Introduction

The start of a new year is often a time of reflection and after the last few challenging pandemic ones, that might also mean dwelling on feelings of loss or grief. This week, Lale chats with the creator of a podcast called The Order of the Good Death. She’s Caitlin Doughty, a mortician, the owner of a funeral home in Los Angeles, and an advocate of funeral reform. She’s toured the world exploring death rituals—from Barcelona to Mexico to Indonesia to Bolivia to Japan—on a quest to discover where death has the most dignity, and what we can learn from it. Plus, we hear from a listener who traveled to Ireland and may, or may not, have encountered the spirit of a legendary Irish poet.