Dead Mom Talking

"If you want to talk to me when I'm dead, go to the bench."

Best New Artist2016 Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Competition

2016 / Rachel Matlow / CBC Radio One , CAN

"If you want to talk to me when I'm dead, go to the bench."

Elaine Mitchell said those words to her daughter Rachel a few days before she died last July. Her memorial bench now sits in a Toronto ravine under tall trees. Elaine was a teacher, writer and avid traveler. During the last seven weeks of her life she and Rachel binge-watched TV, traded dark humor, and they talked. Rachel recorded the conversations. That way, months after Elaine’s death, Rachel was able to get in one more conversation with the person she needed most.


produced by

Rachel Matlow

Rachel (they/them) is a freelance audio producer, story editor, and writer from Toronto.


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