The author of history's most influential piece of animal mourning literature had been lost...until now. Learn the incredible true story behind The Rainbow Bridge. 

Episode Guest

Paul Koudounaris is a  founding member of The Order of the Good Death. He has a PhD in Art History and has written three books about the use of skeletal remains in sacred spaces, Empire of Death, Heavenly Bodies, and Memento Mori. When he’s not hunting skeletons he moonlights as a cat historian, and his book co-authored by his tabby cat Baba, A Cat’s Tale: A Journey Through Feline History, was a 2020 Barnes and Noble Book of the Year.

Episode Resources

The Rainbow Bridge: The True Story Behind History’s Most Influential Piece of Animal Mourning Literature  

Episode Credits

Hosted by Caitlin Doughty 

Guest Paul Koudounaris 

Produced by the Order of the Good Death, Sarah Chavez 

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) Is supported by listeners like you! Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

A court case in California could force death doulas to become licensed funeral directors. We talk to the doula and the lawyer taking on California's Funeral and Cemetery Bureau. 

Episode Guests

Akhila Murphy is one of the original co-founders of Full Circle of Living and Dying, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located in Grass Valley, CA.  She is a trained End-of-Life Doula and After-Death care educator. Currently she serves on the board of directors for Full Circle of Living and Dying as Founding Director and Co-Chair President. 

Ben Field is an attorney at the Institute for Justice, a national nonprofit public interest law firm that fights to secure the constitutional rights of all Americans against abuses of government power. A major part of Ben’s practice is protecting the First Amendment rights of people to speak freely in their occupations and without fear of government retaliation. He is counsel to the plaintiffs in Full Circle of Living and Dying v. Sanchez, a landmark case challenging the California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau’s restrictions on the rights of end-of-life doulas to provide advice and guidance to families about end-of-life care.

Episode Resources

Defending Your Right to a Good Death

Full Circle of Living and Dying

Home Funerals 

Institute for Justice  

Episode Credits

Hosted by Caitlin Doughty 

Guests Akhila Murphy and Ben Field

Produced by the Order of the Good Death,

Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) Is supported by listeners like you! Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

Go behind the scenes with Cat Warren, who works with cadaver dogs to find the missing dead and locate Black and Indigenous burial grounds. 

Episode Guest

Cat Warren is the author of the NYT bestseller What the Dog Knows, which explores how scent-detection dogs help find the missing and dead, sometimes even those missing for hundreds of years. She currently researches how best to use human remains detection dogs in archaeology and to help locate African-American burial grounds.

Episode Resources

Cat Warren’s Website

What the Dog Knows by Cat Warren 

What Are Cadaver Dogs Teaching Us About History? 

Become an Order Member to access Cat’s 2022 event with us!

Episode Credits

Hosted by Caitlin Doughty 

Guest Cat Warren

Produced by the Order of the Good Death,

Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) Is supported by listeners like you! Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

From viral trends to new options for your future corpse, Caitlin and Sarah review the best and worst of the past year in death, revealing how the death positive movement is making an impact on the way we do death. 

Episode Resources

To access The Year in Death Project, sign up to become an Order member, or make a donation of $50 or more to our nonprofit! 

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Caitlin Doughty 

Co-Host Sarah Chavez

Produced by the Order of the Good Death,

Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) Is supported by listeners like you! Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

In a space of loss that is already difficult to exist in, we need to do more to understand how our language surrounding green burial can better acknowledge difficult histories and experiences. 

Episode Resources

This episode is an audio version of the article “Whose Green Burial Is It Anyway?” by Corinne Elicona. 

Green Burial 101

Locate a Green Burial Ground 

So, You Want to Be a Tree When You Die? 

How to Green Your Funeral 

Episode Credits:

Written by Corinne Elicona @CorinneElicona

Narrated by Sarah Chavez 

Produced by the Order of the Good Death,

Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) Is supported by listeners like you! Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

Mortuary schools began as embalming schools, sponsored by embalming chemical companies. Today, mortuary schools are designed to be more holistic, covering everything a new mortician may face in the industry. But what groups are being left out of this education? The last decade has brought hard discussions around serious gaps in what is taught to students and if they're ready for the reality of working in the death industry. 

In this episode Caitlin talks with two funeral directors, Joél Maldonado and Ezra Salter to discuss race and gender in funeral education and practice. 

