the examined family

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elder care

It takes a village to love an elder
I am sitting on the little bed as my dad lies on it, his shrinking body kind of curled around me.
 • Courtney Martin
So you think your parent might have dementia...
I’ve had a bunch of friends who, in the time that I’ve gone public about my dad’s diagnosis and my journey caretaking for him, have cornered me at bars…
 • Courtney Martin
'The ease with which we all may disappear'
5 questions for essayist, minister, and chaplain Lynn Casteel Harper
 • Courtney Martin
Ego death and dream states
 • Courtney Martin
Memory / care
making grief visible
 • Courtney Martin
The hungry ghosts of fading men
My dad, at 77 years old, has become terrifically fragile.
 • Courtney Martin
Grace and proportionality in polycrisis
Hey dears, thanks for all your support on the launch of the second season of The Wise Unknown last week.
 • Courtney Martin
The unbearable lightness of biography
on telling the stories of those we love and how flawed it all is
 • Courtney Martin
The fuller, braver story
on our anemic public imagination when it comes to aging and dying
 • Courtney Martin
Ten rules on the art of care
after Sister Corita Kent's "ten rules" for the Immaculate Heart College art department (and inspired by Elissa Strauss)
 • Courtney Martin
The cruel subtlety of pity
Pity is a White woman you don’t know that well making a b-line for you at the grocery store to tell you how very sad she was to hear about the truly…
 • Courtney Martin
The body keeps the sunshine
reflections on caring for people we love in ways that they may never remember
 • Courtney Martin
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