Great Grief! When I heard the title of Nnenna Freelon’s podcast, I thought finally someone is telling the truth. I know good grief is an ironic expression meant to underscore difficulty but grief in my experience has never been good, not even in an ironic way. At least not in the moment. Nope. I hate Grief, and she hates me. That hate is current, visceral and...
Grief is a woman with plenty to say. This shape-shifting step-sister of ours wasn’t originally a part of the plan, but now she is coming with—no choice there. But did you know you also have the ability to shape your grief? It’s true; however, first you must be willing to meet her where she lives. In this episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon asks us to...
No woman makes it through life without a sister. In grieving the death of her baby sister, Nnenna alights on all the ways Black women experience sisterhood. Through faith, family, and struggle, we inhabit a deep solidarity that allows us to hold one another close, even at the very end. This is episode two in our four-part season of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon...
Our relationship with our hair is a complicated entanglement. It holds our history, personality, and identity. It also holds our grief. In this episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon sits us down in the chair at her mother’s beauty salon, where for generations, Black women have celebrated one another and have gathered to discuss their hair—the grief over it...
The podcast Great Grief takes shape around Nnenna Freelon’s own great grief, which she experienced after the death of her husband, Philip Freelon, in 2019. A wife for nearly 40 years, Nnenna wonders in this episode what to make of the term widow. Perhaps loss does not make her into a widow after all—perhaps it’s turning her into something else altogether...
You’re invited: Join Scalawag and Nnenna Freelon in Durham, North Carolina, on Sunday, December 10 for Great Grief—Live! Home for the Holidays, a musical performance and conversation exploring loss, love, and how to move forward with grief during the holidays. The seasons are changing—an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that...
You’re invited: Join Scalawag and Nnenna Freelon in Durham, North Carolina, on Sunday, December 10 for Great Grief—Live! Home for the Holidays, a musical performance and conversation exploring loss, love, and how to move forward with grief during the holidays. Grief can take us to our knees—right back to the dirt, dust, and the earth, from which all things grow...
How do we communicate with those who have “gone?” Is it even possible? In this episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon sets about asking the moon, the sun, and even the leaves how she might get in touch with her beloved Phil. If grief shows us that time isn’t linear, maybe sorrow is more than a season—perhaps it’s actually a portal. Subscribe...
Episode 4 of ‘Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon,’ Season 2: Seasons of Change by NNENNA FREELON December 14, 2023 The festive season carries such a high expectation of joy that can feel inaccessible for so many grievers. In this previously-recorded live edition of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon gathers her community and creates a warm space for us to sit with...