Jazz was my mother’s close companion for many years—particularly after my father died in 2003. Given Jazzie’s practice, therefore, in supporting someone through loss, it made perfect sense that she would help me along my own journey through grief when my mother died from a brain tumour in November 2011. During the brief two months between diagnosis and death, we were helped by an amazing team of caregivers who included the wonderful Martlets Hospice nurses.
In the many long walks Jazz and I took along the Brighton and Hove seafront during the months that we cared for my mother, photography became my walking meditation and I began to plan a book based in our experience. The process helped me and I hope it will help others, of all ages, who have lost someone important to them.
When I turned to the printed word for comfort in bereavement, the most helpful pages were not the big books of psychological analysis. Rather, I found comfort in small pages, often of poetry or images—sticky shards of experience that stayed with me. With that in mind, “Jazz says Goodbye” is a small scale book for people facing the death of someone they love. As Jazz acknowledges and grapples with the feelings that threaten to overwhelm her when her mother dies, her journey is sometimes humorous, as life often is—even at its saddest.
All proceeds from the sale of this book will support the work of the Martlets Hospice, Sussex, U.K. I know, first-hand, how valuable these services are to terminally-ill people and those close to them, and it is an honour to be able to contribute to their amazing work.
- Victoria Bryan
Victoria Bryan, Ph.D.: Originally from London, my family have been Brightonians for the past 35 years. Although I have lived in California for most of that time, I maintain close ties to Brighton and Hove.
Currently, I teach arts-related courses at two southern California Universities. From 1978 to 2001, I was co-founder and co-director of the STOP-GAP theatre company, providing an extensive network of therapeutic and educational theatre programs for diverse groups. Before that, my professional experience included freelance photography, design and set design; six years educational television production in Tehran, Iran; and a year as head of the prop department at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
Contact information: victoriakb@aol.com
In the many long walks Jazz and I took along the Brighton and Hove seafront during the months that we cared for my mother, photography became my walking meditation and I began to plan a book based in our experience. The process helped me and I hope it will help others, of all ages, who have lost someone important to them.
When I turned to the printed word for comfort in bereavement, the most helpful pages were not the big books of psychological analysis. Rather, I found comfort in small pages, often of poetry or images—sticky shards of experience that stayed with me. With that in mind, “Jazz says Goodbye” is a small scale book for people facing the death of someone they love. As Jazz acknowledges and grapples with the feelings that threaten to overwhelm her when her mother dies, her journey is sometimes humorous, as life often is—even at its saddest.
All proceeds from the sale of this book will support the work of the Martlets Hospice, Sussex, U.K. I know, first-hand, how valuable these services are to terminally-ill people and those close to them, and it is an honour to be able to contribute to their amazing work.
- Victoria Bryan
About the Author
Victoria Bryan, Ph.D.: Originally from London, my family have been Brightonians for the past 35 years. Although I have lived in California for most of that time, I maintain close ties to Brighton and Hove.
Currently, I teach arts-related courses at two southern California Universities. From 1978 to 2001, I was co-founder and co-director of the STOP-GAP theatre company, providing an extensive network of therapeutic and educational theatre programs for diverse groups. Before that, my professional experience included freelance photography, design and set design; six years educational television production in Tehran, Iran; and a year as head of the prop department at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
Contact information: victoriakb@aol.com
