Housing and Development Newsletter
“We come together every month with speakers that give the community tools to help navigate COVID-19 through our illuminate Speaker Series. Sharon is one of the first to bring meditation and mindfulness into mainstream American culture over 45 years ago,” said David Selberg, CEO of Hospice of Santa Barbara.
“Her relatable, demystifying approach has inspired generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers and we hope everyone is able to take part in this event,” he said.
In January, the illuminate Speaker Series hosted award-winning medical journalist and author Katy Butler who presented Ritual and Resilience: Building Meaning and Connection in a World Turned Upside Down where individuals attended from all over the world.
How COVID pandemic is reshaping rituals of death and the way we mourn
Katy Butler
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Until COVID-19 vaccination is widespread, the disease will continue to reshape how we die, how we honor the dead, how we mourn and how we live.Getty Images
So ingrained is the family death vigil that during the Civil War, dying soldiers sometimes pulled out family photographs to create it in their imaginations. Today, while families cry on sidewalks, thousands die of COVID attended only by nurses and aides holding iPads and dressed in hazmat suits.
Just as visceral is our unspoken promise to handle the bodies of the dead with reverence. In the powerful Greek tragedy, Antigone refuses to leave her disgraced brother’s body to be “chewed up by birds and dogs and violated.” Now, during COVID surges, the dead are stacked in refrigerator trucks.