tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post6482361250186043905..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: Loss, Mourning, AffirmationCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-38560229401925557252009-03-04T12:11:00.000-05:002009-03-04T12:11:00.000-05:00Those children had their lives enriched by a wonde...Those children had their lives enriched by a wonderful person who leaves the world having made an impact. An inspiration, They were all blessed to have had the pleasure of meeting such a great person.<BR/>BevBaylward8https://www.blogger.com/profile/14663784310537641920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-44168382164655901692009-02-18T14:51:00.000-05:002009-02-18T14:51:00.000-05:00Very moving. But can you please dissuade him from ...Very moving. But can you please dissuade him from launching balloons? Another word for that is LITTERING. Animals can die from eating those balloon scraps. Really!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-51529876050568223232009-02-14T18:30:00.000-05:002009-02-14T18:30:00.000-05:00Yes. The grief of children. A week after the worst...Yes. The grief of children. A week after the worst of the fires here, we are just starting to see the trauma of childhood loss in Victoria. <BR/><BR/>I've just come from a two-day planning meeting that was thinking about the medieval and early modern history of emotion. Of course, one of the great furphies of medieval and early modern history is that parents did not grieve for their children. But the grief and mourning of children is a different topic again. Would the processes of historical and cultural change be more, or less legible in the emotions of children?<BR/><BR/>Anyway, I know the kids in Marysville, Kinglake, Flowerdale, Strathewen and elsewhere will know exactly how Alex is feeling....<BR/><BR/>My partner's mother was principal of the junior school of a big private school when she had a major heart attack. She was asked to resign, as the council feared the children would be too upset if she died. That seemed to me a rather stupid policy. Grief and trauma are awful, yes, but we need to nurture children through them, as you and the school are doing, rather than shielding them from natural events.<BR/><BR/>And I'm glad to report Jean is still going strong, nearly twenty years later.This old world is a new worldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11567163294720510335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-66691595102054528842009-02-13T15:36:00.000-05:002009-02-13T15:36:00.000-05:00Thank you for that entry, Jeffrey, and for sharing...Thank you for that entry, Jeffrey, and for sharing your experience with Alex and Mr. Hegedus. I know precisely what you mean about needing to write about this experience without fully knowing why. I think it might have something to do with giving shape to what is otherwise inchoate and giving voice to what is otherwise inarticulable. I'm coming to the point of believing that the pedagogical relationship may be the most important of all outside our immediate family, and the best teachers are those who can still be taught--taught again to see, to hear, and to feel what we think we know so well but that comes upon us again and again as something new.dtklinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14754509776199786016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-71226780530841867402009-02-13T13:55:00.000-05:002009-02-13T13:55:00.000-05:00Oh, poor Alex and his classmates. It's so di...Oh, poor Alex and his classmates. It's so difficult to lose someone unexpectedly. <BR/><BR/>I attended my first balloon release event this past summer in Winston-Salem, as part of something the local hospice does with their summer grief camp. I'd never heard of it before -- but somehow the release of those notes & words & good-byes seemed so beautiful, so graceful, so important. <BR/><BR/>My thoughts are with all of you.Mary Kate Hurleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14892991966276345782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-29166087476601346372009-02-13T10:42:00.000-05:002009-02-13T10:42:00.000-05:00That's terribly, awfully, beautiful.And I'm crying...That's terribly, awfully, beautiful.<BR/><BR/>And I'm crying now.Another Damned Medievalisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05231085915472400163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-57384574375395804012009-02-13T09:12:00.000-05:002009-02-13T09:12:00.000-05:00A catastrophe! Very moving post, and my most since...A catastrophe! Very moving post, and my most sincere condolences for Alex and all the Cohens.Karl Steelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.com