See You at the Movies

A piece we ran in September, 2015 has been adapted as a short animated film, and we’re so pleased to share it here (links below).

detail from Permanently Pressed by Yvonne Haugen

Animation artist Yvonne Haugen says the essay Permanently Pressed by Nicole Chakalis “just triggered my visual imagination - some stories give immediate and strong visuals and Permanently Pressed, in it's delicate and simple style hit home, so to speak.” Watching the completed movie now, it’s amazing to see both the imagery and Peggy’s mood reflected from Nicole’s writing in Yvonne’s work.  

Nicole was a good friend as well as a contributor to Dead Housekeeping, and watching this after her death is bittersweet. Noola Laguardia, one of Nicole’s children, told me that her mom loved Claymation, which is just the icing on the cake. I think she would have loved this.                                                                             

- Meredith Counts

Visit Yvonne Haugen’s website, or go directly to the movie.

And read the story, by Nicole Chakalis, here. 

title card from Yvonne Haugen's Permanently Pressed

Good News, Good Reads

Here at Dead Housekeeping we are all volunteers, dedicated to this concept and to the writing we get to share with you, but volunteers nonetheless, each with our own mix of priorities: jobs, studies, kids, international moves (that’s Asha) and our other creative projects.

Here’s the good news and good writing that we keep meaning to share:

Best of the Net nominees Rowan Beckett Grigsby and Laura Lucas!

We’ve nominated two of our favorite piece from the past year: How to Have Nice Things by Rowan Beckett Grigsby and Nine Kinds of Ice Cream by Laura Lucas. Both pieces are stunners, and will be considered for Best of the Net 2016, put together by Sundress Publications.

Artwork by Jenny Poore!

Our talented friend Jenny Poore has given us a gift: a new logo, which we will be unveiling soon!  We also owe Jenny for connecting us with her mother Linda, who taught us How to Properly Dry and Fold Cloth Diapers.

a sneak peek at our new design by Jenny Poore

Dead Housekeeping reading list!

Some of these we’ve shared on our Facebook page, others we’ve shared amongst our team, all we’ve agreed are worth a read and belong with us, on this site, somewhere at the intersection of death and the home:

• In Indonesia, the Torajan people exhume their dead and continue to care for their bodies in an every-three-years festival.
• We love this essay by Mara Wilson in the NYT, about siblings going through their mother’s things on the anniversary of her death. It’s an excerpt from her new book, Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame.
• Jessica Lowe of Shreveport Louisiana wrote How to Gut a House (in 7 Steps). It’s full of practical post-flood instructions and you’ll need extra hankies.
• The remains of Civil War soldier Private Jewett Williams, 20th Maine Infantry, Company H were recently discovered in Oregon, and travelled to be honored at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in Virginia on their way to his home state of Maine.

In memory: Contributing editor Jennifer Cumby’s friend Thais who left us 25 years ago, and DH friend Jodie Fletcher’s dad, Roy, who died this week.