Birth & Death Among Us with Stephen Jenkinson and Kimberly Ann Johnson

Part 3/3 of an 3 part on-line conversation on successive Sundays starting January 15th

R e g i s t r a t i o n link ($225 Regular Price)

(90min+ starting at 9am PST = noon EST = evening in UK/Europe and first light in Australia)

Facebook event link

Birth and death are the bookends of one single life, and yet are they to serve that singularity? Or are they to serve something much larger?
Is the relationship between the two only that they are these bookends or is there a deeper architecture that binds the two?

The meetings between Stephen and Kimberly have been characterized by genuine interest and a devotion to what arises in the moment. They do prepare, but they do not rehearse. They don’t “set each other up” to say the things they want to hear nor to try to create discord, where there surely could be some. In that way, it is truly alive, and something seems to happen that is beyond them both. There is a meeting beyond and between what they arrive to be faithful to.

They are a not-quite-young younger woman and a not-quite-old older man, an expected pair that has seemed to strike a chord, an experience of eldering in action.

Last year, they did a five conversation series constellated to allow the subjects of Stephen’s major works to appear. Hundreds of people from around the world listened in and sent in questions. Each Sunday they came back to one another and to each other to reckon and to wonder. Those conversations became the body of their book Reckoning.

They then went on a tour to eight cities, wondering aloud in places as different as theatres, community centres, grange halls and they finished at the wood mill, Urban Timber, in San Diego.

They’ve spoken with hundreds of people from Toronto to Sebastopol to Asheville, and many people have asked us why we haven’t spoken explicitly yet about birth and death. 

Kimberly’s bestselling book is The Fourth Trimester. Stephen Jenkinson’s bestselling book is Die Wise. She has worked in the birth trade as a doula, medical translator, and trauma educator. He worked in the death trade accompanying the dying time of thousands of people as well as being the former programme director in a major Canadian hospital and former assistant professor in a prominent Canadian medical school.

People have confessed their deep sorrows about the state of birth and death in Anglo North America.

And people have further confessed, in hushed tones, that they cannot say what they really think or feel about these topics without fear of being placed in camps they don’t feel they belong to or furthermore ostracized completely.

People say they can’t talk about topics like euthanasia, non-gendered birth language, big Pharma, free birthing, social media’s impact, the proliferation of birth imagery, and the booming birth and death industries.

This is just the beginning of what could be contended with.

So, three Sundays in a row, in January, we are inviting you for live online reckonings with another midline, informed by our genuine curiosities, and yours too. We will ask you to wonder about the relationship between these two and send in your inquiries before and between sessions.

We will meet and contend with the gods of birth and death. 

We hope that you will join us.

“Maybe the time has come to elaborate on the cross pollination of two areas of work, of concern and expertise and the two areas of gross poverty that proliferate in both of them.”- Stephen Jenkinson

More information and registration is available from Kimberly’s website: link 

“I love the exchange between you two, it’s raw and open and alive in the moment. It brings me back to this moment, like hanging with my grandparents and their friends years ago. Hearing truth. Keep it going. I hope you’re inspiring others to ‘be here’.”  – Crystal Amber

“I would listen to them speak all night” – Eli Himovitz

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A Note On Refunds from Kimberly Ann Johnson: Transparency is a core value of our community, we put a lot of effort into an accurate representation of the course experience and we are happy to answer your questions in advance. Because our products are digital goods, once the course begins we do not offer refunds. Thank you for understanding.