writings

A Place for Grief to Rest

From the Brattleboro Area Hospice 2015 Annual Report When Hallowell sings in a room where someone is dying, grief is likely to show up.  We have described our singing as “a place for grief to rest.”  But what do we mean by these words?  What does it mean to “give grief a place to rest?”  Grief is …

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When the Words Won’t Come

From the Brattleboro Area Hospice 2014 Annual Report  When I visit my mom, now in her 80’s, and it’s time to say good-bye after a short visit that felt too long, bags all packed, bedding washed and put away, we say our ritual good-byes.  We hug and kiss and say our thank you for this …

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Teaching and Learning

Hallowell’s Ten Year Anniversary (2013) A decade after we gathered around Dinah’s bed in the Breunig’s cozy Putney house and sang for her during the last days of her life, a decade after Noree Ennis; the then-patient care coordinator asked if we might sing this way for others, a decade after we said Yes with …

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Planting the Seeds of Hallowell

From  the Brattleboro Area Hospice 2011 Annual Report On the first Thursday of each month, throughout Brattleboro and the surrounding areas, you are likely to see small groups of Hallowell singers meeting, gathering and preparing to go out to visit hospice clients and their families in their homes or hospital rooms or nursing home rooms.  …

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Grace, Growth and Gratitude

September, 2006 When we welcome life’s passages, birth and death, into our daily lives, when we are not so distant and removed from these powerful times of transition between worlds, we become more comfortable around them and then of course, more amazed and graced by our living. I believe it is this grace that accounts …

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