Surviving Loss

Humans are undeniably creatures of habit. So when sudden, unexpected plot twists pull the metaphorical rug from beneath our feet, it can sometimes feel impossible to regain our footing. Therapist and podcaster Jana Firestone knows this better than most, after losing her mum suddenly at the age of 21 and spending many years providing professional counselling to her clients during their darkest days. But in bearing witness to outpourings of grief, loss and pain on a daily basis, Firestone also experienced and observed remarkable resilience, transformation and hope.

“We couldn’t do anything to save it. Your house is ash”. Words you never want to hear. That your home, your beloved home, was incinerated in a wildfire. Or flattened by a tornado. Pulverized by a hurricane. Washed away by a torrential flood. Total, irreparable destruction caused by a devastating natural catastrophe. And yet, those are words many of us have heard, and then somehow have had to live through the aftermath. Dealt with the consequences of losing everything but our lives. If we are lucky. For there are those who not only lost everything, but a loved one as well.

On April 24, 1996, Becky Olson was diagnosed with breast cancer. Suddenly, the 43-year-old mother of five and highly successful businesswoman now stood at the crossroads between life and death. Surviving arduous treatments and physical, mental, and emotional turmoil, Becky used the only weapon she had - her hat - to win the battle against the uninvited and overwhelming foe.

While it's tough to understand what leads a person into addiction - to witness someone you love kind-of kill herself - the truth is that you can learn from it. By the time Céline died at age 30, she was Kermit The Frog green and she vomited blood more frequently than she was able to eat. In less than a decade, she had gone from summa cum laude Columbia graduate to NYU PhD student to unemployed, rambling, stumbling drunk saddled with a cirrhotic liver beyond repair.

Daniel was bullied his whole life. Throughout school, he was picked on. Then at work, he was laughed at. He had given up. Then one day, he found his soulmate, and life got so much better. But sometimes you just have to admit that no matter how much you want to change your destiny, you can’t. Or can you? Listen to Daniel’s story to find out.

Death is the last taboo in our society, and grief is still profoundly misunderstood. So many of us feel awkward and uncertain around death and shy away from talking honestly with family and friends. Grief Works is a compassionate guide that will inform and engage anyone who is grieving, from the "expected" death of a parent to the sudden unexpected death of a small child, and provide clear advice for those seeking to comfort the bereaved.

Loss concerns a failed writer working as a handyman in an old Manhattan apartment building with a strange history and numerous oddball tenants, not all of whom may be what they seem. The penthouse is owned by a bestselling novelist and his wife, the nameless narrator's longtime unrequited love, who soon goes missing. Is she dead or somehow trapped within the endless corridors of a lair full of twisted memories and half-forgotten ambitions?

Prepare to be enchanted by Selma Mann’s tribute to aging with grace and laughter. With disarmingly simple language, she finds the extraordinary in the ordinary, with whimsical unexpected twists that delight and connect with audiences of all ages, touching on her familiar themes of love, loss, and survival. These poems sparkle with fresh images, delightful wordplay, and a startling perspective on reality. "Selma Mann's poetry makes my heart take flight. She has tapped into the source of everything poetry should bring: peace, comfort, and joy." William Bernhardt, author of The Ocean's Edge ...