If you haven’t seen Stephen Jenkinson do a presentation, you need to be in Santa Fe on November 19 at the James A. Little Theater to catch him and his entourage present Nights of Grief and Mystery. This tour combines music, readings, and the awareness that WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE, into a not-to-be missed event.
Jenkinson, the author of Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, has a lot to say about death and dying. He also has a lot to say about life, living, and loving. On this Nights of Grief and Mystery tour, he takes his message to a whole new level. Here’s a video promoting the event:
An activist, teacher, author, and farmer, Jenkinson worked in what he calls the death trade as a palliative care social worker. In Die Wise, he tells stories about the patients he met and worked with, and stories of people who died badly.
Jenkinson has a master’s degree in theology from Harvard University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Toronto. Formerly a program director at a major Canadian hospital and medical-school assistant professor, Stephen is now a sought-after workshop leader, speaker, and consultant to palliative care and hospice organizations. He is the founder of The Orphan Wisdom School in Canada and the subject of the documentary film Griefwalker. His website is www.OrphanWisdom.com.
He was last in New Mexico in 2016. That year, we had a 33-minute interview for my A Good Goodbye podcast. We discussed the death avoidance prevalent in the dominant North American culture, the drawbacks of having More Time as a hospice or palliative care patient, the consequences of being hopeful when dying, and ways to change language and to change behaviors related to death and dying.
