I believe in the importance of individuality, but in the midst of grief I also find myself wanting connection - wanting to be reminded that the sadness I feel is not just mine but ours.

'Hamlet' is the best description of grief I've read because it dramatizes grief rather than merely describing it.

While I did a lot of research, I ended up feeling that the best way to write about grief was to describe it from the inside out - the show the strange intensities that come along with it, the peculiar thoughts, the longing for that past - all the strange moments of thinking you glimpse the dead person on the street, or in your dreams.

There is always tension in women's gymnastics between athleticism, grace, performance, and eros.

Suddenly it was fall, the season of death, the anniversary of things-going-to-hell.

My mother never liked Mother's Day. She thought it was a fake holiday dreamed up by Hallmark to commodify deep sentiments that couldn't be expressed with a card.

Faith does help mourners survive their loss, some studies suggest; but I imagine one still struggles.