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Home > Interviews > “Grief Demands Compassion”: An Interview with Emma Hansen
Photo by Aaron Vandenbrink
Emma Hansen’s debut memoir
Still ebbs and flows around the reader, much like its recurring motif of water. At times, it brims with heartbreak; at other times, it is tender and overflowing with love. Hansen guides readers through her journey of grief after discovering her first child, Reid, has died––and she will have to deliver him stillborn––and then through the aftermath of her mourning.
Natasha Ramoutar: There is an overarching water metaphor woven throughout
Still
––grief coming in “waves,” for example. What were your intentions with this repeated motif? Was the motif added in during the editing process or was it apparent in the first draft?
We’ve all seen people on social media wishing 2020 away and hoping for a better year in 2021. However, I think there have been many bright spots. As a whole, we have learned that we are more resilient than we knew, more generous with our time and attention, and way luckier to be alive than we sometimes realized.
I continued working even after the world shut down, photographing a different kind of daily life. I had the unique opportunity to watch firsthand what our little community looked like when it was a bit slower and quieter. Neighbors came together to wish a child happy birthday in a drive-by celebration, teachers tried to make their students feel like important rights of passage were still honored, and restaurants did their best to stay open and keep their employees at work. Things are different, of course, but while we miss large gatherings and seeing each other’s faces without masks, I have found that I am more grateful than ever that I get to live in the Roaring Fork Va