Episode Guests

Joél Maldonado is a funeral director, sacred end-of-life and grief care professional, and educator. Learn more on her website, The Grave Woman. 

Ezra Salter (they/them) is a Louisiana licensed funeral director and embalmer, a board member of Wake, a New Orleans based deathcare non-profit, and co-creator of the Louisiana LGBTQ+ End of Life Planning Guide.

Episode Resources

Sandi Baker article mentioned in the episode, Why Are All the Wax Heads Caucasian? 

Petition to Remove Racist and Discriminatory Language From Mortuary College Dress Codes and Handbooks

Order of the Good Death, Working in Death: How Do I Become a Mortician?

Audio excerpt from Ask a Mortician webseries, Why Are Black and White Cemeteries Still Separate? 

Cultural Competency: Black Hair and Skin Care for Non-Ethnic Funeral Professionals 

Louisiana LGBTQ EOL Guide 

Trans Death Rights Are Human Rights 

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Caitlin Doughty 

Produced by the Order of the Good Death,

Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

No matter how long you’ve been working with dead bodies, nothing can prepare you for working on someone you knew and loved. 

Episode Resources

This episode is an audio version of the article “Washing Kathryn, Touching Death” by Nora Menkin for The Order of the Good Death. 

Helping to care for someone’s body in death can be a profound experience. Visit The Order website to learn more about your rights and options. 

Have questions about becoming a mortician, or wondering if a career in death is right for you? Explore the answers in The Order’s Working in Death resources. 

Funerals and the role of funeral directors is changing. Hear from five different directors about their work and how they envision the future of death care in our article Meet the Morticians. 

Episode Credits:

Written by Nora Menkin

Narrated by Caitlin Doughty 

Produced by the Order of the Good Death,

Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) Is supported by listeners like you! Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

Where would you even start in opening your own green burial ground? After all, every cemetery is a unique snowflake, with its own confusing blend of regulations. We speak with one expert who will cut through the confusion, and one practitioner who made it all happen. 

Episode Guests

Tanya Marsh, a professor at Wake Forest University School of Law focusing on laws regarding the status, treatment and disposition of human remains.

Sarah Wambold is a writer and funeral director in Austin, TX.

Episode Resources

Green Burial Resources (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/resources/green-burial/)

Where Can I Find a Green Burial Ground Near Me? (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/resources/green-burial/#finding-green-burial-grounds)

Campo de Estrellas (https://campodeestrellas.co/) 

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Caitlin Doughty 

Produced by the Order of the Good Death,

Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) is supported by listeners like you! Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

Hot Take: We’re all afraid of death – whether it’s the actual state of being dead one day, the pain of dying, or how your remains will be treated. Death Positive or not, that anxiety is something that bonds us all – and while it’s scary, it’s important to know you’re not alone. 

Episode Resources

This episode is an audio version of the article “Life, Death, and the Anxiety In-Between” by Louise Hung for The Order of the Good Death. 

What is Death Positive? (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/death-positive-movement/)

History of the Death Positive Movement (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/history-of-death-positive-movement/) 

Resources for coping with Death Anxiety (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/resources/fear-of-death/)  

Episode Credits:

Narrator and writer Louise Hung 

Produced by the Order of the Good Death,

Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) is made possible by listeners like you! Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

Episode Description

Our future corpses have more options than ever, with eco-friendly processes like aquamation and composting being legalized across the U.S. and Canada. Find out the nitty-gritty truths on what goes into making these death alternatives a reality where you live. 

Host, Caitlin Doughty talks to Recompose founder, Katrina Spade who has been the driving force behind legalization efforts, and Order of the Good Death Executive Director, Sarah Chavez. 

Episode Resources

Stay up to date with efforts to legalize composting in your state

By signing up for the Recompose newsletter. (https://recompose.life/who-we-are/#public-policy)

Learn more about the composting in the Order’s Resource guide.

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Caitlin Doughty

Produced by the Order of the Good Death: Sarah Chavez and Lauren Ronaghan

Edited by Alex de Freitas

Music by Kissed Her Little Sister

Podcast artwork by Jessica Peng

The Order of the Good Death (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com) Is supported by listeners like you. Support the Order by becoming a member (https://www.orderofthegooddeath.com/donate?)

Welcome back for Season 3 of the Death in the Afternoon, a podcast from the Order of the Good Death!