Advertise on podcast: Processing

This week we are privileged to welcome cook and writer Ava Truckey. Ava joins us to talk about the 2013 death of her mother, just two days before her 25th birthday. We discuss grief, cooking as a way of managing emotional pain, the writing process, and why Taco Bell is the best fast food on earth. We loved our time with Ava and we know you will too. Please follow her work @avatruckey on Instagram and Twitter, and her substack https://avatruckey.substack.com/. Thank you Ava, we love you!

Hello friends! We are back with a very special episode! This week we welcome Laura Davis. Laura the author of seven non-fiction books, including The Courage to Heal, Becoming the Parent You Want to Be, and I Thought We'd Never Speak Again. Her groundbreaking books have been translated into 11 languages and have sold more than 1.8 million copies. In her new book, The Burning Light of Two Star, Laura examines the endurance of mother-daughter love, how memory protects and betrays us, and the determination it takes to fulfill a promise when ghosts from the past come knocking. Laura teaches writing online, in person, and in domestic and international retreats, and you can find information on how to be a part of these on her website, www.lauradavis.net Laura is a beautiful writer who has helped so many people with her work, and it was an absolute honor to have her on our show! Thank you Laura

This week we have the distinct pleasure of speaking with Zahra’s long time best friend, Alexis Arvidson-Needham. Alexis is an Acupuncturist and practitioner of Eastern and Western Herbal Medicine. She joins us to talk about a very complicated and very common type of grief: ambiguous grief. Alexis shares about her strained relationship with her father, and how though he is alive, she deeply feels the grief of a life with him being largely absent from her life. This was a really deep and touching conversation, and something that many of us can relate to, and a new way to recognize grief in our own lives and those we love. Thank you to Alexis for her time and vulnerability ❤️

On this week's show we have the absolute pleasure of speaking with Erica Hill. Erica is the owner of Sparrow Funeral Home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She joins us to discuss her vision and goals with Sparrow, as well as her own personal and profound experiences with grief. We loved our time with Erica, and we hope you enjoy this very special conversation.

On this week's very special episode we welcome Artist, Bartender, and Pay It Forward Charleston grant recipient, Luka Romonova. Pay It Forward Charleston provides relief in the form of grants to Charleston's food and beverage community.  Luka shares their experience with Pay It Forward, as well as their experiences with the intersection of food and grief. Their story is so touching and inspiring, and we were deeply honored to have them join us for this beautiful episode. Please check out Pay It Forward Charleston, and help support this amazing cause. Pay It Forward Charleston began as a collaboration between farmers, restaurants, and community members who united in an effort to feed food and beverage workers during the COVID-19 crisis. With every $10 donated, a Charleston community member received a grocery bag filled with goods purchased at a discounted rate from local farms. The donations created income for farmers who were impacted by restaurant closures in the wake of COVID-19 and provided fresh produce to community members who were out of work. In all, Pay It Forward raised $100,000 and delivered over 11,000 bags of groceries to the food and beverage community from March - September of 2020, working in collaboration with Feed the Need Charleston. Riding a wave of community support, the program was expanded to serve three area shelters before it was wrapped up that fall.

This week we read a beautiful listener letter from Lori, who shares with us some complicated feelings regarding travel and celebration after the passing of her husband, Lou. Thank you, Lori, for sharing this letter with us ❤️

Hello sweet friends. We have missed you so! This week we are back to talk about the goings on in the world, what we’ve been up to, and how we’ve been handling it all. And we want to hear from you and how you’ve been handing it all too. Please drop us a line at [email protected] , or on our IG @processing_podcast if you want to share your story with us ❤️

A special re-broadcast while we are away! On today's show we are joined by film Director and Producer, Risa Morimoto. Risa is also the founder and CEO of "Modern Aging," a foundation that focuses on innovative and holistic approaches and solutions to aging and caregiving. Risa's family also owns The Kura Barn, a homestyle Japanese restaurant in our hometown of Huntington, NY. Our talk with Risa was amazing, and culminated in us all singing and crying together. Please note this episode was recorded before the Coronavirus crisis. We truly hope you are all finding ways to cope with this incredibly difficult time. Please reach out to us at [email protected] for emotional support, or if you have a listener letter or story you would like to share.

A very special re-broadcast while we are away. On today’s show we are honored to welcome the Driscoll family. Ellen and Dan are brother and sister, and Clare is Dan’s daughter and Ellen’s niece. Dan and Ellen both lost their wives to cancer, and Clare, her mother, and they talk candidly about this experience, and how they have found ways to cope since losing their beloveds. What a beautiful and emotional episode this was, one that left us with so much to think about. Thank you so much Ellen, Dan and Clare for sharing this, it was so moving to speak with you all❤️

A special re-broadcast while we're away! This week we are joined by Cake Designer, Baker and Writer, Monica O'Connell. Monica earned a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from New York University, and was executive director of the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College in Chicago for eight years. She then pivoted in her professional life,and began to pursue her passion and creative calling as a Cake Baker and Designer. Monica has a deeply spiritual relationship with food, from the stunning cakes that she creates in her business, Curtis & Cake (@curtisandcake), to the foods she prepares in her personal life, to the nostalgia for the foods of her youth. She shares with us the different types of loss and grief that she has been dealing with this past year, including the very painful loss of her mother, and the non stop violence toward and murder of Black people in America. This was a deep and also very tender conversation, and we we’re so grateful to Monica for her generosity in sharing her experiences and emotions with us. Please check out Monica's breathtaking cakes on her Instagram page, @curtisandcake

A special re-broadcast while we're away! Today is a special day, folks, as we welcome our sweet friend Tovah Shanok. Tovah joins us from her home in Germany to talk about the many different grief experiences she had endured over the past decade-plus. Tovah is a remarkable and very accomplished chef, and it was incredible to hear her talk about trying to grapple with loss while also working in kitchens. Her experiences at the intersection of food and grief are incredibly prolific, and it was an honor to have her join us. Please enjoy our lovely talk with Tovah.

This week we have the honor of welcoming author and teacher Diane Zinna. Diane is the author of THE ALL-NIGHT SUN (Random House, 2020) which was longlisted for The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and the Cabell First Novelist Award. She also teaches a grief-writing Sunday workshop, which we highly recommend for anyone interested in grief writing.  Diane joins us to discuss the loss of her beloved mother, and how this tragic loss has impacted her personally and professionally. It was incredibly touching and insightful to speak with Diane. She’s a beautiful writer and person, and we got so much from our talk with her, and we know you will too. We are on vacation until 6/4/22. Take care of yourselves and each other, and we can’t wait to be with you all again in June ❤️❤️