Fresh Air, December 9, 2013, Terry Gross interviews Delia Ephron

http://www.npr.org/2013/12/09/249723073/delia-ephron-on-the-closeness-and-complexity-of-sisterhood

On how her sister’s death changed her view on getting older

I do feel that I have to do everything quickly. I hate to waste a day. … What I feel now, and I feel much more strongly, certainly, since Nora’s death, is that all we really have is process. How did the work go today? How did the writing go? How did the lunch go with your best friend that you usually love to spend hours talking to? Did you wring every ounce of fun and intimacy out of it? … When you walked down the street did you notice things? Did you have a good time? Was it crisp out? Was it hot out? What I think happened to me is that I got very focused on the day and making the day matter.

In other words, make a real experience of everything you do. At the end of the day that’s all we have.

A lot of folks at “Beer & Hymns” appear to be refugees from traditional churches. Between hymns, people can stand up and say anything they want.

Jolie Shempert, a transgender person who’s studying humanities at Portland State University, steps up to the mike. Shempert was raised in a strict church that taught that animals don’t have souls, only people do. But Shempert’s beloved dog, Gunner, has just died: “I want to sing this song in defiance of that because Gunner was my friend. And he has emotions and a personality and I had a relationship with him that’s as real as any relationship I had with any human being.”

Hear the whole story at

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/11/03/242301642/to-stave-off-decline-churches-attract-new-members-with-beer