💜🎙️ In this episode, Naomi Bindman shares her essay, “A Change of Spirit” reflecting on grief and honoring three special women in her life through storytelling.
During our conversation, Naomi reflected on the influence of her mother and grandmother on her writing and teaching journeys, as well as how feedback has helped her refine her craft. Through storytelling and performing, she has found a way to give voice to her deceased daughter and honor the legacies of the incredible women who shaped her life. After her daughter Ellen passed away in a car accident, Naomi rediscovered the will to live by performing Ellen’s songs. Initially, she pursued this goal seeking enough closure to end her life. Instead, she found an unexpected joy that she once thought was lost forever.
Together, we explored the challenges of grief and the cultural discomfort around pain, emphasizing the need to lean into grief and allow oneself to feel the pain before moving forward. Grief is not linear and looks different for everyone, including Naomi who shared how the experience of losing her daughter was the most incomprehensible loss of all. Wherever you are in your journey, she encouraged embracing the pain of grief, recognizing the value of therapy, connecting with others who have experienced similar losses, finding creative outlets for processing emotions, and embracing vulnerability as integral to the healing process.
Naomi Bindman is a writer, musician, and award-winning educator based in Vermont. Her articles, essays, and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in anthologies and journals including Mothering, So to Speak, Friends Journal, Consilience, Import Sky, Honeyguide, Synchroniciti, First Literary Review—East, South Florida Poetry Journal, Lightwood Magazine, and El Portal Literary Journal. She was a finalist in the 2023 Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest and won the 2023 Creative Nonfiction Award from Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose. Naomi has received grants from the Vermont Arts Council, taught memoir-writing workshops funded by the Vermont Humanities Council, and is on the faculty of the Vermont State Colleges. Her memoir, You're the Words I Sing, tells the story of Naomi's journey back to life performing the songs of her daughter, Ellen, who lost her life in a car crash at seventeen.
Experience the Podcast: Listeners can watch the full interview or read the essay.