10/05/2004 11:12:00 AM

we need houses of mourning. if we had such places i think we might begin to indirectly address certain causes of homelessness, child abuse and neglect and a slew of other personal and familial tragedies.

we have no clear space or social practice of mourning. there is an unspoken expectation and, often, an economic imperative to "move on" rather quickly after the death of a child, the loss of a marriage, the end of a company or whatever reversal of fortune one might experience with a level of traumatizing intensity as to no longer function as one once did. these are transition points and emotional pillars: experiences that "change everything" and that become important narratives on which a recounting of identity hangs.

events such as these, traumas, are not easily integrated into day-to-day life. one pretends to be "over" traumas to their detriment. one cannot make healing happen. healing happens. often it takes time, space and the freedom to story through what otherwise seems impossible to narrate.