May 6, 2021; 6 pm RMT

Bless the Birds

Join us for a conversation between WISC Board Member and Fellow Susan J. Tweit and Kati Standefer, author of the Oprah-picked memoir Lightning Flowers. This virtual event is co-sponsored by Collected Works Bookstore (Zoom host) & Women’s International Study Center, Santa Fe

Visit Collected Works online for more information.

LIVING WITH LOVE IN A TIME OF DYING

As Susan and Richard navigate the unfamiliar territory of brain cancer treatment and learn a whole new vocabulary―craniotomies, adjuvant chemotherapy, and brain geography―they also develop new routines for a mindful existence, relying on each other and their connection to nature, including the real birds Richard enjoys watching. Their determination to walk hand in hand, with open hearts, results in profound and difficult adjustments in their roles.

Writer Susan Tweit and her economist-turned-sculptor husband Richard Cabe had just settled into their version of a “good life” when Richard saw thousands of birds one day―harbingers of the brain cancer that would kill him two years later. This compelling and intimate memoir chronicles their journey into the end of his life, framed by their final trip together, a 4,000-mile-long delayed honeymoon road trip.

Bless the Birds is not a sad story. It is both prayer and love song, a guide to how to thrive in a world where all we hold dear seems to be eroding, whether simple civility and respect, our health and safety, or the Earth itself. It’s an exploration of living with love in a time of dying―whether personal or global―with humor, unflinching courage, and grace. And it is an invitation to choose to live in light of what we love, rather than what we fear.

This Event is Co-Sponsored by Collected Works of Santa Fe.