A Radically Positive (and Honest) Look at Dying
Kimchi talking about her dying process, what to do with her body, etc at the weekly pottery studio event. Art projects, goddess figurines, butt cast, blogs, “guess Kimchi’s exit date” contest, etc. Positive deathing!
Thanks to Rainbow for the video.
Mollie
“Who knew butt-fat could be an asset?
Suffering from constipation and gas build-up, Kimchi talks about enemas, the Lords and Ladies of Death and Decay, drug side effects, medical marijuana, and more.
11 January 2017.
Last night at the White Owl, with a fire blazing in the masonry stove, about fifteen of us gathered for a song circle inspired by Kimchi’s desire, in her time of transition, to have more singing in her life. This was the first in a series of circles; the plan is to hold one per week. Continue reading “During the Winter, Sing!”
The night of Tuesday, December twentieth, was the longest of the year; Wednesday morning, I joined several others at the top of Lottawatta Way to sing (and drum) up the sun, Earthaven style. As she rose, great and orange, over a mound between two ridges, we serenaded each neighborhood, beginning with the one at our feet: “Hut Hamlet, you are beautiful/Hut Hamlet, you are strong/So wonderful to be with/We’ll help you carry on/Hut Hamlet, hear our loving song.”
Continue reading “Perfect Offerings-Up in Smoke by Helen Zuman”
Since the cancer has made it hard for Kimchi to walk far, now she takes Sadie the dog for a walk (run, actually) while she drives the golf cart. We went to a place it is easy to get down to the creek.
This little video is a tasty mash-up of topics steeped in the interior juices of Kimchi’s perspective. Topics include drugs, shitting, Hospice, grief, pain. Lots of smiles and laughter! This was filmed the day after Kimchi got back from visiting Colorado where she saw her aunt and went to a personal growth workshop with a couple of good friends. December 2016.
Kimchi is riding her leaky boat of a body into regions of the sea for which she has no charts, (with regular shouts of “Ship going down!” followed by laughter). She is laughing, crying, addressing her “bucket list”(bailing is low on the agenda), cooking, going for rides in the woods on the golf cart to visit folks and let her dog get some joyful exercise, etc. Continue reading “Ship Going Down!”
My closest friend has cancer and it is going to kill her. Her body that is, not HER, exactly. Her body, mind, ego, experiences and amazing personality and worldview will disappear, but not the rest of her—the spark we call soul or spirit.
When I met Kimchi, in spring 2016, I knew she had cancer; I believe I’d seen a notice in the Earthaven newsletter that she was fundraising for holistic treatment her insurance didn’t cover. But that first time I saw her traipsing up the path to Medicine Wheel, aglow in shades of teal and turquoise (and, in my memory, accompanied by the tinkle of tiny cowbells), her illness seemed like a distant threat she could easily beat. It, not she, would pass. Continue reading “Another Assignment, by Helen Zuman”
