Looking Death Right in the Eye w/ Sarah Doumar

Julia is joined by bestina and hospital chaplain Sarah Doumar to confront the only thing we are unfortunately promised in this lifetime: death. Together the girlies deconstruct how dying transformed from an intimate, familiar occurence to a hidden and medicalized taboo, unpacking the predatory funeral industry, the West's treatment of elders, and society's obsession with immortality. Plus, Sarah shares what sitting with dying patients has taught her about grief, fear, and spirituality. Digressions include tyrannical choir teachers, a sacred dream about Heath Ledger, and smoking hookah at the retirement village. WE'RE GOING ON TOUR!!!! Find tickets for the Shake Up Your Life Tour at https://binchtopia.com/tour This episode was produced by Julia Hava and Kylie Finnigan and edited by Livi Burdette.  To support the podcast on Patreon and access 50+ bonus episodes, mediasodes, and more, visit patreon.com/binchtopia and become a patron today. SOURCES A Third of Young Adults Are Still Living With Their Parents—as Old Taboo  Aging Out by Lucy Schiller Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life Becomes the New Normal Amid Soaring Costs  Being Mortal by Atul Gawande  Death Is Having a Moment  Death anxiety. The worm at the core of mental health.  Does The Internet Change How We Die And Mourn? Overview And Analysis  Good Grief  Growing Old in America by David Hackett Fischer It's Mourning in America It's Time to Let the Five Stages of Grief Die  Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging  Mid-Late Victorian Mourning Dress Mortal Remains: Death in America by Nancy Isenberg Mourning during the Civil War  New study challenges notion that aging means decline, finds many older adults improve over time  Place of Death Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic  Poor Relief and the Almshouse  Senior Living History: 1930 - 1939  TERROR MANAGEMENT THEORY  The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford  The Denial of Death and the Practice of Dying  The Hour of Our Death by Philippe Ariès The FTC Funeral Rule  The other side of sadness: What the new science of bereavement tells us about life after loss.  The Trouble with Nursing Homes  The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion U.S. centenarian population is projected to quadruple over the next 30 years  Western Attitudes Toward Death From The Middle Ages To The Present by Philippe Ariès  When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi