Kara LC Jones (CAIC, CRMT, BA) 

I’m white, American born, cisgender woman with Italian heritage, and though I know all the curse words in Italian, truly, I only speak English. Since 1996, I’ve been in a monogamous, heterosexual commitment with a cisgender man who is Black and German. (Truth be told, I also know a few curse words in German, too.) We live in a community we were lovingly introduced to by a friend on Vashon Island, Washington. 

My biggest grief experiences came with the deaths of three babies at birth. I’m a mom who has living and dead children, mom in a blended family, and now a 

grandma, too. 

My continued exploration of grief comes in around chronic illness. I have multiple chronic illness diagnoses (ME/CFS, PCOS, MCAS), though some of what is happening with my health is still a mystery. Given the state of our healthcare system here in America, I’m not entirely sure the root cause will ever be found. Anxiety and depression are part of my experiences at times, too, as the mystery part of being chronically alive can get to me. For the most part, I pass as abled which has both advantages and disadvantages. 

I’m a Certified Appreciative Inquiry and Whole Systems Coach, and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, holding double degrees in Literary and Cultural Theory and Creative Writing. I also have a minor degree from Chatham College in Early Childhood Development. I interned for three years at Family Communications (FCI) on production of Mister Rogers Neighborhood. I have authored several books including Mrs. Duck and the Woman, Flash Of Life, and 1000 Permissions Granted. I have contributed to publications such as They Were Still Born, Journal of Family Social Work, Living With Grief, Elegy, and more. For more see either GriefAndCreativity.comor CreativeGriefStudio.com. 

What year did you join BPW? 

2024 

WHY did you join BPW? 

Well my very best, very first friend ever Daneene Monroe Rusnak introduced me to BPW and invited me to speak at a JDEI meeting on my creative grief heARTwork around raising grief literacy for individuals but also as a cultural imperative. It was a lovely Zoom meet up, and Sher and Daneene both encouraged me to check out more about BPW. And here we are. 

HOW has BPW helped your career and personal lifestyle? 

Learning the history of the organization going back to 1919, it's heartening to think of all the women who've come before me unfolding the paths I've been able walk in my GenX iteration! I'm looking forward to learning more about the different programs and goals of BPW currently happening. 

What wisdom can you pass on to other members? 

One of the things that I keep seeing in the past few years is how much unprocessed grief and trauma we are enduring as individuals, all the way up to the socio-cultural level. It feels similar to me to seeing the unprocessed grief I saw when I was young in the WWII survivor generation of our family when they were all still alive. Today it feels like seeing a mirror of that unprocessed grief in my grandchildren as they are urged to "get back to normal" and "get back in the classroom in person" as quickly as possible without a lot of processing around the realities that they are sick over and over again. Not much has changed in infrastructure to protect them. But they have to get on with it. I keep seeing videos and social media posts from people my age or my childrens' ages saying things feel "off" or they've not been able to "go back to normal" and they wonder if they are alone in it. I am encountering more and more newly disabled people everyday who can no longer work the way they once did and question how to continue on with very little support. I see new videos every single day from people saying their work is no longer meaningful, they can barely make the ends meet, they don't understand why they are "failing." 

As I witness all this, my inner monologue is naming it grief, grief, grief; not individual failing, but collective experience of systems failure. Grief shakes our sense of identity, our priorities even in things like the work we used to hold dear, our faith even. Because the grief we are all experiencing is unnamed, it hasn't even begun to be processed. So much of what we are experiencing, personally and collectively, is grief. But our grief literacy levels in this world are not great. I would say the wisdom I have to share is this: if you feel any level of what I'm describing here, please know you are not alone. This is the reaction humans are meant to have in the face of loss. We are meant to re-making meaning. We are meant to question. We are allowed to be creative in the face of grief. Being creative is more than artmaking or dancing. It is an approach to life. It is an approach to living in the face of loss and on-going humanness. 

How does BPW benefit by having you as a member? 

It struck me in the JDEI session that maybe talking about raising our grief literacy skills on a larger platform for women would be a beneficial thing to do for all of us. So many of us are carrying around the role of holding the grief for ourselves, our families, our workplaces. We need more support in doing that, in fortifying our grief literacy skills, in being with each other individually and collectively in grief support. It seemed maybe with your focus areas on advocacy as well as health and wellness, maybe there would be a good match here.   

List any social media handles you'd like us to tag you with. 

IG: 

https://www.instagram.com/griefandcreativity/ 

https://www.instagram.com/creativegriefstudio/

Threads: 

https://www.threads.net/@griefandcreativityhttps://www.threads.net/@creativegriefstudioLinkedIN: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/griefandcreativity/https://www.linkedin.com/company/creative-grief-studio

FB: 

https://www.facebook.com/CreativeGriefStudio