Writer, multimedia journalist and a producer for KCRW's Good Food, Elina Shatkin, joins us for a candid, moving conversation about what it's like to lose her mother unexpectedly (while she was 7 months pregnant), right before caring for her newborn daughter.

Elina and her mom immigrated from Ukraine (in the former USSR) in the late 1970s, and she was raised with a single mom's "scrappy," hard working sensibility. Now, nearly a decade after losing her mom Tatyana Melnick, Elina is emerging from her grief to talk about the stories she feels she can finally tell, and future pathways to honoring her mom's memory in her creative practices.

For our FYC segment, Megan brings the hit TV series Heated Rivalry to the table as an experience that helps viewers get beyond "catastrophizing."

Chief restaurant critic for The New York Times, Tejal Rao joins us to talk about her recent article, "That Restaurant You Love Will Close One Day. What to Do?"

Beyond talking about how we grieve the loss of our favorite "third spaces," we get into how to become a regular at restaurants, as well as how food critics become the archivists for our experiences there. We also speak more broadly about the anticipatory grief that comes with losing our favorite places and people.

Dr. Jack Saul, a psychologist and artist, joins us for a conversation about the concept of moral injury explored in his practice, and in his public arts project Moral Injuries of War, which undertakes a national public reckoning on United States war-making and war culture.

As a psychologist and family therapist, Dr. Saul created programs in New York City and abroad for populations that have endured disaster, war, torture, and political violence, as he documents in his book Collective Trauma, Collective Healing.

We explore what "moral injury" means to different populations, specifically war veterans and refugees, as well as how it is connected to grief, love and our sense of a shared humanity amidst unspeakable atrocity.

Comedian, author and actor Guy Branum (Bros, Platonic) joins us to talk about his new one-man show, Be Fruitful. We explore the concept of "pre-grieving," especially as we enter middle age, and consider how love and grief are intertwined.

Megan and Karen return with Season 2 of the "Art of Grief" by exploring the concepts of unrelenting and compounded grief. Even as we began this podcast last year to process specific losses, we have been confronted with new emotional challenges, shocking losses and seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

This gives us the opportunity to explore what Megan describes as both "micro" and "macro" forms of grief, as we explore the "grief spaces" we plan to explore in our new season, with episodes releasing every two weeks.

The preeminent music critic, award-winning author, and Yale professor Daphne Brooks joins us for a wide ranging conversation about music as an expression of grief and a portal to our feelings. We learn about what it's like to bear "aural witness" across generations and communities, and get a better sense of why Brooks' own writing is so elegiac.

Reverend Christina Shu, Lead Interfath Chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, joins us for an intimate conversation about holding space for those confronting mortality and loss. She shares the transformative nature of being present with people as they grapple with the deepest questions.

We discuss the delicate art of spiritual care across diverse faith traditions, the cumulative weight of grief work, the layering of loss that comes with palliative care, and burnout.

Writer and cook Millicent Soros joins us to explore her journey of understanding loss and the power of food to connect and heal. From early experiences of unprocessed grief to finding catharsis through cooking, Millicent shares insights on moving through pain, the fine line between coping and avoidance, and embracing the messy reality of emotions.

MacArthur Genius Fellow, writer and historian Natalia Molina joins us to talk about scripts of grief, as well as how we become open to signs from beyond in the processes of grieving and healing.

We also discuss her award-winning essay, "How I learned the Dodgers are L.A.'s Language of Love," which speaks with an open heart about her brother David's unexpected death, and the celebration of their lives together beneath Dodger Blue skies in Echo Park, Los Angeles.

We are joined by voices from around the city of Los Angeles to talk about their personal experiences with the L.A. wildfires, and communal grief in the wake of these catastrophic events. We also ask about their hopes for the future not only for themselves, but our community.

Guests include: Myriam Gurba, Mai-Lin Cheng, Margaret Wappler, Guy Branum, Lien Ta, Natalia Molina, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, Colin Campbell, Carolina Miranda, and Courtney Storer.