Recent Episodes

July 25, 2024

44: A Book About What Dying is Really Like

Most of us have never seen a death up close, let alone many. How, then, can we know what to do or say to support someone else who's dying? How can we know what to expect for our own deaths? "With the End in Mind" by Kathryn …
June 14, 2024

43: How to Write an Obituary

So it's time to write an obituary. Who should do it and how? What needs to be included? What should be left out? Where does it go? What is an obituary for, anyway?
May 30, 2024

42: What does "Quality of Life" mean?

The phrase "quality of life" comes up often, particularly when completing an Advance Directive or when dealing with the medical system. But what does it mean? And who gets to define it?
May 16, 2024

41: Hello again. Birthday. Restart. Community.

Hello! After a long while, I am restarting this podcast. Because it's my birthday and that's my present to my self (and to you).
June 22, 2023

40: Aging While LGBTQ

A brief overview of the range of issues faced by LGBTQ seniors towards the end of life.
June 3, 2023

39: Sharing Collected Art

Do you have art that means a lot to you? Will others know why they mattered to you or what they're worth? Here are some quick tips to help other treasure your treasures.

About the Host

Cianna Stewart Profile Photo

Cianna Stewart

Dying has been a fact of Cianna's life.

Cianna was first drawn to reading about death and death rituals in childhood and never stopped. Maybe it was growing up next to a cemetery. Maybe it was from knowing many people who died in all kinds of circumstances at all different ages. Maybe it was being a teenager when her mom died.

For whatever reason, death has always been part of Cianna's conversation and experience. This was amplified and reinforced by working in HIV during the 1990s in San Francisco. During this period, Cianna experienced the death and memorialization of many friends, and became the primary caretaker for her roommate who died from AIDS.

After Cianna's father and stepmother died in 2019, she resolved to get her own paperwork and other affairs in order so that she wouldn't leave behind the same kind of disorganized mess she and her siblings were left with. To support that effort, she started a group on Facebook. The Dying Kindness podcast emerged out of that group as an effort to encourage others to join in the effort to make key decisions now, well before they're needed, as an act of kindness to those left behind.

Professionally, Cianna has been a writer, documentarian, speaker, coach, event producer, startup founder, nonprofit manager, consultant, workshop leader, and more. Her tagline is "super curious about nearly everything."