Library News & Updates

Book Display | Grief Belongs: Exploring Grief through Literature | Tabling April 22nd 10am-2pm

The Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons is excited to partner with the Grief Belongs project for a book display that speaks to the ways in which individuals and societies navigate and understand grief.  Be sure to come by the Library, Floor 3 on Tuesday, April 22nd, 10am-2pm to speak with Gabriel Beck, who will be available to discuss the project and the resources in the display.

From poignant memoirs, to humor-filled guides to coping, to explorations of death rituals across cultures, experiences of grief are as diverse as the people who live through loss and change. The hope of this collection is to inspire readers to be curious about their relationship to grief and learn from other perspectives on it.

“Grief is an inextricable part of the human experience; grief is the price of love. Yet, in much of the Western world, there is no place for grief. Grief is often bound by expectations around intensity and duration, and judgement abounds when one’s grief experience does not align with these expectations”
-Caitlin Koch (Former executive director of the Bellingham, WA grief non-profit Our Treehouse in a post on the Whatcom Watch)

In Washington State, if a family member or household member dies, people are only entitled to three days off. Culturally, many mourning traditions operate on the timescale of weeks or months. What happens when people are not given the time and space to grieve? Prominent grief researcher and teacher Dr. Kenneth Doka describes this as “disenfranchised grief”. When survivors are not accorded the ‘right to grieve’, Dr. Doka describes this as an infringement on basic human dignity. While anyone can experience disenfranchised grief, it is important to recognize that marginalized communities are particularly affected.
What does disenfranchised grief look like on campus? What makes grief hard to talk about? How do we create a space that welcomes grief?

The Grief Belongs project hopes to tackle these questions and more via monthly grief-centered events and by involving stakeholders across clubs and campus offices. You can learn more about the project here.

Reading about grief can be hard. Please consider following the links below for additional support as needed.
Counseling and Psychological Services: free on-campus and online mental health care for students
TimelyCare: 24/7 digital health service that is free for students
Pastoral Care: Meet with a campus minister for spiritual accompaniment and support