What I Carried in Silence with Melanie Brooks

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Coffee, Grief, And Gratitude

Coffee And Grief

90 episodes

1 week ago

Anne Gudger and Maria Gibson are widening the grief conversation, talking about the things we don’t normally take the time to talk about. We’ll hear different people’s grief stories and talk with them about their experience of grief throughout their lives. We get learn new things every time. We’re here to ask questions, not prescribe answers. We’re not experts in your grief. We’ll hear stories about death, sickness, politics, dementia, loss of youth, loss of self. Anne Gudger’s memoir, THE FIFTH CHAMBER is out now. Follow her at: Annegudger.com. Find us on FB at Coffee and Grief Community.

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Mental Health

Health & Fitness

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What I Carried in Silence with Melanie Brooks

Coffee, Grief, And Gratitude

47 minutes 15 seconds

3 months ago

What I Carried in Silence with Melanie Brooks

In this episode, Melanie Brooks openly shares the experience of her father dying from AIDS and how, as a family, they didn’t talk about him being sick. It took her 20 years to look at the silence and grief.

Her dad was infected with AIDS from a blood transfusion during surgery. Her dad was a surgeon. He thought he’d die in months so he decided to keep his health a secret to avoid the stigmas around AIDS. He and their family lived with the silence for ten years.

Melanie shares some beautiful insights around grief. She says, “I couldn’t move forward without looking back.” She believed she was preparing herself for years, but nothing could prepare her for the loss.

Melanie Brooks is the author of the memoir A Hard Silence: One daughter remaps family, grief, and faith when HIV/AIDS changes it all (Vine Leaves Press, 2023) and Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma (Beacon Press, 2017) She teaches creative nonfiction in the M.F.A. program at Bay Path University and in the M.F.A. program at Western Connecticut State University and professional writing at Northeastern University. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast writing program and a Certificate in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University. She has had numerous interviews and essays on topics ranging from loss and grief to parenting and aging published in The Boston Globe, The Toronto Globe and Mail, HuffPost, Yankee Magazine, Psychology Today, The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, Creative Nonfiction, and other notable publications. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, two children (when they are home from university), and chocolate Lab.

Thank you for letting us be in your ears.

Coffee, Grief and Gratitude is created by Anne Gudger and Maria Gibson, a mom/daughter duo who talk about grief.

You can find them on Facebook at Coffee and Grief. Please join their private Facebook page: Coffee and Grief Community.

You can also email Anne and Maria at: coffeeandgrief@gmail.com

Anne’s memoir, THE FIFTH CHAMBER, a memoir of loss and love, is available wherever you get your books.

Once you’ve read THE FIFTH CHAMBER, Anne would be so grateful if you’d share your honest thoughts on Amazon and Goodreads. Thank you for taking a few minutes to review!

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