how to write your way through grief

and grieve your way through writing

On a sweltering afternoon last Tuesday, after dropping off my elder son at camp, I opened an email informing me Clayton Ruby had died.

I was winded. Clay was one of my dearest people. An eminent lawyer, activist, father, friend, advocate and mentor to countless people. As his daughter-in-law later put it: The man was a heart on two legs.

Within an hour …