Austin was with me at the dirty kid memorial gathering in New Orleans, and he’s a friend from my days when I was still traveling. He’s a fellow ex-dirty kid, and he is currently working in the non-profit sector in Las Vegas, where he is from, and works on policy around homelessness.

Austin talked about his time in the occupy movement, grief for movements, the public grief of those slain by police, and his own personal grief for the recent loss of his father as well as friends who were fellow travelers. We talk about Grant, who Austin was also friends with, and how to remember him. We talk about the different ways we mourn people, how we come together to mourn others, especially those living on the street. We both talk about losing people close to you and not having the space or time or ability to mourn them, when survival of one form or another takes the main slot, and how addiction can play into that. We talk about processing death and needing to have humor, and the necessity of having hope for the future.

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