Grief Is for People - Sloane Crosley
Season 10 Episode 5 | 2m 30sVideo has Closed Captions
Sloane Crosley talks with J.T. Ellison about her memoir GRIEF IS FOR PEOPLE.
Witty and poignant, Grief Is for People is Sloane Crosley’s moving exploration of loss following the death of her closest friend. In this memoir, Crosley confronts grief’s complexities through philosophy, art, and personal reflection, blending humor and empathy. A modern elegy, it challenges conventional notions of mourning while navigating friendship, family, and the impact of the pandemic.
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A Word on Words is a local public television program presented by WNPT
Grief Is for People - Sloane Crosley
Season 10 Episode 5 | 2m 30sVideo has Closed Captions
Witty and poignant, Grief Is for People is Sloane Crosley’s moving exploration of loss following the death of her closest friend. In this memoir, Crosley confronts grief’s complexities through philosophy, art, and personal reflection, blending humor and empathy. A modern elegy, it challenges conventional notions of mourning while navigating friendship, family, and the impact of the pandemic.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(bell dings) (typewriter clacks) - [Sloane] Hi, I'm Sloane Crosley, and this is "Grief Is for People."
It's the story of what happened in 2019.
I left my apartment for one hour and came back to find all my jewelry missing.
I was burglarized.
And then exactly one month later, my best friend died by suicide.
And it's about me struggling to figure out where these losses fit together and struggle to find the reasoning of why he took his own life.
- I wanna talk about the jewelry itself and what it meant to you and how it shaped your life.
- Yeah.
- Because I think it's fascinating that that was your entry point to talk about Russell's death.
- Well, Russell, a lot of the book, there's a part where I struggle with, I think, like what my friend and I have in common and what makes us different.
He loved objects.
And not in a superficial way.
He loved the history behind them.
It was almost like his house was like an orphanage for, you know, lost, weird things, which makes him sound like a hoarder.
(J.T.
laughs) But he loved the flea market, you know, he loved that kind of thing.
He loved collecting items.
And so there was this month, like I said, between when the burglary happened and when he died, and he was trying to help me find the jewelry.
(Sloane chuckles) So they are really interconnected in this funny way.
And then the saddest part, without giving away too much of the book, is at some point we're out for drinks, and I was griping to him, and this is the last night I saw him, about, you know, maybe I had a lead on where the jewelry might be, maybe I didn't.
And the last thing he said to me when he walked me back to my apartment door is he said, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, "you can't take it with you when you go."
And then he walked off into the dark, and that was the last time I saw him.
So his story and my story, even though it's much smaller and more of a keyhole into the room that is his life, they're connected.
- Sloane, thank you so much for being here.
I love this book, and I really hope a lot of people read it.
- Oh, thank you.
- And thank you for watching "A Word on Words."
I'm J.T.
Ellison.
Keep reading.
(bell dings) - [Sloane] Last year, I think over 50,000 people died by suicide in this country.
We have a lot of fear when we talk about suicide, and I'm making it okay for other people to talk about it.
(soft pensive music)
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A Word on Words is a local public television program presented by WNPT