The loss of Grace Paley feels like the closing of a century. This one is going to be harder without her—without many of those who have been mainstays for a fully engaged life, those who spoke out and wrote and acted to make a difference in the lives of so many.

               Grace Paley’s death followed on the loss of our beloved great aunt, Mary Brown. Our ‘GrandMary’ died of a sudden heart attack last spring and shortly after my partner, Alix Layman lost her father to a reoccurrence of cancer.  For months we had to sort out and manage all the mundane details these unexpected losses required. It was hard to grieve while answering...