the online video universe.
NEWS
By New York Times News Service | March 3, 2007
ENTERPRISE, Ala. --After the sudden pitch-black darkness, there was chaos, then screaming. And when that subsided, the still-jittery students of Enterprise High School recalled yesterday, young men and women they had grown up with were nowhere to be found, even as everyone else was climbing shakily to their feet. Eight students were killed Thursday afternoon, victims of a powerful tornado that tore apart their school soon after students were told to hit the floor. Concrete from a collapsed interior wall rained down on them, even as they huddled together for safety, authorities said.
NEWS
By Ronald Kotulak | February 21, 2007
CHICAGO -- When a loved one dies, people go through five stages of grieving, according to accepted wisdom: disbelief, yearning, anger, depression and acceptance. Now the first large-scale study to examine the five stages shows that not only are they accurate but also if a person has not reached the acceptance stage after six months, he or she might need professional help dealing with bereavement. The study, published in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, also found that, contrary to common belief, yearning or missing a loved one is far more prevalent than depression - meaning mental health experts might need to refocus their attention on the feeling of loss when someone experiences prolonged grief.
NEWS
By Michael Hill | January 21, 2007
Standing in line,waiting to check in for jury duty, I wondered which of the three people behind the counter I would rather handle this. The announcement had said they would confirm my address, employment and marital status. I got the middle-aged man. We went through the form on the computer screen. The address was correct. So was the employer. Marital status? "My wife has died," I said. The cursor moved. The M was changed to W. It moved again to the name of spouse. "Nancy" disappeared.