We Need to Talk About COVID

Photo illustration by Angelo Bautista. Original images by Marjan Blan and Markus Winkler (CC0)

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Original Air Date: 
March 08, 2025

It’s been five years since the start of the pandemic. Some 1.2 million Americans died of COVID. That’s a lot of grief. But our loss is much more than death. Many lost the friendship of the workplace. And for a subset of teenagers, there was the loss of two years of high school. And the list goes on. Many of us are still left unmoored. But maybe our collective grief can bring us together.

What happens when a nation doesn't grieve?

Audio

David Kessler is a world-renowned grief expert. He argues that as a nation, Americans are dealing with a lot of unacknowledged post-pandemic grief.

Length: 
19:02

What the Civil War can teach us about American grief

Audio

Drew Gilpin Faust, historian and author of “The Republic of Suffering,” draws compelling parallels between the grief experienced after the American Civil War and the mourning process following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Length: 
15:09

How a funeral singer helps us to mourn

Audio

Lauren DePino started singing at funerals as a child. As a professional funeral singer, she thinks of her work as a form of alchemy—a way to transmute grief into something bigger.

Length: 
15:10
Show Details 📻
Airdates
March 08, 2025
Guests: 

David Kessler

Grief Counselor
grief.com

Drew Gilpin Faust

Academic

Lauren DePino

Funeral Singer
laurendepino.com
Categories: 
Politics and History
Current Events
Social Trends
Full Transcript 📄

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Last modified: 
March 07, 2025