Grief is a Sneaky Bitch creator and host Lisa Keefauver is on a mission to reimagine grief, one conversation at a time.
Yes this is a podcast all about grief. She and her guests explore the expansiveness and pervasiveness of grief in our lives, because let’s face it, 100% of us experience grief, multiple times in our lives. Lisa witnessed it time and time again in her career as a social worker and in her personal life too with the most significant loss being her husband in 2011. More recently, she experienced ambiguous grief as she navigated breast cancer in 2024. And yet, individually, and collectively, we’re so grief-illiterate and that is causing us all harm. So, she's on a mission to reimagine grief, one conversation at a time. So glad you’re joining us.
She brings her deep curiosity, love of conversation, and knowledge of how language and culture shapes our experiences of ourselves and our world (including our grief) to each unscripted conversation. From thought leaders, CEO's and social workers to authors, educators, researchers, filmmakers and stay-at-home moms, her guests open up about the complexity, confusion, and even confidence they have gained by navigating a grief journey of their own.
If you like this series, please make sure to leave a rating and write a review TODAY on Apple Podcasts.
If you've found the show helpful, consider becoming a GSB Podcast Supporter here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Grief is a Sneaky Bitch creator and host Lisa Keefauver is on a mission to reimagine grief, one conversation at a time.
Yes this is a podcast all about grief. She and her guests explore the expansiveness and pervasiveness of grief in our lives, because let’s face it, 100% of us experience grief, multiple times in our lives. Lisa witnessed it time and time again in her career as a social worker and in her personal life too with the most significant loss being her husband in 2011. More recently, she experienced ambiguous grief as she navigated breast cancer in 2024. And yet, individually, and collectively, we’re so grief-illiterate and that is causing us all harm. So, she's on a mission to reimagine grief, one conversation at a time. So glad you’re joining us.
She brings her deep curiosity, love of conversation, and knowledge of how language and culture shapes our experiences of ourselves and our world (including our grief) to each unscripted conversation. From thought leaders, CEO's and social workers to authors, educators, researchers, filmmakers and stay-at-home moms, her guests open up about the complexity, confusion, and even confidence they have gained by navigating a grief journey of their own.
If you like this series, please make sure to leave a rating and write a review TODAY on Apple Podcasts.
If you've found the show helpful, consider becoming a GSB Podcast Supporter here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Kathleen Blackburn was the oldest of five children, a 12-year-old from Lubbock, Texas, whose evangelical family eschewed public education for homeschooling and wove improbable scientific theories into literal interpretations of the bible. Then her father, a former air force pilot, was diagnosed with stage IV cancer at the age of thirty-eight, and, as Kathleen writes in her searing memoir, Loose of Earth, “it was like pouring gasoline on the Holy Spirit.”
In this conversation, we explore the intricate relationship between personal grief, memory, and the political dimensions of loss. We dive dep into the complexities of memory, denial, and the impact of parental beliefs on childhood experiences of loss. As a memoirist, Kathleen explores the journey of humanizing those we’ve lost and shares her experiences growing up in a family that prioritized faith healing over medical care for her father's cancer.
Kathleen explores the impact of her father's military background, the denial surrounding his illness, and the emotional toll it took on her as a child. The conversation also explores the environmental factors contributing to her father's health issues, particularly PFAS contamination, and how these experiences shaped her understanding of grief and memory.
Kathleen was born in a military hospital on Guam in 1984. She was raised in Lubbock, Texas. She earned an MFA from the Ohio State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is the author of the memoir Loose of Earth, out with the University of Texas Press (April 2024). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Texas Observer, Belt, Guernica, Gulf Coast, River Teeth, and elsewhere. For five years, she’s taught creative nonfiction workshops at the University of Chicago. In Fall 2024, she will join the English faculty at SUNY New Paltz as an Assistant Professor. You can pick up a copy of her extraordinary memoir, Loose of Earth online here or in your favorite local bookstore.
Lisa Keefauver is a social worker, widow, cancer survivor and grief activist on a mission to reimagine the narratives of grief, one conversation at a time.
LEARN more at www.lisakeefauver.com.
FOLLOW @lisakeefauvermsw on Instagram.
LISTEN to Grief is a Sneaky Bitch Podcast - Available on all podcast platforms.
READ Grief is a Sneaky Bitch: An Uncensored Guide to Navigating Loss. Available in bookstores and on your favorite online booksellers, including Bookshop.Org. Also available as an audiobook.
WATCH her TEDx talk, Why Knowing More About Grief Can Make it Suck Less here or the video versions of this podcast here
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.